A Northern Virginia congressman wants the state’s governor to demand that a proposal to raise tolls on the Dulles Greenway be delayed until next year, the lawmaker’s latest attempt to stop the planned increase.
In letter sent last week, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf asked Gov. Tim Kaine to order the State Corporations Commission to wait to issue a ruling on the proposal until legislators have time to review the law that gives the road’s owners broad discretion to increase tolls. Wolf has been loudly critical of the planned hikes, which would take the maximum toll to $4.80 by 2012. The current maximum toll is $2.70 for the 14-mile highway between Dulles International Airport and Leesburg.
Wolf is upset that the state law allows the Toll Road Investors Partnership II, which owns and operates the Dulles Greenway, to boost tolls with little justification.
“How can the commonwealth justify such a one-sided law that clearly benefits the Greenway owner while blatantly taking advantage of the users of the road?” he wrote.
Wolf’s latest attempt to block the increases, which have upset many of his constituents, appears unsuccessful. Kaine spokesman Kevin Hall told The Examiner that the SCC is an independent body that the governor does not control.
SCC spokesman Andy Farmer said commission staff are compiling recommendations on the toll hikes for consideration by SCC judges. A final decision on the sought-after increases is expected sometime later this year.
When the increases were announced last year, Tom Sines, the partnership’s chief executive officer, said the new rates would “provide significant value for money to road users.”
