Drivers who travel the Dulles Toll Road should expect “periodic” toll increases to help pay for the $5.3 billion project to extend Metrorail out to Dulles Airport and beyond.
The first increase is slated for Jan. 1, according to a report presented Wednesday to board members of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is managing the Dulles Metrorail expansion.
It’s not clear how much the tolls would rise from the current rates. Drivers now pay 50 cents for short trips and up to $1.25 for longer trips. The authority hasn’t established how often it would need to increase the toll.
But the other funding modes for the rail expansion are fixed, so cost increases to the monumental project could fall hardest on drivers.
The Dulles Rail Project would extend Metrorail about 23 miles from Falls Church into Loudoun County, giving long-sought transit access to Washington Dulles International Airport but also to the hubs of Tysons Corner, Reston and beyond. The current price tag is $5.3 billion, with the first phase already under way. But the second phase costs are still preliminary so costs could change.
The Federal Transit Administration is paying $900 million, while Virginia is kicking in $275 million. The airports authority is planning to pay just over 4 percent of costs, while Loudoun and Fairfax counties would pay a fixed share through special tax districts.
The toll road would shoulder the remaining $2.8 billion, according to current projections. The authority plans to take out an undetermined amount of bonds, with the toll revenue slated to pay off the debt.
But higher tolls may reduce the number of drivers willing to use the road. The only time the toll was raised since it was instituted 25 years ago was in 2005. Since then, the number of vehicles passing through the tolls has dropped, from 111 million transactions annually to about 109 million.
Some of that may be an effect of the soured economy and last summer’s high fuel prices. But the drop occurred in 2006 immediately after the toll increase and has stayed relatively flat since, so officials said the raise likely contributed to the decline in use.
The airports authority plans to hold public hearings on toll increases in the next six months.
