Keep in mind VDOT could retake control of the Dulles Toll Road and restore order by cutting MWAA out of the process. That would require that leaders exert the political will and act on behalf of the people instead of the many special interests who would resist that action.
How? Go here to see the operating permit
The MWAA waste factor, read it and weep:
click on the title to go to the article
Dulles toll could double by 2015
We should install large vacuum cleaners to automatically suck out our wallets as we pass notable raodway landmarks, then ticket people for not having their wallets. When will this nonsense end!
This is one of the most avoidable premeditated mistakes of all time
You're not "in" traffic. You are traffic.
A good road ruined by a government boondoggle. The silver line is correctly named. It will line the pockets of lots of inside the beltway thugs with silver.
This is really just a revenue grab wrapped in whatever rationalization makes you feel better. At the end of the day, $4.50 for tolls will probably be less than the fare card for the same trip. Someone did the math and realized that without the toll increase, there would be a disincentive to use the Metro line to Dulles.
I live right off of the Toll Road in Reston and I'm already seeing the effects of commuters fleeing to other roads. The traffic in the area is terrible, even during off-peak hours and Route 7 is a joke. It needs to have the lights removed so it can function as a reasonsable alternative. I end up using the Toll Road just to get around my own community. Doubling the rates is only going to create more gridlock and force the towns in the area to foot the bill to deal with it. It's going to be bad enough when all the Loudoun commuters start flocking to the Wiehle Ave. metro station and clogging up my road.
Loudoun County taxpayers should make sure the landowners and businesses around the rail stations don't succeed in pushing most of the costs onto people living out around Lovettsville and other such places that are far from the rail stations.
Show me a single earlier section of the Metro that was paid for by tolls.
You can't -- there are none. This is one more example of cowardly leaders who could not build up the fortitude to pass a regional tax on gas to pay for the Silver line. The easy way out was to turn over the construction responsibilities to the Airport "Authority" and blame them for any increases in the toll.
So, all you cummuters from Ashburn, Herndon and Leesburg -- thanks for the money! Remember who did this to you.
What ever happen to the users of the service paying for the service. You folks that want the metro always want someone else to pay for it. This will eventually make our country like Greece. I guess that comes from living in a part of the country that lives off the taxpayers back. You just get used to spending other people's money.
You can already see the effects of the toll increases on Toll Road traffic. Rush hour traffic is still heavy. But outside rush hour traffic on the Toll Road is light while Rte 7 and 66 are heavy all the time. Inside Rte 50, I66 is in rush hour mode almost all the time. People are smart and they will find ways around the toll road, which will become like the Greenway--a rush hour only road.
What a bunch of crap. Keep socking it to the middle class. I live in MD but work in VA and will not use 267 at all should these tolls go to those levels. I stopped using the Greenway because of the ridiculous toll structure there, now 267 is about to get just as absurd. All this will do is intensify the gridlock on 495 and Rt. 7. But wa495. Just keep reaching into your wallet folks because this is only going to get worse. Any idea where all the gas tax money goes?
Why don't Metro riders subsidize the Silver Line? They are the ones that will be using it, not those in cars.
This toll is totally on the backs of the residents of Fairfax and Loudon County --- precisely the people who WON"T be using the line to get to Dulles Airport. Highway 7 is already past max capacity as is the Georgetown Pike and other roads which access I-495 and the GW Parkway. There literally are no other options to get to work. I'm sure the militant vegan urban public-transport lovers are relishing the thought at this price increase and all the fun it will cause. I for one, will be looking to trap and grill such a person over open flame, liberally soak the charred morsels in barbecue sauce, and salted to taste.
Oh my goodness! I have the vapors! There is gambling in Casablanca! etc. etc. etc. How nutty are all these surprised comments! Of course the tolls are going up. What have they been saying now for five or six years. Please don't act like you haven't been reading about this.
And, yes, this will shunt traffic to the local roads. There is no possible way that the demand for the toll road is inelastic. Raise the tolls, and some people will decide it's too expensive, but they have to go to work anyway. On Route 7 and every other local road. Duh.
These articles are perfect examples of how the Washington Post has abrogated it's responsibility to investigate and report the news. Where is the analysis of the funding of the Silver Line? Nowhere .. the WaPo is just a cheerleader saying "go, go go!" Probably because no one on the editorial board has to commute in from Loudoun or Western Fairfax.
The problem is actually a bit worse than that. The increases in the tolls can't pay to service the bonds which will be let to cover the full Silver Line. Just run the numbers. Plenty of people have. It doesn't work. If the demand for the toll road is even the least bit elastic, then the money isn't there .. The Silver line has a leeetle problem. And who backs up these bonds .. not the Feds. Not the state of Virginia. It's Fairfax and Loudoun. There's trouble, right here in River City. That starts with T and rhymes with P and that stands for Pool. Or, in this case, Property Taxes.
Pay for what? Metro began a major extension project not knowing how to pay for it so they look to price gouge commuters who are spending precious amounts of their lives stuck in traffic due to traffic jams created by Metro construction.
Audit Metro to the last penny. I guarantee you there is corruption, fraud and embezzling going on. The fares are too high and the system is falling apart. Where is the money going because it certainly isn't going to keep the trains running or build the extension.
“Whether it’s the Dulles Toll Road or any other toll road in Virginia, tolls should be used to build and maintain the road that’s tolled and not used as a cash cow for other purposes,” Del. Jim LeMunyon (R-Fairfax/Loudoun) said Monday...
Amen!
Just ridiculous. 20 days of travel per month on 10 miles of road is going to cost $190 and they are not even serving a meal. I think we need someone to come up with a different plan.
I wonder if local governance is aware how this is likely to cram secondary roads
I guess no one is thinking about the many people who will not be able to afford these toll increases. The DC area is increasingly becoming too expensive for anyone who isn't earning a six figure salary, and often that isn't even enough. Eventually, some businesses are going to realize that moving to a less congested and less expensive area makes sense for both the business and the employees.
Maybe Virginia should quadruple the toll and use the extra money to help pay down the national debt. Makes about as much sense as charging people that are paying for one service (using that road), more money, so that a service they aren't using, is paid for.
Car drivers pay nothing like the cost of their damage to the environment, the highway system, and society. What spoiled socialists they are.
Why not just increase the metro train fare to the Dulles airport station to cover the construction costs?
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