Dulles Toll Road New Rate Goes Into Effect on January 1
Twenty five cent increase at Main Toll Plaza; Tolls at On/Off Ramps to remain the same.
Effective January 1, 2012, the toll rate on the Dulles Toll Road will increase by 25 cents at the Main Toll Plaza to $1.50. Toll rates on the on/off ramps will remain 75 cents.
A three-year schedule for new toll rates was approved by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board of Directors in November 2009 after conducting a series of public hearings. This included toll rate increases of 25 cents at the Main Toll Plaza each January through 2012. Public hearings and Board action would be required for any future rate changes along the Toll Road beyond 2012.
The toll increases are necessary for the Airports Authority to fulfill its commitment to operate and maintain the Dulles Toll Road and to construct the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project.
That commitment is contained in agreements with the Commonwealth of Virginia and local governments in Northern Virginia, and is based in substantial part on the parties’ agreement that funding for the Metrorail Project is to come from Dulles Toll Road revenues, as well as contributions by the federal government, the Commonwealth, Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, and the Airports Authority.
Under its agreement with the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Airports Authority assumed the responsibility to operate and maintain the Dulles Toll Road for a 50-year period beginning in November 2008.
For more information about the Dulles Toll Road and the process the Airports Authority follows before setting new toll rates, visit http://www.mwaa.com/tollroad/1147.htm.
Rob Whitfield
11:31 am on Wednesday, December 21, 2011
The public will soon discover that MWAA plans to double tolls in 2013 and again in 2016. No Dulles Rail funding plan public hearing was held on the $6.5+ billion projected capital costs. Governor Kaine and MWAA made Dulles Toll Road users the "default" funding source when the plan was for 50% federal funding, 25% local funding, 25% Virginia funding. Today, federal funds cover only 13% of estimated total Dulles Rail capital costs.
USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood and FTA Adminstrator Peter Rogoff in drafting the July 2011 Memorandum of Agreement made no effort to obtain public input or consider funding schemes other than one that relies on dominant DTR user funding. Where else in the United States can you find a $6+ billion public works project in which those "earmarked" to pay most costs have no voice in the process?
Dulles Rail is the largest unauthorized wealth transfer project ever built in the United States. The original 103 mile Metro system was built with 75 to 90% federal funding -the rest from WMATA Compact jurisdictions. Thanks to May 2000 changes made in the WMATA regional compact, each jurisdiction must now fund its own new project capital costs. Thus, Fairfax and Loudoun County residents and businesses are paying for a rail line that will primarily benefit Alexandria, Arlington County, Falls Church and DC.
Ask WMATA to produce the Dulles Rail ridership, revenue, operating cost and subsidy projections. As G. Gordon Liddy would say: "Oh, ye suckers!"
Jonathan Erickson
6:32 am on Friday, December 23, 2011
Who is paying for the cost overun by Kawaski and the metro cars?
Rob Whitfield
11:02 am on Saturday, December 24, 2011
A clarification and correction to my post on Thursday.
MWAA projects 2011 Dulles Toll Road tolls collected to be $95 million. In the 2013 to 2015 period, the chart below provided at the recent MWAA Reston workshop shows approximately $200 million per year in gross toll revenues are needed to cover DTR operations costs and debt service on Dulles Rail bonds. The amount needed jumps to approximately $280 million per year in the 2016 to 2018 period.
See page 16 of the following link:
http://www.mwaa.com/file/DTR_2011_Public_Update_1_of_2.pdf
DESPITE RAIL PROJECT SPONSOR BOGUS CLAIMS THAT PHASE 2 CAPITAL COSTS ARE BEING REDUCED TO ABOUT $2.8 BILLION FROM $3.8 BILLION (THIS APPEARS TO BE CONSTRUCTIVE FRAUD AS TOTAL COSTS WILL BE WELL OVER $3 BILLION!!), NEAR TERM DTR TOLLS "EARMARKED" BY MWAA FOR TOLL ROAD USERS HAVE INCREASED GREATLY FROM THE 2009 PROJECTIONS WHICH SHOWED "ONLY" $220 MILLION TOLLS NEEDED BY 2020.
See page 4 of the following link:
http://www.mwaa.com/file/toll_exhibit3.pdf
In 2009, MWAA projected tolls to increase to about $500 million annually after 2043. Now MWAA projects tolls to increase to over $600 million annually in the 2040s and almost $800 million annually in the 2050s.
IT'S TIME FOR VIRGINIA TO TAKE BACK THE RAIL PROJECT FROM MWAA. PHASE 2 SHOULD ONLY BE BUILT IN LOUDOUN COUNTY WHEN PROJECTED DEMOGRAPHICS, RAIL PASSENGER DEMAND, REVENUES, COSTS, ECONOMICS AND FINANCIAL STRUCTURE DEMONSTRATE THAT THE PROJECT IS FEASIBLE.
Jonathan Erickson
3:53 pm on Tuesday, December 27, 2011
You may not like Ken, but he is correct about the metro. It will not help Loudoun County and is too expensive.