Washington-Area Transit Officials Explore Tolling Some Roads

WASHINGTON - State and local transportation officials are exploring the possibility of creating a network of variably-priced tolls on major roads in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbiain an effort to reduce congestion and increase funding for mass transit.

The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board, which is the federally designated metropolitan planning organization for the area, unveiled an 18-month study yesterday that looked at three scenarios that would implement a network of tolls throughout the region.

Under one possibility, new high occupancy toll, or HOT, lanes would be added to all of the region's interstate highways and major roads. The second scenario would add HOT lanes where possible, as well as add tolls to existing freeways and major roads in the district, such as New York Ave, which connects Interstate 395 with U.S. Highway 50. The third scenario would expand on the second by adding tolls to the region's federally-owned parkways such as the George Washington Memorial Parkway and Rock Creek Parkway.

Of the three scenarios, only the latter appears to generate sufficient revenue to pay for itself, reduce congestion, and generate sufficient revenue to fund improved transit, according to the study.

"The [first] HOT lanes scenario itself doesn't look like it would be very cost-effective," said Arlington County, Va. board member Chris Zimmerman, chairman of the task force established by the region's planning board to conduct the study. "The only [scenario] that comes close is the one that is broadly based, where you have [the HOT lanes,] the D.C. roads and parkways," he said in an interview yesterday.

The report comes as the region is building two new toll projects. In Maryland, the state has begun work on the Intercounty Connector, a $2.4 billion, 18.8-mile toll road that will provide an east-west traffic link between I-270 in Montgomery County and I-95 in Prince George's County.

The Maryland Transportation Authority will issue about $425 million of grant anticipation revenue vehicles for the ICC project sometime after July 1, state finance officials have said. The deal would follow a $325 million Garvee deal floated last year for initial ICC construction costs. In addition to the $750 million of Garvees, other sources of project funding would include $264 million from Maryland, $180 million from the Maryland Department of Transportation, and $1.2 billion of toll revenue bonds issued by the MdTA.

In Virginia, the state has agreed to let Transurban and Fluor Enterprises add 14 miles of HOT lanes on the Capital Beltway - also known as I-495 - between the Dulles Toll Road interchange and Springfield, where I-95 and I-395 connect with the beltway.

Virginia will issue $587 million of tax-exempt private-activity bonds, which will be repaid by the project sponsors, to cover a portion of the project's $1.9 billion cost. The Department of Transportation will provide a $588 million direct loan under a credit assistance program and the private firms, which will also operate, maintain, and collect the tolls from the HOT lanes for 75 years after construction, will provide $350 million for the project. Another $409 million will be provided by the state.

Zimmerman, who is also chairman of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the head of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, said the region is exploring tolling because revenues from federal and state gas taxes, which have traditionally been used to fund transportation projects, have not kept pace with needs.

"The reason that people have been forced to look at this is because ... the federal gas tax has not been raised since 1993 and in Virginia the gas tax has not been raises since 1986," he said. "It is ridiculous to try to run a [transportation] system on prices that were set a decade and a half or two decades ago and so that is why we have all these problems."

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