Virginia HOT lanes refers to two separate projects. The first project is currently under construction to add high occupancy/toll (HOT) lanes to the Capital Beltway (I-495) in Fairfax County, Virginia. The second project is proposed to convert the existing reversible high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on I-95 and I-395 to HOT lanes from Stafford, Virginia to near Alexandria, Virginia.
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Two new HOT lanes in each direction are under construction in the 14-mile segment of I-495 from the Springfield Interchange to the Dulles Toll Road. The project will offer HOV-3 connections with I-95/I-395, I-66, Tysons Corner and the Dulles Toll Road for the first time.[1]
The $1.4 billion project includes the replacement of over 50 overpasses and bridges and reconstruction of 10 interchanges.[1] The project will also improve bicycle and pedestrian access across the I-495 corridor. It is controversial, due to concerns over its cost effectiveness and environmental effects (such as surface runoff and use of park land) of widening the Capital Beltway.[2]
Officials of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) signed an agreement with two private companies in April 2005. A contract was finalized on December 20, 2007, and construction began in the summer of 2008.[3] Construction is scheduled to be complete in late 2012.[1]
When the project is completed, buses, motorcycles, and vehicles with three or more people will be able to use the HOT lanes for free; other vehicles will be required to pay a toll. The toll rates will change dynamically according to traffic conditions, which in turn will regulate demand for the lanes and keep them operating at high speeds. Tolls will be collected only electronically, by way of EZ-Pass transponders. No cash toll booths will be provided. All vehicles using the HOT lanes, including those traveling free, will be required to have a transponder. In order to travel free, vehicles will need a new, switchable, transponder so the driver can indicate whether the vehicle qualifies for free passage.[4]
The project is a partnership between VDOT, Fluor Corporation and Transurban.[1]
This project would form a separate public-private partnership to construct and operate HOT lanes on a 29-mile portion of the existing reversible HOV-3 facility on I-95 and I-395. The reversible lanes would be extended from the existing southern terminus near Virginia Route 234 to Garrisonville Road (Route 610) in Stafford County. A third reversible lane would also be added from Prince William Parkway to the north. The northern terminus of the HOT Lanes would be between Duke Street and Edsall Road, just south of the Alexandria city limits; to the north of this point, the reversible facility would continue to operate as it does today.[5]
This current proposal was modified from an earlier plan that drew opposition from Arlington County and the City of Alexandria. Arlington filed a lawsuit seeking to block the project for failure to prepare required environmental studies, which are typically a part of an environmental impact statement. On February 3, 2011, Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean T. Connaughton announced the revised plan that avoids Arlington and Alexandria.[6] Under the revised plan, drivers paying the HOT tolls would not be entitled to use the reversible lanes all the way into Washington. The project will be subject to a new public comment process.
At present, an informal car pool system called "slugging" has evolved around the reversible lanes. Drivers of cars with only one or two passengers stop at designated points and pick up strangers in order to meet the HOV-3 requirement. If the HOT lanes were extended all the way to Washington DC, it was felt that drivers may pay HOT tolls instead of picking up passengers from slug lines, thereby decreasing the passenger utilization of the reversible lanes. The impact on the slug lines was not addressed by VDOT or its private sector vendors in the original proposal.