Transportation analysts said the outstanding issues were not serious enough to keep the lanes from being built.
"I think there are still quite a bit of unresolved issues," said C. Kenneth Orski, editor of the Innovation Briefs transportation newsletter. "But I think these are not insoluble problems. These are technical problems highway engineers cope with day in day out."
Gary Groat, director of project development for Fluor, said that the company prefers its proposal but that "we didn't see any fatal flaws in any suggestions made. We feel comfortable looking at all the different options."
The concept also must clear a standard federal environmental review before construction begins.
HOT lane opponents say the tolls amount to double taxation because public funds are used to build roads. "We pay the taxes for them; we shouldn't have to pay for them again with tolls," said Jim Wamsley, transportation chairman of the Sierra Club's Virginia chapter. Wamsley said he objected to the Beltway HOT lanes having tolls at all hours, rather than just during peak times.
Others worry that demand will not meet projections after a study by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments found that many drivers on that part of the Beltway take short trips.
Shucet said the HOT lane proposal is a chance to get a corporation to pay for something that is sorely needed.
"In spite of all the complexities some folks talk about, it is so painfully simple to me," Shucet said. "There is a road that has room for a certain amount of cars on it. There seem to be more cars and trucks on it than there is room for, and somebody is willing to provide more room."
