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Why
HOT is Cool
Given
Virginia's fiscal realities, High
Occupancy Vehicle lanes with toll options may be
only the realistic model for improving Northern
Virginia's transportation system in the
foreseeable future.
Transportation
headlines over the last few months in
Northern Virginia
are taking the temperature of the public on a new
transportation option. “One likes it HOT,”
notes The
Washington Post. “HOT lanes debate heats
up,” blares The
Connection Newspapers. “HOT lanes get warm
reception,” adds the Times Community Newspapers. What is this option that suggests HOT is
cool?
High-occupancy
vehicle lanes (HOV) that require cars and trucks
to have two or three passengers in the morning and
afternoon rush hours already exist in major
corridors in Northern Virginia, such as I-95, I-66
and the Dulles Toll Road, and in some other urban
areas in Virginia. Public transit buses also use
the lanes for express service now. But expanding
and connecting the current network of HOV lanes
means more construction and eventually billions in
transportation dollars neither the Commonwealth
nor local governments in
Northern
Virginia
now can amass.
Enter
high-occupancy toll lanes (HOT). In an existing
corridor, such as an interstate or the Capitol
Beltway in Northern Virginia, commuters gain a
third choice -- use the regular lanes, car pool in
the HOT lane or pay a toll to use those lanes. The
price charged may vary with the time of day –
more expensive at rush hour, less expensive at
other times.
Optimized
for use by car pools and transit buses as is the
case with HOV lanes now, HOT lanes with a toll
option for other vehicles provide their own
project financing. Under
Virginia’s
Public-Private Transportation Act, private
investor-construction teams can front most of the
funds and share most of the project risk with some
assistance from the federal government in the form
of loans, loan guarantees and lines of credit.
Benefits
for travelers, commuters, local governments and
the state are faster, safer travel times by car
and express bus within existing transportation
corridors. Pilot projects in Southern
California
and Texas
are proving the concept. The vast majority of
Northern
Virginia
state senators and delegates and the Fairfax
County Board of Supervisors already are on record
supporting HOT lanes as a preferred alternative to
making existing transportation corridors ever
wider.
Technology
is what makes HOT lanes possible. Tolls can be
collected electronically using the windshield
transponders already deployed through the SmartTag
and E-Z Pass programs, which eliminates the wait
travelers hate. Cameras and other monitoring
devices constantly sample the traffic in HOT lanes
and boost the toll price, say up to $5.00 when
slowdowns occur to discourage new single-passenger
vehicles from entering and encourage single
passenger vehicles to exit. As traffic flows more
freely, the price drops again, say to $1.00.
There
are questions about HOT lanes, of course. The
early moniker given the concept was “Lexus
Lanes,” as though only the wealthy could afford
the toll. In fact, pilots have shown that any
driver in search of a timely trip on any given day
welcomes another choice to add to express bus or
carpools options. Other questions flock around how
projects are best financed, what monetary benefits
should accrue to private investors and state and
local governments, and how HOV- and HOT-lane rules
and regulations will be enforced.
Legislation
is now under consideration in the General Assembly
to smooth these processes by strictly defining
what HOT lanes are, what responsibilities the HOT
lane operator and public entities have, whether
and how a photo-enforcement system might be used
and what kinds of information may be necessary to
collect and share among vehicle owners, HOT lane
operators and law enforcement officers.
But
the most convincing bottom line for HOT lanes is
that they are possible in the medium-term even
without a huge increase in tax revenues. Instead
of wishing traffic congestion won’t occur or
waiting for a huge tax revenue windfall for state
and local governments, HOT lanes boost a strategy
of better managing congestion. Tolls also would
open up a revenue stream that potentially could
underwrite an express bus network along Northern
Virginia's major transportation corridors.
Fairfax
County Supervisor Dana Kauffman, whose Lee
District includes the notorious Springfield
“Mixing Bowl” interchange of I-95/I-395/I-495,
contends that, done properly, HOT lanes could
offer a viable Fredericksburg-
Springfield-Tysons
Corner link that would also tie into Metrorail
(both in Springfield and Tysons) and Virginia
Railway Express (both the Fredericksburg and
Manassas lines). News reports document that
Maryland, too, is renewing its consideration of
HOT lanes in several corridors, including its
portion of the Capitol Beltway, another reason why
HOT looks so cool.
--
February 2, 2004
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