As many as 130,000 vehicles crowd onto Interstate 66 inside the Beltway daily, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation. The resulting behemoth traffic jams are legendary even for motorists accustomed to the nation’s worst congestion. But there are still no plans — or funds — to widen it.

Instead, local, state and federal officials are spending $6.5 billion on the Dulles Rail project, which, according to a 2010 Federal Transit Administration press release, “is projected to serve 85,700 daily riders by 2030, including an estimated 10,000 new daily transit riders.”

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