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Beltway toll lanes could cost $4 billion

Friday, Oct. 28, 2005

Click here to enlarge this photo Flanagan Toll laneseverywhere

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) met Wednesday with Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner (D) and Washington Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) in Annapolis for two hours to discuss traffic and other regional issues.

Maryland will spend $1 million to study express toll lanes on the 14 miles of the American Legion Bridge corridor (from Interstate 270 at I-370 to Georgetown Pike in Northern Virginia) while Virginia will study 14 miles of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge approach (from Springfield to Route 5 in Prince George’s County).

Eventually, Maryland plans to have express toll lanes — known as high-occupancy toll lanes in Virginia — throughout the state, said Maryland Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan.

Building express toll lanes on the Beltway and I-270 could cost more than $4 billion, Flanagan said. Although toll collections would help offset the costs, they would not cover all of the costs of building the lanes.

‘‘The important thing is motorists would always have a choice,” Flanagan said. ‘‘At times they could choose to drive on them. The rates would be market driven based on supply and demand. Let’s say you’re running late to pick up your child from day care and you’re facing a $20 fine if you’re late — you might choose to select the toll lane that day.”

‘‘We think that’s marvelous news,” said John B. Townsend II, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. ‘‘It’s one of the most encouraging developments for traffic in recent years.”

After getting stuck in traffic Thursday morning, which turned his normal 30-minute commute into a 90-minute ordeal, Townsend said he would have willingly paid the proposed $13 toll.

‘‘We’re so fed up, I think people are willing to try anything at this point,” he said. ‘‘If this would end congestion, I think most people will try it.”

Not so fast, critics say.

‘‘We have some concerns,” said Laura Olsen, assistant director of Coalition for Smarter Growth in Washington. ‘‘Our biggest concern is they’re spending $2 million to study one alternative that probably isn’t going to help most commuters.”

Instead of spending the money on a system that would benefit only those who can afford to pay the tolls while doing little to ease congestion, the two states should look at all of the options, Olsen said.

And instead of spending billions to add new toll lanes, the states should invest that money into economic development so people would not have to drive so far to their jobs, she said.

‘‘We can’t build our way out of these problems,” Olsen said. ‘‘We could build 50-lane roads and it wouldn’t solve the problem. Or we could provide people with jobs closer to where they live, and it’d be cheaper than building new roads.”

Chris Carney, conservation organizer with the Sierra Club for the Washington region, said even if the states decide to add toll lanes, they could still add a rail system to carry commuters over the new Wilson Bridge when it is completed.

‘‘The bridge would still have 10 lanes instead of 12 if you add rail,” he said. ‘‘And one lane of rail could easily outperform the other lanes combined.”

While the Sierra Club has not taken a position on toll lanes, Carney said, the states should not look at just adding lanes to solve the region’s traffic problems.

‘‘Adding lanes in general leads to more long-distance driving, and the states instead should focus on the rail system,” he said.

Edgar Gonzalez, deputy director of the Montgomery County Department of Public Works and Transportation, said he is for the study.

‘‘It is something that needs to be analyzed,” he said. ‘‘We’re not against studies. But we haven’t taken a position on tolls.”