Money woes could hurt HOT lane perks

Additional transportation improvements that were promised as part of the proposed HOT lanes project now may not come at all.

In a presentation to Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board last month, state Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer said five projects, including a proposed flyover ramp at Cardinal Drive near Dumfries and a Bus Rapid Transit station that is to be built in Lorton, are under a “scope review,” or examination.

Homer stated that construction costs, declining transportation revenues and the recession are driving factors for the review. An Australian-based company, Flour-Transurban, agreed to the five improvement projects when the firm initially approached the state about building High Occupancy Toll lanes on Interstate 95, said Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Director Alfred H. Harf.

According to documents form the National Capital Region Transportation Board, the Cardinal Drive flyover is set to be built between Joplin Road and Cardinal Drive. It would allow drivers going north to exit the HOT lanes and merge with regular traffic on I-95.

The BRT station, called an in-line station because it would be built in the middle of the highway — similar to Metro rail stations on Interstate 66 in Fairfax County — would allow transit users to ride a bus to the station, get off, and connect with another bus headed in their direction of travel on a different platform, said Harf.

An additional concession payment of $195 million, which the company told state transportation officials they would provide for the construction of 3,000 new commuter parking spaces and for a possible in-line BRT station in Prince William County, is still on the board.

When the HOT lanes were proposed, the plan was to divide and build the project into two phases — a northern and a southern section. Now, according to Harf, the company has seen less than favorable numbers on Wall Street and has been forced to reconsider building the lanes in two phases. Company officials are now looking at projects that can either be put off or cut all together, like the flyover ramp and bus station.

Harf said Stafford officials have become concerned about the future of the project and how it will impact their county.

As it was originally proposed, the northern section of the lanes would include a single reversible lane that would extend the express lanes south to Va. 610 in Stafford County. Then the southern section would be built from Va. 610 to Massaponax, terminating in Spotsylvania County.

“There have been a lot of people from the surrounding jurisdictions who have expressed concern that the proposed lane that was supposed to be built from Dumfries to Garrisonville Road [Va. 610] will not happen,” said Harf.

The idea behind the single-lane extension was to alleviate congestion at the current express lane merge at Dumfries, and to provide Stafford County with another lane, one more lane than it has now, Harf said.

In December, PRTC sent a letter to Homer citing some of the transit agency’s specific concerns about the entire project. Among them was the width of the proposed lanes, as the company said it will squeeze a third lane inside the space of the existing two HOV lanes, from Dumfries to the 14th Street Bridge crossing the Potomac into Washington, D.C.

The area in which the express lanes sit, between Prince William Parkway and the 14th Street Bridge, cannot be widened because “acquisition of additional rights-of-way is practically impossible to extraordinary costs and community impacts,” stated Homer in his response letter to PRTC.

The agency said that with the loss of shoulder room, and in some places the entire shoulder, a disabled bus stopped on the side of the road would not only take up a portion of a travel lane, it could create delays for other drivers.

“There is significant space constriction at various points on the lanes, especially inside the Beltway, that would cause delays in the event of a bus were to be broken down,” Harf said.

“But the state asserts that even with the smaller lanes and loss of shoulder space, there would be no change in traffic flow because of the multiple pull-off areas that would be built alongside the lanes, along with increased enforcement patrols. We simply have to agree to disagree with the state’s point of view.”

Harf said the agency expects the reviews to be completed in the “next couple of weeks,” and the state expects to have a final agreement penned with Flour-Transurban about the project later this month.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.