Virginia officials have put a project to add new toll lanes on Interstates 95 and 395 on hold, citing difficulties securing financing for the massive transportation investment.
The planned I-95/395 High Occupancy Toll Lanes, similar to a project under construction on the Capital Beltway, is part of a network of multi-billion dollar road and rail expansions aimed at alleviating traffic congestion in the Washington suburbs.
A weak credit market is largely to blame for derailing progress on the HOT lanes, for which construction was set to begin in mid-2010. The new lanes would run between the Pentagon and Spotsylvania County and would be free to carpools, buses and motorcycles but impose a toll on cars with fewer than three occupants.
“Quite frankly, we ran against some real challenges from the credit markets and some concerns of the local communities,” said Ronaldo “Nick” Nicholson, head of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s “megaprojects” effort. The Beltway HOT lanes project, which will run between Springfield and north of the Dulles Toll Road, has not been delayed. Both HOT lanes initiatives, as well as the 23-mile extension of Metrorail to Dulles, are public-private partnerships meant to attract private capital to transportation ventures at a time when money for construction is dwindling.
A consortium of Fluor Daniel and Transurban USA is partnering with VDOT to build the Beltway HOT lanes and is negotiating to carry out the project on I-95/395.
“This is not a good time to be bringing forward a project like this,” said Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer, who said the cost of debt financing and the amount of equity required would have been too great to immediately move forward.
He said community concerns about traffic on Seminary Road and at the Shirlington rotary also weighed into the decision.
The delay instantly became campaign fodder for the governor’s race, with Republican nominee Bob McDonnell condemning the Kaine administration’s decision to halt the project.
“While I understand that there are tough economic challenges facing Virginia, we cannot continue to delay innovative public-private partnership agreements that provide market-based solutions and more choices for Northern Virginia commuters,” he said.
