Posted on 07/13/2009 6:27:35 AM PDT by La Lydia
Virginia is trying to pull a fast one on motorists who live along the Interstate 95/395 corridor, and we all will be moving slower and paying more as a result...The latest plan effectively hands ownership of Interstate 95/395 to a foreign corporation for the next 80 years. Transurban Group, Melbourne, Australia, will lease the existing high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes for the 64-mile stretch between Spotsylvania, Va., and the Pentagon. Transurban will be responsible for building new access ramps and performing maintenance for the lanes. Drivers interested in a congestion-free ride can pay an expected $1 - or more - per mile to use the HOT lanes while the regular lanes are gridlocked...
The devil is in the details...The Beltway gets new lane construction where it is needed most; 95/395 does not. Instead, between Garrisonville Road and the Pentagon, three lanes will be squeezed into the existing two-lane space...
The commuter who undertakes the 64-mile journey from Spotsylvania would pay a shocking $33,280 each year to use the toll lanes...common commutes from a town such as Dumfries would cost drivers $8,840 each year...adjusting upward for inflation...
...Only those who register for and install a special car-pool tracking device will be allowed into HOT lanes...Because it is in Transurban's interest to minimize the number of nonpaying customers, VDOT agreed to contract language that will actively discourage ride sharing on the Beltway....
...According to the Beltway contract, Virginia taxpayers are on the hook once again if, between now and 2087, improvements are made to free, non-tolled roads in the vicinity of the toll lanes. These agreements ensure that the toll-road company will enjoy a monopoly at taxpayer expense...free roads will be neglected and not expanded to create congestion that will force motorists into the tolled lanes...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Ugh.
My favorite line in the article. There goes the excuse that it will be good for the environment. In fact, they are going to encourage more travel, not less. I love government think. No logic at all.
This is the Red Chinese model of government. I kid you not.
Did you perhaps get it backward ~ that Red China adopted a pre-existing land management system well known in Europe for CENTURIES.
They do it this way in Louisiana too ~ 90 year land leases are common.
WoW..... Did Rick Perry move to VA?
Regardless of that, it is STILL the model used in China. I do not approve of the government leasing MY land to a foriegn government, especially since it was MY tax money that built those roads in the first place.
Gov. Mitch Daniels-R leased our toll road 80/90 to a foreign country for eighty years. As of three weeks ago I have heard his name mentioned for the 2012 presidential primary.
You have to wonder about the sanity of the bureaucrats who agreed to this disaster.
Forgot to mention this is in Indiana.
Sorry
The feds passed the legislation that “paved” the way for this.
Virginia forgot to build all the other roads needed to bypass these corridors, and the state will have to do that first before signing over a single square foot of highway to anyone else.
I would suggest a new major elevated thoroughfare with limited access between I-66 and I-395 roughly where Glebe Road is today.
We also need about 15 new crossing points over I495, and Little River Turnpike should be modified into an 8 lane limited access combination expresslane/access road system ~ preferably from Centerville to Annandale.
Projects that aid only the wealthy in getting to and from DC should definitely be put on a backburner until the above named projects are completed.
Oh, yeah, and we need a couple more bridges over the Potomac into DC, and at least 3 bridges from Fairfax County to Montgomery County ~
Although HOV lanes are highly useful in this very congested area, combination toll-road HOV operations simply don't compute.
We've always had this problem with VOT. They envision Virginia as consisting mostly of open country with natural corridors controlled by mountain ranges. Northern Virginia is the other way around ~ it's not been open country for many years, and the natural corridors are controlled by the concussion rings put in place by a major meteor strike millions of years ago.
If the new toll-road HOV operation were to be made up of entirely new pavement along a new route, it might make sense and could even attract some traffic ~ if the drivers could get to it, which they can't because we do not have a secondary road "system" in this area.
Absolutely! It was dumber than dirt to build the Beltway with so few non-intersecting crossovers - if you work ANYWHERE inside the Beltway, you're stuck on the same few roads that lead to interchanges whether you actually need to be ON the B'way or not. I believe there are only two crossovers in Virginia that don't have interchanges - Idlewood over in Falls Church and one in Springfield whose name escapes me.
This is one Virginian who voted with his feet two years ago. Before leaving I took the 80 mile drive from Springfield to Ashland on I-95 on a clear Saturday morning.It took four hours.
Virginia has rapidly moved from one of the most conservative states in the nation to Massachusetts south. Fairfax county, where I lived for more than three decades along with the adjoining towns of Alexandria and Arlington put the knife to a once wonderful state.
They, of course, are nuts. This plan goes into effect and grinds I-95/et al to a halt violence in this region can be expected on a scale not seen since the Civil War.
A couple of more bridges into DC? I’d say four or five might do it. Also, try driving from Virginia to Maryland via 395 and 295. You have to get off 395, cross the bridge at Pennsylvania Avenue and go through two stoplights in order to get onto 295. It is worse coming back, because you have to drive all the way to the Howard exit and go through two lights to get back to 395. Why is there no direct access? There should be an access road from 295 to 395 southbound at Pennsylvania Avenue. The alternative to all this is taking the Beltway and going 30 miles out of your way from, say, Crystal City to Laurel. To my personal knowledge, they have been “improving” 295 and New York Avenue (Route 50) since 1994. It is still a rolling disaster. I realize this isn’t Virginia, but the same thinking applies: they spend tax money on all kinds of ridiculous programs but the roads in OUR NATION’S CAPITAL suck.
BTW, those other overpasses, et al, weren't built because there was nothing out here. Then, one day, Maryland changed all it's property tax laws and linked them into the income tax system and Northern Virginia became a very popular place to live and have businesses.
Maryland hasn't had much economic growth since then, plus they only elect corrupt politicians to office over there.
BTW, Springfield also has the COMMERCE STREET bridge over I-95, and the Spfld.Bps (Springfield Bypass) bridge.
Tales me about 35 minutes to do the Springfield to Ashland trip ~ can’t imagine 4 hours unless you made a wrong turn in that mess up near Reston or something.
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