Democratic Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine announced Friday that Fairfax and Loudoun counties will have advisory roles in toll rates and management within the Dulles Corridor.
The Dulles Corridor Advisory Committee will be able to give advice to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, new owners of the toll road and the project extending Metro from Falls Church to Loudoun. But the committee’s only role in the authority’s decision-making process will be to provide guidance and advice.
“This committee will provide an important mechanism for local representatives to review and comment on changes to tolling rates on the Dulles Toll Road and improvements in the corridor,” said Kaine in a statement.
The committee will be made up of representatives from Fairfax County, Loudoun County, the airport authority, the Commonwealth Transportation Board and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.
“I am very pleased. The people I am responsible to represent, which is everyone in Fairfax County, deserve a seat at the table and I’m please to see they’ll now have that seat,” said Gerry Connolly, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors chair and committee member.
Connolly threatened to remove Fairfax funding from the project if the county had no representation with the new owners.
“It fails to answer most of the concerns we’ve raised,” said Stewart Schwartz with the Coalition for Smarter Growth. “It appears to us that our elected officials are placed in an advisory role, but the [airports authority board] appointees are still calling the shots.”
Schwartz said he also is concerned that the “rush to extend rail” may trump the “significant land use and design problems” the project faces.
MWAA proposal
» All revenues generated by the toll road dedicated for improvements in the corridor
» Will consider private proposals for toll road operations and traffic-controlling measures
» Covering the state’s full portion and half of the federal portion of $4 billion project
