High-occupancy toll lanes are such an obvious solution to the Washington region’s rapidly worsening traffic that it’s amazing there is still lingering opposition to adding them on every major commuting route. Because they have the potential to raise significant amounts of new revenue without a tax increase, and at the same time expand mass-transit options, HOT lanes should be at the top of every commuter’s wish list.
An 18-month study by the Transportation Planning Board found that converting all existing high-occupancy vehicle lanes to HOT lanes would generate about $1.5 billion annually — enough to pay construction costs to gradually extend them all around the Capital Beltway and major interstates. However, with no votes scheduled, this study may well wind up on a dusty shelf like so many others.
Three years ago, the Transportation Planning Board decided that a system of congestion-priced toll lanes would be one of its major regional goals. But the chairman of its Task Force on Value Pricing is Metro Board chairman Chris Zimmerman, a Dulles Rail supporter whose idea of improving traffic flow is to block a heavily used lane on Columbia Pike to make room for an antiquated, overpriced streetcar.
But time is running out before rush-hour gridlock becomes a daily plague throughout the region: The Dulles Rail Project is in terminal jeopardy, the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority’s ability to raise taxes has been declared unconstitutional, the Maryland General Assembly has been looking for ways to divert money already authorized for the Intercounty Connector, and the District of Columbia is again raising the specter of a commuter tax.
Highway capacity and use of cost-effective mass transit must be increased. And of all the various proposals out there, only HOT lanes do both without massive tax increases. Drivers who voluntarily choose to bypass congestion by paying a variable toll will make it possible for vans, hybrids, car pools and buses to use free-flowing HOT lanes without charge.
So far, Virginia has taken the lead with a public-private partnership adding four new HOT lanes on a section of the Beltway that will end near the American Legion Bridge, which is already a major rush-hour choke point. Maryland officials are studying the feasibility of extending HOT lanes across the state line into Montgomery County. Officials throughout the Washington region must understand that the region’s suffering commuters and its economy depend on reducing and ultimately eliminating traffic congestion. A regionwide HOT lane network is needed now.
