New HOT lane details

VDOT and Fluor Transurban released new HOT lane details today that promise minimum speeds of 55 mph inside the Beltway.

I'm looking for a slugger/driver who wants to be interviewed about the HOT lanes for an article I'm writing tomorrow for The Washington Post.

202/334-4521 Lines are open.

New details: projected revenues much higher than previously estimated. Hundreds of millions of dollars now projected to flow out of United States!

Let's call them what they are, Lexus lanes. How are they going to control the speeds? By using dynamic pricing? If that is the case only the wealthy will be able to use the lanes after they kick all the carpools/slugs off after they tell the state they are losing money.

The following is a summary of several posts that I have made in recent months in opposition to HOT lanes. I have forwarded this to Eric in hopes that is will offer the perspective of a NOVA commuter for any articles that he may write on this subject...

HOT lanes are advertised as a “new choice” in commuting for Northern Virginia. HOT advocates tout the new toll lanes as a source of revenue for needed highway maintenance and construction projects. However, many NOVA commuters think HOT lanes are bad for Virginia commuters, bad for the District of Columbia, and bad for our environment.

First, the problem: Has anyone looked at the HOV lanes lately? They're a mess! Years of neglect have left potholes and cracks everywhere. VDOT is facing steep HOV lane maintenance costs, and has not allocated a budget to complete the promised HOV lane build out further south. VDOT is facing a financial crisis and they are on the hook to fund these programs. However, VA homeowners and taxpayers have been paying for road construction and maintenance that included these promised VDOT services.

Along comes a "solution"; hire a private firm to maintain and build out the remaining stretch of I95/395 in exchange for a lease on the rights to charge tolls on the highway. VDOT gets to save face and the roads get fixed, the private firm (Flour/Transurban) is on the hook for the work, and it all is paid for by the users. Sounds like a good solution until you look behind the curtain and find that the additional cost burden has been dumped on the backs of NOVA commuters who have already paid for these services.

VA taxpayers need to follow the tax dollars allocated for transportation. Where is the accountability for our previous tax payments that were supposed to go toward roads? Now VDOT is going back to the well, NOVA taxpayer/commuter's pockets, with a fee for road construction and maintenance in the disguise of a toll (with a tidy profit skimmed off the top by Flour) and calling it a "user fee." It all sounds reasonable until you realize that NOVA taxpayers have already paid for this!

And the HOT scenario gets worse when you realize the negative effects tolls will have. HOT lanes will:

-Encourage single, affluent passenger commuting (as those who can afford the tolls have no incentive to carpool),
-Encourage affluent urban flight as those from the close-in DC metro area who can afford the commute, will move further out the exurbs,
-Discourage mass transit metro/busses use as mass transit riders choose to pay a toll to drive SOV instead of paying a bus/metro fare,
-Discourage carpooling, as former carpoolers choose to pay the toll instead of carpooling,
-Discourage informal carpooling as “Slugs” and other ridesharing such as vanpools as they are targeted by Flour as lost revenue and risk eventually loosing their HOV toll exemption,
-Push the middle class, suburban commuters onto an already crowded and expensive mass transit system, and,
- As many of the METRO riders receive subsidies from govn’t. agencies for taking mass transit, tolls funnel costs for this whole fiasco right back to the taxpayer: follow the money here; if high tolls push commuters onto METRO> govn't. pays mass transit allowances> taxpayers fund govn't. services> mass transit allowance costs increase> taxpayers must pay more in taxes for govn't. services.

Now let’s remember that, even though the proposal says van/carpools and HOVs will be exempt from paying tolls, there is no mechanism for counting passengers in each car to determine who is exempt. And, as traffic volume and tolls increase during peak “rush-hour” periods, HOVs will be the first likely targets for ejection from the lanes. Also, if you take a look into the future a few months or years ahead, when Flour realizes that each HOV is a lost source of revenue, its easy to predict that they will lobby for changes in the HOV exemption laws, and will charge a toll for HOVs.

HOT lanes contradict many of the things that our society has learned in the past generation about urban planning, traffic management, and ecological impacts of commuting traffic. HOT lanes ignore the simple, common sense, and cost saving car-pooling/ride-sharing approaches that we currently use with HOV lanes. HOT advocates promote commuting choices offered as a good thing, instead of the reality that the choices are between bad options (in this case, high tolls vs. traffic-congested lanes). HOT advocates ignore the negative impact on overall traffic volume (more SOVs = increased net traffic), negative impact on our environment (more traffic = more pollution), and the negative impact on our pocketbooks (tolls and longer commutes both cost more than today’s HOV lanes).

The advocates of HOT lanes have a tunnel vision view and see only a source of highway project funding. What VA taxpayers and voters should be watching is the negative effects on our communities, our commutes, our environment and our pocketbooks.

There was a news report on TV this morning that said a local commission approved or endorsed some action that clears the next hurdle for HOT lanes. (If anyone has more detailed info on which commission and what the action was, please post. I was on the phone when the report was on and didn't hear the details.)

AND ONCE AGAIN ...the reporter indicated that SOV HOT users will pay a variable fee, while HOV3+ will use them for FREE! (I'd love to see that happen, but remain skeptical.)