County closer to HOT lanes

I got the article below from the online Journal newspaper. Not really much new but I do have some comments. This "Commonwealth Transportation Board" doesn't appear to be accountable to anyone. I believe all of their meetings are held in Richmond, and the whole thing seems very secretive to me. Perhaps I am just paranoid. These issues are huge and they are almost being decided in secret. To me, this appears to be a situation where some well placed money by the HOT developers could work wonders. Do other states work this way?

(PS I just wrote an email to the VDOT spokesperson that was mentioned asking for info about contacting the head of this Board)

(PS I also just found a section of the VDOT website with some info on recent actions by the board)

http://www.virginiadot.org/infoservice/ctb-default.asp


HOT-lane proposals
move forward
The Commonwealth
Transportation Board voted Thursday
to move two high-occupancy toll
proposals to the next stage of
review.

The proposals, submitted by the
Clark Construction Group and Fluor
Virginia Inc., are designed to
alleviate traffic congestion along 36
miles of Interstate 95 between
Fredericksburg and Washington.
Both proposals would replace
high-occupancy vehicle lanes with
high-occupancy toll lanes, in which
single drivers would pay a variable
toll to use.

An advisory board will review
the proposals and also will allow for
comments from the public, said
Tamara Neale, a Virginia Department
of Transportation spokeswoman. The
review process is scheduled to
continue until fall, followed by
advisory panel recommendations to
the VDOT commissioner.

Negotiations with one or both of the
contractors would not begin until
early 2006, Neale said.
“A lot of things have to happen
before that project becomes a
reality,” she said.“We’re not digging
tomorrow.”

Thanks to various writers, there have been several articles on the breakdown of the HOV lanes in Northern Virginia. Most noted what thousands of car-pooling Northern Virginia commuters already know; if you want to legally cheat HOV-3, buy a so-called hybrid. If you want to defeat HOV, you may also buy a hybrid.

The legislators may have intended well by allowing hundreds small, “clean fuel” cars onto the HOV-3. However, the hundreds have multiplied to be thousands and now include full-sized LPG fueled trucks, CNG fueled Crown Victorias, and conventionally fueled, Ford Excape SUVs. Almost to a vehicle, these run through a legal loophole and onto the HOV-3 with “room for five, while ridden by one.”

This week, we are at a critical point. Our Legislators, particularly those who chair or sit on transportation sub-committees, need to understand how bad the daily commute has become, and why HOV is critically ill. The sickness is rooted in one cause. However, we have a simple and effective cure.

The Virginia Legislators needs to excise the cancer from the HOV. They need to END ALL EXCEPTIONS THAT ALLOW SOLO DRIVERS IN THESE LANES. Overnight, we will gain a potential to move 4,000 additional commuters without putting another car on the road. Ending the exceptions will decrease overall pollution by putting multiple commuters in the existing clean fuel vehicles. It will relieve HOV congestion. Best yet, it will do this at no additional cost to the taxpayer.