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CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia Secretary of Transportation Aubrey Layne on Wednesday discussed a plan to ease congestion in Hampton Roads — but it comes with a cost to some. In October, the Commonwealth Transportation Board voted to allow VDOT to convert eight miles of HOV lanes on I-64 into toll lanes. The conversion to high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes or express lanes will impact the stretch of I-64 from the I-264 interchange up to Interstate 564. Solo drivers will be able to use the lanes for the first time during peak hours, but they will have to pay a...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A proposed bill to ban express lanes in Florida died Thursday in the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee. Despite causing an increase in crashes and confusion, express lanes, according to the Florida Department of Transportation, help move people faster, and that if they were eliminated the state would lose $1.5 billion over 10 years. All of that money is used to improve and fix roads. Sen. Frank Artiles, R-Miami, filed SB 250 in January. It that would have allowed the express lanes to remain in operation only until tolls are collected to pay off the bonds that...

In July Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe stood on the platform of a train station in Alexandria to announce that the U.S. Department of Transportation had granted $165 million for the Atlantic Gateway project.While this is a multimodal project featuring rail, bus, and highway improvements, it was clearly the latter that most enthused the governor. At one point during his remarks, he declared that because of the road projects, “Today, the congestion is going to end!”The primary focus of the highway improvements will be an extension of the HOT (high occupancy toll) lanes on I-95 and I-395. The only other speaker...

The Commonwealth of Virginia awarded procurement of its Transform66 Outside the Beltway project to I-66 Express Mobility Partners, a consortium of private companies, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced on Nov. 3. I-66 Express Mobility Partners, which consists of transportation infrastructure company Cintra, public infrastructure investment firm Meridiam, and the contractors Ferrovial Agroman US and Allan Myers VA, Inc., will be responsible for financing, designing, building, maintaining and operating the interstate expansion. The Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) Transform66 Outside the Beltway project will add two express lanes in each direction between I-495 and Gainesville along with three general purpose lanes...

Highway express lanes provide a faster trip for carpoolers, people who drive low-emission cars, and solo travelers who are willing to pay more.ThatÂ’s the idea, anyway.But as Americans drive more miles than ever before, express lanes are facing a challenge: they are too popular. So many drivers of all kinds are using the lanes that it is increasingly difficult for transportation officials to keep them speedy.For solo drivers, the tolls in express lanes typically vary based on demand. In some places, drivers pay more during peak travel times, and in others prices go up as more cars enter the lane....

The Ontario lottery corporation recently started advertising its newest scratch-and-win lottery: tickets cost $30 (the highest price among its lotteries), and the top prize is a cool $2.5 million. Now, if you want an indication of how bad traffic is in the GTA, consider that Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca announced a lottery of his own on Thursday: tickets cost $180 each, though you only pay if you win. The prize? One of 1,000 permits to drive in an uncongested highway lane for 16 kilometres between Burlington and Oakville. The ad copy writes itself: Imagine the freedom of cruising at...

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- METRO is getting pressure from veterans and a Houston congresswoman to act quickly on allowing disabled vets to drive the transit agency's high occupancy transit lanes for free, which most other Texas toll authorities offer. Surrounded by veterans Tuesday, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said she was baffled why the transit agency could not implement what she described as a "simple request." "A constituent called and said they wanted to be able to access the HOT lanes for free, without cost during off-peak hours," Jackson Lee said. "I really thought it was a simple request. I did...

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has announced with members of the state general assembly a plan allowing the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to add at least one additional lane in each direction to a 25-mile stretch of Interstate 55 near Chicago using a public-private partnership (P3) agreement. IDOT is allowed to use P3 agreements only if the general assembly adopts a resolution supporting a proposed project, a state law in place since 2011. This would be the first P3 managed lane project in the state. “By using existing resources to leverage private investment, we can build the type of infrastructure...

The National Park Service and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) have announced a new partnership to construct the nation's first bicycle High Occupancy/Toll Express Lanes on the Mount Vernon Trail between Rosslyn and Mount Vernon.

More tolls are coming to Ontario roads, Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca said Monday, with details on the province’s plans due in the next couple of months.Del Duca was talking about a report by a group of environmentally minded policy types calling themselves “the Ecofiscal Commission” that says road tolls are the only way to handle worsening congestion. Particularly, the report calls for adding tolls that would allow vehicles that would not otherwise qualify to use existing high-occupancy vehicle lanes.“Road use has traditionally been freely available to anyone with a driver’s licence, and the open-access nature of roads makes them...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 02, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hausfeld, a global plaintiffs’ law firm, announced today that the judge overseeing Brown, et al. v. Transurban USA, Inc., et al., No. 15-cv-494 (E.D. Va.), the Honorable James C. Cacheris, has largely denied the Defendants’ motions to dismiss the pending class action case. The plaintiffs in the case alleges that the I-495 and I-95/I-395 HOT Lanes operator (Transurban) and its debt-collection agents (Faneuil, Inc. and Law Enforcement Systems, LLC (“LES”)) violated state and federal law by assessing and seeking to collect crippling administrative fees and penalties for allegedly missed tolls. Drivers who use...

