HOT lanes raise affordability, safety questions in Woodbridge

An update on the proposed HOT lanes was met with tough questions Thursday night at the monthly meeting of the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission.

Young Ho Chang, who is managing the Northern Virginia HOT lanes project for the Virginia Department of Transportation, told the board that replacing the current HOV commuter system is important to the local economy and to improve the quality of life for area commuters. But the most important part of his pitch? The new lanes won't cost Virginia taxpayers a dime.

The proposal calls for the addition of a third express lane in the center Interstate 95, from the Pentagon south to Dumfries. A single lane would then be extended from Dumfries to Garrisonville Road in Stafford.

A separate, southern portion of the project would extend the lanes from Stafford to Spotsylvania, spanning nearly 60 miles when complete sometime in 2014.

Fluor-Transurban, an Australian-based company, has agreed to design, build and maintain the lanes. They will also collect toll revenue from the road, at more than $1 per mile during high traffic times.

"The beauty of congestion-based pricing is you can control the flow of traffic," Chang said.

While the prospect of a private company building new highways in a time where state transportation money is tight seems like a win-win, PRTC board members raised concerns about how much the lanes will cost drivers, how they are designed, and dwindling money for public transportation that was included in the initial proposal.

"It is important for people who live in Woodbridge to know whether or not they can afford to use to take the lanes to the Pentagon," Maureen S. Caddigan, R-Dumfries, said, questioning VDOT's inability to say exactly what the toll will be.

Once the third lane is added, the lane width will be reduced from 12 feet to 10 feet wide from the Prince William Parkway to the Pentagon. Because there is more room, the lanes will remain 12 feet wide from the parkway south to Garrisonville, Chang said.

"If a [commuter] bus breaks down and you have vehicles going at speed, do you want to be the first person off that bus?" asked Frank Jones, chairman of the PRTC board, citing the limited amount of standing room on the shoulder while waiting for another bus to pick them up.

Board members also cited the reduction of transit dollars allotted from the project, that will go strictly for transit improvements -- once marked at nearly $300 million now reduced to just $195 million.

The lanes will be designed to better accommodate buses, with the possible addition of a bus rapid transit station on or near the highway. The station could mirror Metro rail stations along Interstate 66, but parking would remain an issue, board members said.

Carpoolers will still be able to use the lanes for free as long as they have three or more passengers in the car. The project is also slated to bring with it at least 3,000 new commuter

parking spaces, paid for by Fluor-Transurban, but Chang stopped short of saying where they would go.

Construction has already begun on the 14-mile stretch of HOT lanes on the Capital Beltway, from the Springfield Interchange to just north of the Dulles Toll Road. Under a public-private partnership with the state, Fluor-Transurban is building the lanes and will operate and maintain them for 80 years. After that VDOT will assume the operation and maintenance of the lanes.

It will ultimately be up to the local jurisdictions to approve HOT lanes, and Chang offered to meet with local officials one a one on one basis, if necessary, to answer questions about the project.

If approved construction could begin as early as 2010.

"If it is anything like we've seen on the Beltway construction will begin fast, we may just have to bite the bullet and get it done," Chang said.

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