Articles

Coming to an Interstate Near You

Congestion pricing is coming to Northern Virginia, promising to help with otherwise intractable traffic problems.

by Lyle Solla-Yates

Imagine this scenario. You're driving to work along the Interstate, anticipating the usual bumper-to-bumper traffic that slows to a crawl, then speeds up, then slows again with no seeming rhyme or reason. Then you spot a sign offering an alternative to the ol' stop-and-go. For $5, or whatever the price may be that day, depending upon traffic conditions, you can hop onto a free-flowing stretch of HOT lane and bypass all that frustration. An electronic reader scans a sticker on your car as you enter, so you don't even have to slow down. You wave to the poor blokes mired in the congestion as they disappear in your rear-view mirror.

That is congestion pricing -- what Virginia Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer calls an “indispensable” tool for relieving traffic gridlock in Virginia.

Congestion pricing is not some academic theory. It's coming. Plans are far advanced to introduce the congestion-fighting strategy to an interlocking network of transportation corridors in the region, including Interstate 495, Interstate 95, the Dulles Toll Road, and possibly Interstate 66. Though not as far along, congestion pricing is being considered for Hampton Roads as well.

The emergence of congestion pricing, also referred to as value pricing, as a mechanism to allocate scarce highway may be the most significant shift in transportation policy in Virginia since the 1930s -- more important than the 1990s-era law allowing the creation of public-private partnerships, more important than this year's Comprehensive Transportation Funding and Reform Act.

Under congestion pricing, the toll varies according to the demand for a particular road at a particular time of day. The objective of the toll keeper is to reduce the number of cars to a level that optimizes the flow through the roads (or lanes). Higher demand creates higher prices, and diminished demand results in lower prices. Drivers can view the tolls on signs posted far enough ahead that they can choose whether to pay, take their chances in the non-tolled lanes, or try another route. 

“If people are going to be paying more, they need to get something back,” contends Secretary Homer. And they do. Not only do toll payers get to bypass congestion, they actually contribute to increasing the capacity of the transportation system. When set at  proper levels, tolls can be used to nudge traffic volumes to optimal levels that maximize throughput.

Congestion pricing works because there is more flexibility in the system than commonly recognized. According to Federal Department of Highways surveys, only half of all vehicles driving during rush hour are commuting to and from work -- many are making discretionary trips. Half of the vehicles contributing to congestion could choose another time, carpool, take transit, or trip chain, doing a number of things in one trip. Even those who are commuting might still change their hours with flextime or telecommute.

Keeping traffic running smoothly saves time, money, gas, greenhouse emissions and lives -- thanks to emergency vehicles. With traditional tolls, the price of using a road is the same at rush hour as it is in the middle of the night. Sometimes traffic is heavy and slow, sometimes not. Regardless, you pay the same. The purpose of fixed-price tolls is usually to raise money to pay for building the road. When prices change to meet the quality of the service, tolls still make money, but they also make roads work much more efficiently, providing a faster route and greater dependability, meaning less stress for drivers. 

This map highlights the major Northern Virginia arteries -- I-95, I-394, I-495, I-66 and the Dulles Toll Road (Rt. 267) -- where congestion pricing will, or could, transform traffic patterns.

(Map credit: Google maps.)

Construction of HOT lanes, one type of congestion pricing strategy, is scheduled to begin in late 2008, with the first segments on I-95 and I-395 completed as soon as 2010. Private toll road developer Fluor-Transurban has engaged with the Virginia Department of Transportation in two separate projects to add optional congestion-priced lanes on the I-495 Beltway and the I-95/I-395 corridor from Washington, D.C. to Spotsylvania County. (HOT stands for High Occupancy Toll, allowing vehicles with three or more passengers free access just like an HOV lane, but also allowing other drivers on in exchange for a congestion busting price.)

On I-95/395, existing HOV lanes in the center median will be extended 28 miles south and opened up to toll payers, improving capacity and smoothing out traffic. The system of HOT lanes will continue on the Beltway, which is scheduled to break ground in Spring of 2008 and open in 2012, forming a 70-mile network. The public-private partnership will kick in $390 million for new buses, bus routes, station improvements and about 3,000 new Park & Ride spaces to support the lanes.

Also in Northern Virginia, the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority will modify the Dulles Toll Road to shift prices according to demand as part of a project to provide a rail line to Dulles International Airport. Homer confirms also that the I-66 corridor is in the early stages of consideration for congestion pricing.

Virginia's HOT lanes would dove-tail with a congestion-pricing strategy planned by the state of Maryland for its section of the Capital Beltway as well as I-270 from the Beltway to U.S. 15 in Frederick County. Because of design constraints, the Maryland program will not exempt high occupancy vehicles from the tolls.

Hampton Roads may see value pricing, too, if a regional study now underway shows that the strategy makes sense there. One area under consideration is the Midtown Tunnel under Elizabeth River, according to Dusty Holcombe of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Innovative Project Delivery Division, which oversees the Public-Private Partnership program. 

A variety of other transportation facilities -- from existing toll roads like Dulles or tolled bridges such as the Coleman Bridge in Hampton Roads - might be suitable for congestion pricing. Likewise, HOV lanes that see intermittent use like those on I-95 can be upgraded to HOT lanes to better use their capacity and raise revenue. In all, estimates Holcombe, the strategy could address “about 20 percent of our mobility needs.”

While congestion pricing in Virginia is being considered primarily for highway corridors or bottlenecks like bridges, the tool has been used for large urban areas. In cities such as London, Stockholm, and Singapore, and proposed for New York City, value pricing takes the form of Cordon Pricing in which any vehicle entering an urban area pays a fixed or variable fee. The tactic has proven effective for reducing congestion in dense city centers. A recent study by the Resources for the Future research institute found that cordon pricing would offer “modest but positive” benefits to Washington, D.C. District Mayor Adrian M. Fenty has called it a “good idea.” Secretary Homer sees no useful applications for the tool in Virginia.

Source: Stockholm Trial Expert Group

Transportation planners note that congestion pricing works best where transit systems are in place to provide drivers an alternative. If buses or railroads are not available, congestion pricing can be burdensome to some drivers, creating equity problems.

Even when transit is available, critics maintain that congestion pricing is unfair to drivers who can't afford the tolls, referring disparagingly to HOT lanes as "Lexus lanes." But that concern can be addressed by providing toll discounts or credits to low-income individuals, or by reducing other taxes that motorists pay to support road construction.

As it turns out, lower-income drivers often support congestion pricing. Seventy percent of lower-income drivers on San Diego’s HOT lane system, for instance, say they like having the option of taking a fast and reliable lane when they really need it -- to pick up a child at day care, for example, in time to avoid a late penalty.

The biggest obstacle is political. Voters just don't like paying tolls any more than they like paying taxes. Indeed, many Virginians don't see a dime's worth of difference between the two. “Customers don’t distinguish between congestion pricing and tolling” because “tolling is rare in most areas of Virginia,” notes Secretary Homer. However, when drivers actually experience congestion pricing and enjoy the benefits of freer-flowing traffic, experience has shown, public acceptance increases markedly. 

-- July 16, 2007