Tolls to hit $1 a mile on 91 Express Lanes

Eleven miles between Springfield and the Pentagon; that's $11.00 each way! That's $22.00 each day, $440.00 each month,$5280.00 each year, per commuter of discretionary money robbed from the local economy!

For every 200 former slug drivers who choose to drive alone: that's $1,056,000.00 each year that leaves the Springfield economy, leaves the USA, and flies off to Austrialia. Plus, thats 400 slug riders (minimum) who now must find other rides or who will also drive. Strangely enough, its also 3,000,000 million additional annual vehicle miles that will need to be driven to make the additional commutes between Springfield and the Pentagon. And that's only the effects of 200 daily HOT/SOV commuters.

How again is HOT a good thing?

I wrote my delegate about the proposed toll roads and how this is going to affect HOV lanes. Here is his response:

Thanks for writing. Here is some info for you. HOV 3 was studied by VDOT and it was determined that HOV 3 would pack HOV lanes so tight on 95, there would be no advantage to getting on the HOV.

Here is the study:

http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/studynova-hov395over.asp

Hybrid's are allowed on HOV, but only Hybrid plates purchased before July 1, 2006 can be used. This was the compromise made in 2006.

As for HOT lanes, this proposal allows HOV lanes to be used by HOV 3 and those who want to pay. The contract states that the average speed on the HOT lanes shall be 55 mph. Whenever so many cars pay to get on the HOT lanes that the speed reduces to below 55, the price goes up. The price continues to go up until it gets so high that no one will pay it. Then as the traffic disapaits, the price goes down.

I know it sounds wierd, but this system works in California, so this is not a new concept.

The HOT lane proposal is not final on 95. The proposal is final on 495.

The reason the state is pursuing this is that adding lanes to the Beltway, 95/395 would cost the state $3 Billion. That would be financed through a local gas tax, which would have to be approximately 25 cents a gallon. Since no one wanted a 25 cent per gallon local gas tax, using private investors to build the HOT lanes was chosen.

My delegate believes when the toll becomes high, no one will pay the toll to get on HOV. Single drivers have been waiting for years to access the HOV lanes.

quote:

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Originally posted by NoSUV
[br]Jody,

Recommend reengaging your delegate with a question about future growth in the region, and if the roads built with the public-private enterprise will be sufficient for the next 80 years.

The contract allows the private contractors to receive toll revenue for 80 years. It stands to reason that if any additional roads were built during that time period, then there would be less revenue on the HOT lanes. That means that either there will be no additional roads, or the Commonwealth will have to provide compensation. If one were to look back to 80 years ago (circa pre WWII) and take away all roads built along the corridor since then, it becomes obvious that growth (and more roads) will be needed prior to 2090.

In other words, even if the toll for SOV is raised to $100/mile, it is probable that by mid-century that the road will be too congested with HOV-3 to maintain any reasonable speed.

Perhaps your delegate (and state senator) can tell you how they plan to solve THAT problem!

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Actually, in this case NoSUV we agree! The contract for I495 is written in such a way to GUARANTEE that Transurban/Fleur earns a profit. Trans/Fleur has recourse:

-if HOV3 (non-paying) exceeds a certain % of total traffic volume, they can renegotiate to toll all vehicles including HOV3,
-if another road deemed to compete with the HOT lanes exists or is built and diverts trafic from HOT lanes, they can petition for reimbursements to make up for lost toll revenues (paid for by tax dollars),
-or if they are not earning enough revenues from the existing toll structure that create a substantial profit, they can raise tolls without limits or restrictions.

BTW, the HOT lanes on I495 are being built, in part, with funding by VDOT (yes, those are our tax dollars).

The only beneficiary of HOT lanes is the contractor, in this case Transurban/Fleur, and the only source of funding is the commuter/taxpayer.

So, gas tax or not, we pay! And I suspect the gas tax assessments your delegate mentions here would be far less than 25 cents a gallon if they are distributed statewide and assessed to ALL Virginia gas consumers. Let's face it, NoVA has been carrying the rest of the state on our backs with tax revenues for so long that this gas assessment should be distributed back to the rest of the state as well.

And if you read some of the links on this forum, you'll see that despite what your delegate says, HOT lanes in California and in other states are far from trouble free!

VDOT is not accountable! Barbara Reese is a pirate! HOT is highway robbery!

quote:

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Originally posted by scottt
[br]Those who think that HOV3 will be (and continue to be) free are lying to themselves. In CA, on the 91 express lanes, before they were built we were promised HOV3 would be free. It was.....for a short time.

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scottt,
CA-91 is still free for HOV-3 in the express lanes. They are required to have a FastTrac, though.

Some further notes which should be of interest to those who commute from further out:

http://www.91expresslanes.com/tollschedules.asp

That is the toll schedule. The average toll between 6 and 9:00 am for the busy direction is about 4.00. For the return drive from 4-6:00, it is about 8.00. That is 12.00 a day at peak hours when most employers work.

Most employees work 21 days a month, so that is 252.00 a MONTH under congestion pricing for peak drive time. That is 3024.00 a year to drive in the express lanes out there. There is a reason they call them the "lexus lanes" because they price out the average citizen whose taxes built the road to begin with.

Also note that the 91 Express length is only 10 miles. That is not even the distance from Fredericksburg to Stafford. From Stafford to DC, that is what, let's just say 40 miles, to be conservative. Assuming the 91 express tolls apply here, they would cost at least $1008 a month to commute to DC, or $12096 in tolls a year.

If they give the driver a "break" for having three in the car, that is still over 6,000 a year from Stafford to DC.