Prices on the Dulles Toll Road will rise this spring to help pay for a $4 billion Metrorail extension paralleling the roadway, Virginia's transportation leaders decided today.
The action by the Commonwealth Transportation Board will boost tolls to 75 cents at the main gate and 50 cents at the other gates.
The hike is set to go into effect May 22.
With the toll hike and other sources already in hand to cover about half the cost of the project's first phase from West Falls Church to the eastern edge of Reston, leaders of the rail project will now seek federal money for the remainder.
"The region clearly needs this project," said Whittington W. Clement, the state's transportation secretary and chairman of the Commonwealth Transportation Board. "Major roadways in the corridor are nearing gridlock. The problem won't go away and we must address it."
Long-range plans call for extending the rail line farther west, through Reston and Herndon to Dulles International Airport and beyond.
