Fairfax officials consider higher fares on Toll Road, new ramps

Their recommendation centers around the passage between the Dulles Toll Road and Tysons Corner, where officials say traffic will double in 20 years if they don’t make improvements to the already clogged connection.

An additional toll road ramp in and one more ramp out of Tysons would be sufficient to handle areas that average 4,000 vehicles per hour during peak periods, according to the Fairfax County Department of Transportation.

In lieu of even more ramps, officials proposed steeper tolls during peak periods. To offset the increase, toll rates during off times would be lowered.

The ramps would connect a planned extension to Greensboro Drive with the westbound Dulles Toll Road and connect a planned Boone Boulevard extension with the toll road in both directions.

Much of the change for Tysons has focused on the four Metro stations expected with the transit extension to the Washington Dulles International Airport. But planners warn Metro won’t clear the roads, instead offsetting the expected surge in people to the area.

“For many years, automobiles will remain the primary means to get in and out of Tysons Corner,” said Walter Alcorn, chairman of the planning commission’s Tysons Corner Committee. “That will begin to change, but it will be a long transition.”

County supervisors and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which maintains the toll road, would have to sign off on the move. Fairfax estimates the bill for the ramp additions at nearly $230 million.

If implemented with other nearby road improvements, the nearly doubling in development of Tysons Corner would be accompanied by 25 percent more vehicle traffic, said Dan Rathbone, chief of the county’s transportation planning division.

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