Toll Road Yields $5.7 Billion Offer

Another private group said yesterday it would submit an $800 million offer to build 122 miles of express toll lanes on the toll road, Interstate 66 and Route 28.

Ken Reid, spokesman for Virginia Mobility Associates LLC, said the plan would add an express toll lane in each direction on I-66 inside the Capital Beltway and on Route 28. The group would add four express lanes on the toll road and on I-66 between the Beltway and Route 28 by building a new lane and converting a carpool lane in each direction. The group would add four lanes on the access highway between I-66 and the toll road.

The plan, dubbed the "Dulles-to-DC-Loop," does not include money for Metrorail or other projects. "This is a straight highway proposal," Reid said. "It is a proposal that will alleviate congestion, and Dulles rail does not alleviate congestion."

The express toll lanes that are at the heart of both deals are quickly gaining in popularity across the Washington region and the nation. Virginia and Maryland officials announced plans Wednesday to study adding them to 28 miles of the Beltway and part of I-270. Another plan to add them to 14 miles of the Beltway in Virginia is underway, and the state is soliciting offers to build them on I-95 and I-395 between Spotsylvania County and the 14th Street Bridge.

Express toll lanes are designed to virtually guarantee drivers a congestion-free ride because tolls would vary with traffic, rising during peak times to control demand.

State leaders were wowed by the $5.7 billion figure attached to Haney's offer and said it was more in line with what they had in mind for the toll road. "Just basing it on what they got for the Chicago Skyway, I thought the first bid was probably a little low," said House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford), who has pushed for such deals. "I think this is tremendous."

Howell and other Virginia government officials said they were expecting two to three additional offers today.

Tamara Neale, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation, said, "We expect to receive competing proposals. We look forward to reviewing them."