Editorial: It Tolls for Thee

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has proposed a massive hike in prices charged to use the Dulles Toll Road. The proposed increase would raise the toll at the main plaza to $1.50, and $.75 at the toll road’s other exits.

The proposed toll increases would go to fund the lion’s share of the Metrorail extension to Dulles—the Silver Line.

There is a certain perspective that says that since the Silver Line rail expansion to Dulles would either ease the commute or provide alternate means of travel for these particular drivers, it makes sense for them to fund it. In some light, it even makes sense. However, taxpayers all along the Dulles Toll Road fund major transportation maintenance and improvements throughout the state using the state transportation funds.

Public hearings will be scheduled on the increases. However, it might also behoove you to begin asking our candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor (from both parties) how they intend to ensure that the transportation funding problem in Virginia will be fixed, and how the state can work to assist Northern Virginia–widely referenced as one of the economic engines that moves the Commonwealth–to ensure that the project is not funded directly from your pocket.

It’s fashionable and smart to call for more reasonable fees on the Dulles Greenway between Dulles and Leesburg. The Greenway is a private organization, answerable to shareholders instead of the public. Theirs is a business decision, even if one we may not agree with. But to have the same type of exorbitant fee increases on a road operated by a government authority–answerable to the public–strains credibility. Let’s hope that those public officials calling for a more reasonable toll solution on the Greenway will do the same on the toll road.

The frustrating thing about the proposed solution is that it will likely worsen the effects that it was designed to stop. For every increase in tolls, more drivers will use alternate routes to-and-from work. This will mean more drivers attempting to navigate through neighborhoods and those roads not designed for this level of traffic. Will we begin to see traffic on Route 7 at 1984 levels? Despite its challenges, the toll road moves faster—if the higher tolls move more drivers to other options, then we will see more late arrivals at home and at work, costing workplace productivity and time spent with family. More cars on the road for a longer period of time also impacts carbon emissions and gas prices, two things that mass transit proposals like the Silver Line are designed to avoid.

With statewide campaigns underway, we are certain to hear a plethora of ideas designed to lessen traffic in the area. Let’s see if these candidates are willing to assist in funding a solution that would help traffic without bankrupting local residents. While we’re at it, how about a transportation funding system that works?