VA transport secretary Homer says August Go/No-Go time for VA 95/395 toll lanes

Virginia's transportation commissioner Pierce Homer told us in a telephone interview he's very hopeful that the HOT lanes project on I-395 and I-95 from the Pentagon south toward Fredericksburg will prove viable, but he says it's not a sure thing. "This is a very, very tough environment for financing these kinds of projects, whether they are public, or private," he said.

"We can't finance now what we could finance last year."

Also they have to set up the concession so the new facility can at least maintain present levels of service in the managed lanes.

Inside the Beltway on the I-395 portion that's 45mph (72km/hr) and outside the Beltway on the I-95 portion the present level of service is 55mph (89km/hr) minimum speed.

"Outside the Beltway it works pretty well now (as an HOV facility) and we must be sure that this project maintains that over an extended period and gives an acceptable level of service over the life of the project," Homer told us.

They are aiming for a Go/No-Go decision in August.

State officials seem concerned that a concessionaire might operate the facility for periods with denser traffic and lower speeds. The traffic modeling and detailed conditions on level of service will have to produce a project that works financially for the concessionaire and provides sufficient capacity for the high occupancy vehicles and buses that must run free.

Traffic density and hence speeds will be regulated by varying the toll rates on the toll paying traffic.  Such dynamic pricing has been in use on I-15 in San Diego for some years and has more recently been introduced on I-394 in Minneapolis and other places.

The northern Virginia project involves adding a lane to the existing 2-lane reversible HOV facility, extending it, adding direct connector ramps for entry and exit at about seven locations, adding bus transfer points and about 7,000 park & ride spaces, improving present bottlenecks, operating incident response services and driver information and promoting telework and transit.

Presently in detailed study and negotiation is a Phase One Northern Section from the Pentagon 36 miles (58km) to Garrisonville (VA610). 28 miles (45km) of this has 2-lane reversible which would be widened to 3 lanes. Another 8 miles (13km)would be built new as lanes.

Phase Two Southern Section

Phase Two Southern Section is the subject of environmental permitting and will be the subject of a second concession contract later. 28 miles (45km) in length and 2 lanes will extend the HOT lanes project through Fredericksburg to Massaponax in Spotsylvania. In the second stage an extra lane will be activated in the southern portion of Phase One.

The overall highway will be 2x4 general purpose untolled lanes and 3 reversible HOT lanes (Hich Occupancy free/ others Tolled) reducing to 2x3 general purpose lanes with 3 reversible HOT lanes to 2x3 general purpose and 2 reversible HOT lanes. Some planners have said

DoD looms large in corridor

Homer says the success of the project hinges to a considerable extent on the Department of Defense (DoD) which is a huge employer from Quantico marine base north to the Pentagon building itself. Other DoD facilities along the HOT lanes are Fort Belvoir, Engineering Proving Grounds, Mark Center. Defense contractors and consultants are heavily concentrated in the corridor too as well as at Tysons Corner along the Beltway which will have its own HOT lanes earlier.

Recent work on the 95/395 HOT Lanes has focussed on direct access flyovers of the general purpose lanes to some of these defense bases. The big defense facilities have the ability to organize staggered workhours and to promote carpooling and transit, Homer notes.

If there's a Go decision following a Go/No-Go assessment in August there would be a 45 day period for public comment with a finalization of the terms of the contract in the fall with construction to start in 2010.

The project has been many years in the making. Fluor Corp proposed the project as far back as 2003 and won in a competitive bid in 2004. Transurban was brought into the project in 2005 to provide equity and all electronic toll expertise. Under present plans the Melbourne Australia based company provides 90% of the equity and operates the project, while Fluor does the design-build has 10% skin in the game.

http://www.vamegaprojects.com/downloads/pdf/95_395_DPH_presentation.pdf

TOLLROADSnews 2009-02-25