HOV is good; HOT is even better. As we saw during the Pan-Am Games, High Occupancy Vehicle lanes were great for cars with three or more people and other designated vehicles. The trouble was that they went largely unused. High Occupancy Toll lanes solve that problem by opening up the designated space to cars that don’t have the numbers but whose drivers are willing to pay for the convenience. Premier Kathleen Wynne has hinted that she’s willing to implement HOT lanes, but has not been specific about where and when. If the U.S. experience is anything to go by, however,...

The problem is clear: Traffic congestion will become significantly worse and more widespread without big changes in how people and products get around. Build more roads. Build more public transit. Rely on new technology. The possible solutions are many, but none is easy or cheap. A few ways to ease the nation's gridlock: ——— PUBLIC TRANSIT RENAISSANCE Ridership on public buses, trains and subways has reached its highest level nationally since the 1950s, and transit boosters cite this as evidence that expanded service and routes is a good investment. The nation's driving capital, Los Angeles, is making a multibillion-dollar investment...

In the next decade, Florida’s biggest cities will add toll lanes to the state’s busiest highways. Nobody knows exactly how much it will cost. Maybe as little as $3 billion. Maybe double that. What’s clear is that when the toll lanes across the state are complete, they will become one of the largest infrastructure projects in state history. There’s little debate that the toll lanes, also called express lanes or managed lanes, make commutes quicker for those willing to pay as much as $10 to use them. But there has been little debate about the need for the projects —...

There aren’t more, because some people just don’t like to pay tolls, and others haven’t figured how they can take advantage of the lanes. Transurban is happy to have anybody’s toll money, whether they are locals or long-distance travelers, but the lanes are designed largely for the benefit of local travelers. The entrance and exit system reflects that. The Tysons area business and civic leaders with whom I’ve talked express optimism about the lanes and seem hopeful about the two new access points at Westpark Drive and Jones Branch Drive. At this early stage, the most vexing thing about the...

State transportation officials should study dedicated travel lanes for vans, carpools and buses on a congested seven-mile stretch of the Capital Beltway that includes the American Legion Bridge, Montgomery and Fairfax leaders urged Tuesday. HOT lanes for toll payers and high-occupancy vehicles are planned for the Beltway in Virginia from the Springfield Interchange to just north of the Dulles Toll Road, and set to open later this year. But Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner and Fairfax Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova pointed out a seven-mile gap in dedicated high-occupancy travel lanes between the northern terminus of the planned...

(Updated at 10:35 a.m.) Arlington County has emerged victorious from its $1.5 million legal battle with the state over the plan to build High Occupancy Toll lanes on I-395. Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton announced today that the state is no longer pursuing its I-395 HOT lanes plan, which the county blocked by filing suit in 2009. VDOT is also canceling plans to upgrade the Shirlington and Eads Street interchanges. Just hours before the project’s demise was first revealed by the Washington Post, County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman sent a five-page letter to two top Virginia lawmakers further explaining Arlington’s...

The Arlington Chamber of Commerce wants to see a speedy end to the county's HOT lanes lawsuit, arguing that the cost of suing to stop the construction of high-occupancy toll lanes is damaging the county's reputation and hurting efforts to improve transportation on busy interstates. Chamber President Rich Doud said the lawsuit could undermine efforts to relieve traffic congestion in Arlington, damage the county's relationship with the private sector and drive up the HOT lanes project's cost as the lawsuit drags on. The chamber includes ending the lawsuit on its list of public policy priorities for 2011. The county spent...

Charges of race discrimination are a big part of the Arlington County Board's high-occupancy toll lanes lawsuit against Virginia and the federal government, which accuses several federal and state transportation officials of civil rights violations. The board recently filed a motion with the U.S. District Court in D.C. to expand its lawsuit to include Edward Sundra, a program manager for the Federal Highway Administration. If the court accepts the board's motion, Sundra would become the fourth person charged in the lawsuit with "blatant and intentional" neglect of federal and state anti-discrimination laws. The three individuals the lawsuit currently names --...

ARLINGTON, Va. - A lawsuit which could delay the Virginia HOT lanes project will go forward, a U.S. District Court ruled Thursday. The suit, filed by the Arlington County Board, says the high occupancy toll lanes planned for a stretch of Interstate 95/395 are intended to benefit mainly rich, white, suburban and rural residents of Stafford and Spotsylvania counties. The new toll road is planned to run between Spotsylvania County and the D.C. line. Arlington says the added traffic would come at the expense of the county's diverse urban population and constitute a violation of civil rights. "We'll find out...