| Hearings
to Address Tolls |
By Katie Murphy
Observer Staff Writer |
| Members of the community will have a chance to voice their
opinion about proposed toll increases on the Dulles Greenway
during two public hearings Jan. 30 at the Loudoun County Government
Center in Leesburg. |
| In September, local officials including Congressman Frank
Wolf (R-10), and Lon Anderson, AAA Mid-Atlantic's director
of public and government affairs, requested the Virginia State
Corporation Commission hold a public hearing concerning the
Toll Road Investors Partnership II, or TRIP II, application
to increase Greenway tolls from $2.70 to $4.80 by 2012. |
| According to Wolf, the increases would make the Dulles Greenway
the most expensive toll road in the country. The average person
would pay roughly $2,400 a year to commute on the road, he
said. Families would pay about $4,800 a year if one member
worked downtown and the other worked in Tysons Corner, he
said. "And then add in when you leave the Greenway and
go on to the main toll road," Wolf said. |
| Wolf, one of the leading opponents of the increase, has
requested the support of numerous organizations throughout
Northern Virginia. Currently the Loudoun County Chamber of
Commerce and the Loudoun Board of Realtors have said they
will work against the toll increase, he said. |
| "We are talking to some homeowners associations along
the route as well, so I hope a good crowd will come out and
oppose this," Wolf said. |
| According to Kenneth Schrad, director of information resources
for the Virginia State Corporation Commission, they received
several requests for a local hearing and the commission wanted
to honor that request. |
| Schrad said, "Obviously, we've already received a number
of written comments, but this gives people the opportunity
to appear before a hearing examiner to make their feelings
known in regard to the proposal of Dulles Greenway." |
| Wolf said a lot of people believed they had to go down to
Richmond, and he is pleased that residents who are opposed
to the increase will have the opportunity to speak out against
it. |
| AAA also plans to send representatives to the meeting, according
to John Townsend, AAA's manager of public and government affairs.
"We take a strong stance against the increase and we'll
be opposing the increase of the tolls on the Dulles Greenway,"
Townsend said. |
| Wolf is remaining positive the commission will reject this
proposal. "I think the merit is on our side," he
said. "This is what I would call aggressive tolling and
when the commission looks to see the aggressive nature of
this I would hope they would reject it." |
| According to Wolf, the increase does not meet the required
criteria. The first obligation is that the increase be reasonable
to the user in relation to the benefit the user would obtain.
Wolf said that would not be the case. The second requirement
is that it should not discourage the use of the roadway by
the public. "This would discourage its use," Wolf
said. "With Route 7 gridlocked as it is, this would put
many more cars on it and onto Route 50." |
| The increase would also have to provide the operator with
a reasonable rate of return. If the proposed increase were
accepted, the road would generate about $112 million per year,
according to Wolf. Current revenues are about $63 million
a year, so this would increase revenues by almost 100 percent.
"I think it violates all three of the conditions that
the State Corporate Commission has in effect with regard to
this," Wolf said. |
| After the local hearing, the commission will hold an evidentiary
hearing in Richmond March 13, according to Schrad. At that
hearing, representatives from TRIP II will explain their reasoning
for the increase. The commission staff then will file a report
with regard to its own review of the application. |
| Ann Huggins-Lawler, spokesman for TRIP II, said she was
not sure if representatives from TRIP II would attend the
public hearings in Loudoun. She referred to their application
for information about the proposal. Former Virginia Secretary
of Transportation Whitt Clement, now of Hunton and Williams,
has been hired as a lobbyist for the Dulles Greenway, according
to Wolf. |
| The hearings are scheduled for Jan. 30 at 2:30 p.m. and
6:30 p.m. in the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors boardroom
in Leesburg. |
