Toll lanes for the Beltway in Virginia - Fluor proposal

Fluor corporation's plan for Washington's Capital Beltway is proving irresistible to elected officials. It promises to provide 12-lanes and some key interchange rebuilds for $630m the costs being recouped from four toll express or HOT lanes in the center. Tolls would vary by time of day between $1.00 and $4.25 for the 19km (12mi) full distance between I-95 in Springfield and the Dulles Tollroad at Tysons Corner. By contrast the state DOT's plan for 4 HOV lanes and complete rebuilding was costed at $3,250m and it generates no revenue stream.(see project1.parsons.com/capitalbeltway)

With state revenues and federal grants heavily committed to a $700m Springfield interchange (IC) rebuild presently under way, and a new $2500m Wilson Bridge just started, the Capital Beltway is already getting a huge infusion of government cash in its northern Virginia portion. Yet the heaviest traffic is on the remainder of the beltway Springfield interchange to the Dulles roads.

Although offering 12 lanes also the $700m Fluor proposal is not the goldplated job initially proposed by the state. It squeezes the four toll lanes mainly in the central median area as on CA-91 in eastern Orange County CA by having continuous pavement. The express lanes would be divided from the untolled lanes by painted buffer just 0.6m to 1.2m (2 to 4ft) and plastic breakaway posts allowing them to dispense with breakdown shoulders each side of a concrete barrier proposed by VDOT. That format requires an extra 8m (26ft) and of course does allow incidents to be handled better. Fluor would have an inside breakdown shoulder against the central concrete barrier dividing the two directions of traffic.

In sum, the Fluor scheme concentrates money in 4-lanes of extra pavement and the worst interchanges, while spending minimal amounts on land acquisition and breakdown lanes.

VDOT's $3.2b plan provided for dual-ramped interchanges (2-ramp IC) with direct connections to and from the central roadways while Fluor proposes 2-ramp ICs only for I-66 and Dulles Airport & Toll Road - at least initially. Fluor proposes ingress/egress slip lanes or buffer breaks instead of dual-ramped ICs for Braddock Rd, US-50, VA-123 (Tysons Corner) and VA-193.

However Fluor's proposal leaves extra 2-ramped ICs as an add-on option that would require some state funding as part of the initial scheme:

- Braddock Rd 2-ramp IC $28m

- US-50 2-ramp IC $24m

- VA-123 (Tysons Cnr) 2-ramp IC $24m

The Fluor proposal also requires the state to take responsibility for all real estate acquisitions and utility relocations. But it requires less land acquisition than the state plan which involved about 300 houses and businesses and some 20 acres of parkland to be acquired. With lesser property encroachment, the Fluor plan is also liable to face less local opposition than the VDOT scheme. Fluor attorney William Thomas says only ten houses will need to be taken for the Fluor proposal.

    The $3.2b VDOT scheme is dead in the water because of the lack of tax money to spare. A referendum proposing an increase in the local sales tax to fund this Beltway widening and other transport projects in northern Virginia was decisively defeated last November. A number of groups have spoken up for toll projects as an alternative.

Fluor corp proposes that the express lanes it would build would allow vehicles with 3 or more persons to go free. No trucks would be allowed. The project extends from the Springvale I-95/I-395 interchange of the beltway (I-495) west and north to Braddock Road (VA-620), past VA-236 (Little River Turnpike detolled), US-50, I-66, VA-7 (Leesburg Pike detolled) and VA-123 at Tysons Corner, to north of the Dulles Access and Toll Road (VA-267). The 11km (7mi) easterly heading segment from the Springfield interchange to the Wilson Bridge in Alexandria is specified as an “Optional Expansion” of the Fluor HOT Lanes project.

The Commonwealth Transportation Board, Virginia’s state level policymaker voted July 17 in favor of moving the Fluor project to the next stage of review. Virginia's traNsport sec Phil Shucet is quite exuberant with his praise for the Fluor scheme saying it is a "shining example" of the kind of proposal is needed form the private sector.

"HOT lanes represent an opportunity to get extra capacity if people choose to use it. It will allow them to move from a more congested traffic lane to a lane with some (spare) capacity. The alternative may be for us to do nothing."

"We have a transportation problem for which there is not a readily available public solution," Shucet said. HOT lanes "represent an application of a basic economic principle on a transportation system: 'There's some capacity in the lanes, and I can pay for the right to use them.' " (WASH POST 2003-07-17)

VDOT has applied to the US government for a grant under the value pricing program for money for HOT lane studies.

A VDOT powerpoint presentation hints at some of the more sticking points in negotiations with Fluor. It notes the no-compete clause "needs to be carefully considered. Federal permission will be needed for the tolling because an interstate is involved. Further the Fluor scheme "requires design exceptions" - an apparent reference to the use of a buffer rather than barrier plus shoulder lanes to divide the roadways.

HISTORY: The Capital Beltway has become a metaphor for political thinking with "Inside the beltway" representing Washington and "Outside the Beltway" the rest of the country. In fact Washington has spread way beyond the Beltway with about a third of the 4.5m population and businesss now located outside it. Two of the three major area airports are also outside the Beltway. That spread gives the Beltway a crucial local transport role, such that it is sometimes dubbed the area's Main Street, though it was initially intended as a bypass.

It is 103km (64mi) in length, split two-thirds in Maryland and one-third in Virginia and is located 13km to 20km (8 to 12mi) radius from the White House. Built in its first incarnation between 1956 and 1964 it was initially a mix of 2x2 and 2x3-lanes. Its busiest leg is in Maryland near College Park and I-95 north where 250k traffic counts are common, but close to I-95 south in Springfield and at Tysons Corner the counts are close to that level.

In Virginia the Beltway was widened to its 2x4-lanes in the late 1970s. It carries average annual daily flows which vary by legs between 180k and 240k. Traffic is mostly local – 75% of trips begin or end in Fairfax County - since the highway is the maior north-south artery in the middle of northern Virginia, though it also carries Maryland and longer distance traffic. Daily traffic counts on the two Potomac River bridges between the states are 180k.

By 2020, the design year for reconstruction, VDOT projects average traffic at 320k vs 210k now, a 50% increase and the justification for a 50% capacity increase. The project is already supported by a major investment study and a draft enviro impact study. A preferred local alternative is due for selection by spring 2004 and final EIS by end-2004.

Virginia transport commissioner (secretary) Phil Shucet said after the vote that the Fluor proposal merits “detailed evaluation” and set a timetable. Fluor’s deadline for its detailed proposal will be October. The state’s Public-Private Transport Act (PPTA) advisory committee will have until January 2004 to report and, if supportive, negotiations will start on a Fluor-state contract. When Fluor submitted the proposal in June 2002 there was a statutory period for competitive offers, but none were received. (Fluor has published nothing on the proposal.) TRnews 2003-07-20