Steve Burns
WMAL.com
ARLINGTON – (WMAL) A long-awaited link in Virginia’s express toll lane network into Downtown D.C. is now a big step closer to fruition. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe announced Transurban, the Australian company behind toll lane operation on the Beltway and I-95, will do the same on I-395. Today’s reversible HOV lanes will soon be reversible High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes, with a 2019 anticipated opening. The outer lane corridors will remain free to use.
“I think it’s good news for our commuters,” Fairfax County supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) told WMAL. “I think (Transurban) has done a good job on 95 and 495. We’ve had an issue here and there with the tolls, but generally I think they’ve kept the lanes moving and the traffic moving which is really what we want.”
The plan initially received pushback from Arlington County, which went as far as suing Virginia’s Transportation Secretary. The county has since become satisfied with more comprehensive traffic studies, as well as enhanced transit and environmental commitments from the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The extension is set to run from near Edsall Road to the Pentagon, meaning a commuter could ride express lanes continuously from Stafford County nearly to the D.C. line. HOV cars would be able to ride the lanes for free, while single drivers pay a variable toll based on congestion in the free lanes. V-DOT also plans on adding a third lane to the current reversible HOV lanes.
“What we’re doing is adding capacity, and the people that are paying the tolls are funding that capacity, but you still have a free option,” Herrity said. “Where there is a free option, and toll payers are paying for additional capacity, I think express lanes make a lot of sense.”
Construction is set to begin this summer, with officials expecting an opening in fall 2019.
“This acceptance is the latest step in our ongoing effort to move more people and provide more travel choices in one of the most congested corridors of the country,” McAuliffe said in a statement. “The agreement we have reached with Transurban clearly meets the Commonwealth’s requirements and will give Virginia travelers and taxpayers the value they deserve for a project of this scope.”
It comes as construction gets underway for express lanes on Interstate 66 – both free and tolled lanes outside the Beltway to Gainesville, and a more controversial plan to make all lanes tolled inside the Beltway for single drivers during rush hour. The first toll gantries went up around Ballston last month, with toll collection expected to begin later this year.
Copyright 2017 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: VDOT)
