Toll-Lane Revenue Proposal Gets a Rewrite in Richmond
State Plan Diverts Funding From Regional Projects

By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 23, 2008

Washington area leaders agreed to turn the carpool lanes on Interstates 95 and 395 into express toll lanes in part to raise $195 million for transit, a plan that included buying 184 clean-fuel buses that would speed commuters into the District or to the Pentagon.

But that was before the proposal got to Richmond. The state's transit agency reworked the plan, put together by the Virginia Department of Transportation and a consultant. It wants to use toll revenue to extend Virginia Railway Express train platforms in Fredericksburg and to pay $1.3 million for storage for six Fredericksburg-bound train cars that would be bought with $12.6 million in toll money.

And all those new buses? The number has been reduced to 76.

"It's a bait-and-switch," said Alexandria Mayor William D. Euille (D).

Under a proposal approved last year by the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board, two I-95/395 carpool lanes would be converted into three high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes.

The 184 buses would have reduced the time between buses at stops in Alexandria and Arlington and Fairfax counties to a maximum of 22 minutes. Buses and carpools of three or more would not pay tolls on HOT lanes.

After reviewing the proposal, the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation recommended that some of the money be spent differently -- and farther south. In addition to $40 million for VRE, the state would spend $76.6 million on park-and-ride lots and other facilities south of the converted HOT lanes, expected to open in two years.

And because the state's plan would eliminate many fare-collecting buses in favor of capital spending projects such as buying railcars, it would bring in about $92 million less in revenue than the original plan, officials said.

"This is classic," said Fairfax resident Bob Perotti, who attended a recent public hearing on transportation. "Have you noticed that Richmond has the best roads in the state and Northern Virginia has the worst traffic?"

Northern Virginia leaders say the state's proposed changes are the latest example of the region being used as a piggy bank for the Commonwealth.

"This is diverting resources needed here to another part of the state," said Gerald E. Connolly (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. "These are our resources."

State transit officials defended their proposal, which they say is backed by scientific research, consultation with transit providers and public input showing that a combination of VRE capital improvements and additional park-and-ride facilities and bus transit would be the most efficient use of transit money.

"We emphasize the options that worked," said Corey W. Hill, chief of transit and congestion management for the rail and transportation department. He said that the number of buses was cut because "the problem is that earlier they didn't do a demand analysis. Would anybody be riding in them?"

He said that the proposed number, 184, was a place holder and that focusing on the number of buses is the wrong way to look at solving a regional issue.

"We already have a lot of bus service today," Hill said. "In the northern portion of the corridor, there are 90 buses an hour in the peak hour of the commute."

The revised plan includes five rapid-transit bus stations along the corridor and bus service with the frequency of rail service, he said.

"We are proposing a higher quality bus service than what you have out there today," Hill said.

Northern Virginia officials say they don't want an incremental increase in bus service but a radical change that would turn the proposed HOT lanes into a partial busway that would move people cheaply and quickly.

"That a few people are scratching their heads is a good way to describe it," said Ronald F. Kirby, transportation director for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. "It appears as if the money has drifted south, as we say."

The battle over the transit dollars comes as the General Assembly struggles to find a way to pay for Northern Virginia transportation improvements after the state Supreme Court ruled that a regional tax authority created to raise money is unconstitutional.

Although the HOT lane plan was originally designed as a 56-mile project from the Pentagon to Massaponax, only the northern half, where HOV lanes run from Dumfries to the Pentagon, is fully funded and included in the regional plan.

The proposed southern half of the project, which would entail building two lanes from where Stafford and Prince William counties meet to Massaponax, is in the environmental study stage and is not included in the region's plan. A spokeswoman for the private consortium partnering with VDOT on the project said the company and state remain committed to building the southern phase.

Local leaders said they thought the $195 million in toll revenue was to be used in traffic-choked Northern Virginia.

But state transit officials said they viewed their task as easing congestion along the entire I-95 corridor, including improving VRE service. Underlying their plan is the assumption that the southern phase, through Fredericksburg to Massaponax, will be built.

Another point of contention is what is seen as a diversion of HOT lane resources to VRE. Six VRE rail cars can carry up to 1,500 passengers, or roughly the equivalent of 30 buses carrying 50 passengers each, according to VRE.

"People don't use VRE not because there are not enough rail cars, but because it is either too expensive or too inconvenient," said Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large), chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. He said he uses the HOV lanes at least twice a week to commute into the District.

Virginia's transportation chief said the final decision on how to spend the toll money will not just be up to the rail and transportation department. Any changes will have to be approved by the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board and the Commonwealth Transportation Board.

"This is a recommendation of transit providers in the corridor," said state Transportation Secretary Pierce R. Homer. "The point is to take cars off the road. It doesn't matter if they're taken off in Fredericksburg, Massaponax, Gunston or Alexandria. It's a trip that's not made, and that's the point."