Proposal pitched for HOV

quote:

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Originally posted by Bob
[br]We dont have to propose another idea and we do have the right to bash this if it is our judgement that it is bad for slugging. I believe a few people bashed the Disney proposal and it is now almost universally agreed that it would have been a disaster for traffic.

Bob

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Absolutely concur -- and we need to be more vocal as it appears the Fairfax County supervisors voiced their approval of this wretched concept last night...

- Will

Here is the letter I just sent to several representatives. You are welcome to send it also.

December 8, 2003


Sirs:

This letter is to express my concern about the proposal before VDOT
to convert the I95/395 HOV lane into a HOT lane. As you know, there
are two regional proposals that have been submitted. One is for
adding lanes to the Virginia Beltway and the other is to convert the
95/395 lanes to HOT lanes. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors
has apparently just endorsed the beltway proposal. My concern is
that Prince William County or other jurisdictions may endorse the
95/395 proposal.

Conversion of the existing HOV system on 95/395 would cause
congestion and drastically reduce the incentive for mass transit in
this corridor. I have studied this proposal in detail. It would re-
stripe the existing roadway up to Springfield to make three lanes.
The portion of the HOV lane inside the beltway would remain as it is.
This is a recipe for a massive bottleneck at Springfield where three
lanes would go down to two. A key assumption of any proposal to
convert 95/395 is that there is adequate unused capacity to do this.
This is an incorrect assumption. HOV usage has soared in the past
few years and traffic is routinely heavy. There is no room to allow
thousands of single passenger vehicles into this roadway, especially
inside the beltway. And a few years down the road... no way!

Another factor that is never mentioned in any of the newspaper
articles is the impact on regional air pollution if we reduce the
incentive to carpool. As people give up on the HOV system, then we
are back to where most other cities are without a viable HOV system
and air pollution would be much worse.

Finally, what are the implications of letting the private sector fund
such projects? It seems to me that state and local governments would
be giving up control in the event of problems. In other words, the
private sector would be free to set tolls or do anything they want to
maximize revenue, and I don't believe the local goverments could do
much about it. And if (when) it fouls up HOV, it would be too late
to go back since the companies would have invested millions of
dollars.

Sincerely,