Virginia

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has told key legislators he's prepared to kill plans to toll southern I-95 in return for support for his plan to increase the state sales tax 16% and to increase motor registration fees to fund handouts to free or lossmaking transportation projects.

McDonnell also wants to abolish the state gasoline tax.

Neither the Declaration of Independence nor the US Constitution grant recognition to 'commonwealths' only to states. Virginia was described by the signers on 4 July 1776 as a state. There were initially thirteen "States of America," one of which was Virginia.  The US Constitution of 17 September 1787 also only recognizes states which it also writes as States with a germanic capitalization of the noun. It contains no reference to any 'commonwealth.'

The founding fathers all signed as representatives of their 'states.'

The Wall Street Journal, America's leading daily newspaper today editorializes today under the headline "Republican Road Folly" in favor of using tolls to improve funding and management of highways, not taxes. They write: "States that need more money for transportation should look toward efficient and innovative tolling technologies, which charge motorists for the time they spend on the roads and can lessen congestion through peak-hour pricing."

2013-01-14: Northern Virginia Republicans want the government of Virginia to buy up the investor owned Dulles Greenway and the state Treasury to subsidize tolls for their constituents under state ownership.  Legislators from the Dulles Greenway corridor are behind two bills to allow the state to buy up the Dulles Greenway and to make use of subsidy funds to reduce tolls.

2013-01-11: Operators of the 495 Express Lanes on the Capital Beltway in the Washington DC area - a Transurban/Fluor subsidiary - report  traffic has been building steadily since they opened November 17 and that they are getting "great feedback" from customers via twitter, emails, and calls to the customer service center.

2013-01-08: Virginia governor Bob McDonnell (Repub) has astonished supporters and opponents with a proposal to fund transportation grants in the state with a 16% increase in the general state sales tax (from 5% to 5.8%), higher registration fees and other charges, while losing much of that increased revenue by ending the state gasoline tax.

2012/12/14: VOSH, Virginia's safety regulators have hit Figg Bridge Builders with citations for unsafe practices associated with the collapse of an approach span of the Jordan Bridge under construction June 21.

2012/12/06: A worker on the Jordan Bridge in Chesapeake VA - we'll call him Anthony Castellari - tells TOLLROADSnews that operator error was probably the immediate cause of the dramatic collapse of a span under construction June 21.

A reader sent us this picture of workers doing EZ PASS ONLY lane markings at the southern approach to the toll express lanes after reports of a set of fender bender accidents from motorists reacting too abruptly to the new split between 4 general purpose and 2 toll express lanes.

Pavement striping was also redone to give drivers more warning of the split.

Location is immediately north of the Spingfield Interchange (I-95/I-395/I-495) on  slight curve of the highway which at this point is 2x6 lanes.

Washington Post metro affairs columnist Robert McCartney writes that the new 495 Express Lanes on the Capital Beltway "offer shorter travel times to people with money. So they’re Lexus lanes.” And he says he's "not crazy about… extra convenience for the affluent" because "It offends my egalitarian sentiments."