WTOP is reporting Virginia is in negotiations to buy the Dulles Greenway from current owner Toll Road Investors Partnership, a subsidiary of Australia-based Macquarie Group.
The news outlet reported Del. Joe T. May (R-33), who represents western Loudoun, confirmed such negotiations were underway.
Let us know what you think in the comments below. Should the state buy the Greenway?
TRIP was originally designed as a privately operated toll road by a local family, but the family sold it after it failed to turn a profit. State law was created to permit a 50-year concession of the road, after which it would revert back to the state. The law, however, permits the operator to make a profit, which has resulted in main gate tolls near $5 at rush hour.
Congressman Frank R. Wolf (R-10) has long called the arrangement "highway robbery" and has urged the state to change the law. Attempts to persuade TRIP II to institute distance pricing have been unsuccessful because the owners believe it could result in financial losses.
The tolls are likely to come under greater focus as the state increases tolls for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority-operated Dulles Toll Road to pay for Metro's Silver Line project.
Linda from Leesburg
Linda from Leesburg
May is desperate for more Transportation funding, and this is one way to get it. Almost a guarantee that tolls will go up if this goes through. He himself admits that a takeover will NOT result in lower tolls on the Greenway. With Dulles Toll Road tolls continuing to skyrocket to pay for the rail project, less people will use the Greenway. Traffic on the Greenway peaked in 2005, when Dulles Rail toll increases on the DTR started, and has declined ever since. Route 7 will also see the lights at Sycolin, Belmont Ridge, and Ashburn Village Blvd. eliminated soon, making that option from Leesburg to Rt. 28 even better. Del. May is offering this effort as a distraction from the increasing tolls on the Dulles Toll Road. He won't touch that issue since developers and his financial backers don't want him to disrupt the "delicate financial balance" of the Dulles Rail project.
http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/6354
If we have to have toll roads, keep the money local and in the State budget for road repairs, snow removal and other related transportation costs, like building a metro. Wouldn't it make more sense for the profits from the Greenway to be funding the Silver Line instead of making some investment group in another country rich? Roads, like schools and hospitals are government responsibilities and should not be privatized. And, while some parts of the government would most certainly benefit by being run more like a business, the government is NOT a business -- it is a government. When the two get confused, you get what we are getting with the Greenway -- frequent and significant toll increases with no recourse. Virginia should buy the Greenway, bring the rates into alignment with the rest of the region and direct some of the proceeds to fund the Silver line so as to keep future transportation increases down.
It would help if people would put aside partisan positionality, and look at how this doesn't work, and how it is hurting us all. It would also help if people would actually learn from this. I don't expect either, though.
Why didn't VA step up and purchase it from the local family instead of allowing it to be purchased by the Australian Company? Why give them ownership for 50 years before it reverts to state ownership? Did the Australian Company line a few pockets for the sale to go through? Now VA is in negotiations to purchase the Greenway and there is no quarantee VA will be the the successful bidder or if the State is, the tolls will be lowered. More likely, the taxpayers will pay for the purchase with increased taxes and see the toll increased to pay for maintenance, etc. Why not consider making all the roads Toll Roads and requiring everyone to purchase an EZ-PASS? Everyone who uses the pass pays a discounted toll; others, without pay a higher toll. Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission raises its toll prices this month. Vehicles without an EZ-PASS had a 5% increase; those vehicles with the EZ-PASS only had a 2% increase. The commission's plans to eliminate all of their toll booth collectors and replace them with automated toll booths within the next few years. The EZ-PASS allows drivers to avoid lines and is recognized and accepted in many of the neighboring States. ZE
I live in Herndon and sympathize with your plight. We are forced to use the Dulles Toll Road which is beginning to rival the cost of the greenway. It is a huge burden. When we were originally house hunting, Leesburg was never an option because between the Greenway and the toll road the cost was entirely too prohibitive. The toll road is one of my biggest expenses after mortgage and daycare. With the toll road the only way in and out of the Reston/Herndon area we feel as though we are being held hostage. The onslaught of toll roads needs to stop. The public cannot afford taxes and tolls. It really hurts my family and other families. Stephanie from Herndon
The improvements are currently scheduled for Sycolin (2013) http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/northernvirginia/sycolin_road_overpass.asp Belmont Ridge (FY2015) http://syip.virginiadot.org/Pages/lineitemDetails.aspx?syp_scenario_id=193&line_item_id=1059460 Lexington Dr. (FY2016) http://syip.virginiadot.org/Pages/lineitemDetails.aspx?syp_scenario_id=193&line_item_id=1059294 Ashburn Village Blvd. ???? http://loudoun.gov/DocumentCenter/View/81213 2005- the year Greenway traffic peaked (according to his article linked below)- was the year the CTB started increasing DTR tolls to fund the Rail Project. Greenway traffic has been in a free-fall since. Coincidence? I think not. People don't want their tolls paying for the train they won't/can't use.
Hmmm, betcha they'll do it everywhere now.