Carpoolers don't want HOT lanes on I-95

Prince William County, Va. - Local carpoolers say the proposed High Occupancy Toll lane project on Interstate 95 and 395 will adversely affect their way of commuting.

If built, the lanes would replace the HOV lanes that run from Dumfries to the Pentagon and would be extended to Spotsylvania County to make a 56-mile toll road.

"It's a road that we've already built as taxpayers, and it's not right that they are going to take the HOV lanes away from us and make us pay for them again," said Naomi Snell of Lake Ridge.

An auditor supervisor for the federal government, Snell has been actively protesting the proposed lanes since the public hearing process for the road project began. The idea to add toll lanes to I-95 was first proposed in 2002.

Right now, the project is on hold because the two companies vying to build the lanes, Texas-based Fluor and Australia's Transurban, had problems last summer finding enough investors for the project.

Additionally, a lawsuit filed by Arlington County against the federal and state governments claiming that all of the necessary environmental studies for the project had not been completed also helped slow the process.

"If they build this project, they are going to add several on and off ramps to the lanes, in addition to ones that are already there. Every time you add one of those, you are going to slow traffic," she said.

What also worries sluggers from Prince William County is the addition of a third lane that will be squeezed between the two existing HOV lanes between Dumfries and the Pentagon. The additional lane would allow more cars on the HOT lanes but the road would not be widened. The lanes would simply be re-striped, leaving little if any shoulder.

"You are going to have accidents. And when something stalls on those lanes and they have no room to pull off, traffic is going to slow because there will be no way to clear it in time," Snell added.

Slow traffic is what worries Manassas resident and slugger Patrick Kelly. He uses the lanes from Lake Ridge because they are the cheapest and fastest way to get to his job at a Washington trade association.

"Fluor-Transurban is going to make sure there are as many paying cars on the lanes as possible, all the while maintaining 50 mph speed limit, even though the speed limit right now is 65," said Kelly. "Fifty sounds like a good idea, but in reality people sometimes cruise in at about 70 right now because the lanes are so efficient."

So far, the companies have not said how much the toll prices of these lanes could be.

A third lane and slower operating speeds have also worried commuter bus providers, who now rely on the HOV lanes to get bus passengers to their jobs in Arlington and Washington. A blocked lane and subsequently slow traffic can hamper on-time performance. And an overall slower speed could make riders look elsewhere for a way to work.

On the HOT lanes currently being built on the Capital Beltway from Springfield to Dulles Toll Road, state officials say vehicles with three or more passengers will be able to ride for free at all times. Single drivers would have to pay as much as $6 one way, depending on how many cars in the lanes. The more cars on the lanes, the higher the price to travel.

Fluor-Transurban, which will own the Beltway lanes for 80 years, says they will make available a special EZ Pass transponder that drivers can use at electronic toll booths to access the lanes. The lane prices could change every six minutes, and once a driver enters the lanes he would be locked in at the price posted when he entered.

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-530-3905.