Arlington courts Prince William to join HOT lanes suit

Prince William County officials have been asked to join a lawsuit that halted a project to bring toll lanes to Interstates 95 and 395.

Arlington County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Barbara A. Favola says she asked Prince William Chairman Corey A. Stewart to join their fight, and asked the county to become a plaintiff in a lawsuit Arlington filed in August against the Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Stewart said commuters from Prince William and Arlington counties share similar interests and he plans to approach his county board about joining the suit.

Arlington’s law suit claims the federal government in the waning days of the Bush administration granted Virginia transportation officials a categorical exemption that allows the planned 50 miles of lanes from Spotsylvania to the Pentagon to be built without the usual health and environmental impact studies.

Both Favola and Stewart said the state has not released data on how much commuters would pay to use the lanes or what effect they would have on carpoolers who already use the HOV lanes for free.

Prince William officials have raised concerns about narrower lanes and shoulders inside the Capital Beltway, and Favola wonders what will happen when traffic backs up at the HOT lane terminus before the 14th Street Bridge.

“If I could figure out ... how many cars would be coming onto my streets, I might be able to come up with a mitigation plan,” said Favola, who added cars will undoubtedly spill onto Arlington streets to skirt backups.

Favola called leaders across Northern Virginia to discuss her lawsuit in an attempt to drum up support.

Stewart said the Prince William board would “most likely” get behind her.

“We both have a lot to lose if HOV is essentially sold to a foreign construction company for 80 years,” said Stewart.

The company, Australia-based Fluor-Transurban, is currently constructing HOT lanes on a 14-mile stretch of the Capital Beltway from Springfield to the Dulles Toll Road. For 80 years the company will operate, maintain and profit from the lanes — to the tune of $5 to $6 per car during rush hour.

The lanes are scheduled to open in 2013 and are a first for the Beltway.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Sharon Bulova said the entire region will benefit from HOT lanes, since they will serve as a seamless transportation network from Massaponax to Tysons Corner to Washington.

Bulova and Favola, along with their counties’ attorneys, will meet Oct. 21 in Arlington to discuss their concerns about the I-95/395 HOT lanes.

“If you talk to Arlington, they have concerns about the HOT lanes. And yes, we need to make sure that we’re ironing out some of the difficulties, but there are some definite benefits from the lanes that we both recognize,” said Bulova.

One of the benefits is getting more people to job centers that are sprouting up along the highway’s corridor, including Alexandria’s Mark Center and Fort Belvoir, as both sites are set to receive a significant portion of the 90,000 federal workers to be relocated after a mandate from the Base Closure and Realignment Commission.

With the expected influx of new commuters, Favola is concerned the lanes will be priced to incentivize single passenger cars and detract from efforts to promote transit.

“A private company is going to build this, a private company is doing it to make money and a private company is going to set the pricing,” said Favola.

Attempts to get Alexandria to join the HOT lanes suit have been unsuccessful to date, though Favola says officials there also have concerns. She added that it would cost Prince William and other jurisdictions little to join their suit, as their county attorney is “doing most of the work.”

“A lawsuit is never my first choice, but I feel it is the only choice if we want to make sure our concerns are addressed,” said Favola.

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