VA-28:Competing proposals, one with tolls

Shirley’s proposal apparently involves sale of bonds tied to increased property taxes levied on businesses in the corridor that are part of a special tax district. But they said the details of the proposed financing are, for now, proprietory information, though an official says no tolls are involved.

Under the Public-Private Transport Act (PPTA) the proposal was open for competitive bid for 30 days. In that time Fluor Daniel and Morrison Knudsen (FDMK) put together a bid with tolls to finance the VA-28 project. Revenues from toll express lanes would finance a substantial chunk of the capital cost. VDOT declined to choose between either proposal and asked both contenders to refine them and provide more detail with a deadline late Nov. The two proposals are currently being considered by VDOT.

VA-28 presently has 6 travel lanes and three interchanges – at VA-7 (Leesburg Pike) at the northern end, at the Dulles Access/Toll Road (VA-267), at US-50, and at I-66. It carries 60k to 70k veh/day. It was upgraded from a 2-lane rural road to its present 2x3 lanes in the early 1990s to service the commercial/industrial parks, shopping centers and hotels being built around the airport. $138m of bonds had been floated in 1988 secured to revenues from a special tax district designated in the area. The first phase has pretty full access control but about ten at-grade signalized intersections. Two of these – at US-29 (Lee Hwy) and at VA-625 near the America Online complex just north of the airport – are currently in design at VDOT for conversion to full interchanges, but no funds are currently programmed for proceeding to construction.

The second phase involves a minimum:

(1) ten more intersection-to-interchange upgrades at a cost of $25m to $40m each

(2) an increase of a lane each direction to 2x4 travel lanes, and

(3) some collector-distributor lanes around the airport area and north beyond VA-625.

FD/MK envisages toll-express lanes the full 22km (14mi) length of the project from I-66 to VA-7 for a 3/2/2/3 format of three-lanes local and two lanes express in each direction. A Shirley official suggested there are weaving problems with the rival proposal since segregation between toll express and free local lanes would end just before, and resume just after, the three major interchanges. There would be no direct connector ramps for the toll express lanes.

This proved a stumbling block for HDR in Phoenix AZ where its MetroRoad scheme of HOT lanes was scrapped in 1997 after cost escalations, a large part of which were attributable to AZDOT insistence on direct-connector ramps through interchanges involving HOT lanes on the various legs. [See TRnl#21 Nov 97 p6.]

Also uncertain is the attitude of the governor James Gilmore, who has resisted extra taxation as in the Shirley scheme and tolls as in the FDMK proposal. However there is considerable local support for the work since traffic congestion is the hot-button local issue. Indeed the Shirley proposal was apparently put together at the urging of one local elected official.

The project is being presented by both Shirley and FDMK independently of proposals for a Second Crossing of the Potomac linking the Dulles area with Rockville-Gaithersburg Maryland. (see TRnl#51 Sept/Oct 00 p1) But a Second Potomac Crossing is envisaged to connect at its southern end into the Fairfax County Parkway (VA-7100) or VA-28. The upgrades proposed by Shirley and FDMK for VA-28 give that roadway the edge as the southern point of the Second Crossing. The Second Crossing would also feed it a lot more traffic and improve the financial viability of the toll option. (Contact Tom Boyd VDOT 804 786 5128, Garry Pelleschi 703 550 8100 Jim Carroll FDMK 864 281 8349, Ken Reid Marylanders for a Second Crossing 301 770 5553)