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Arlington is cool to HOT lanes for good reason Date published: 9/14/2009
As chairman of the Arlington County Board, I want to address some misperceptions about Arlington's lawsuit against the state and federal governments over the proposed High Occupancy Toll lanes for Some have wrongly characterized Arlington's lawsuit as a move to block an effort Nothing could be further from the truth. Our concern is that this project, as currently conceived, is likely to make congestion worse. Arlington is acting to prevent the abandonment of this highly effective transit and high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) corridor to private profiteers and those who are wealthy enough to pay the proposed HOT lane tolls. We seek a system designed to maximize the movement of people, not just cars with single drivers. We are acting to protect the interests of the commonwealth, the region, commuters, and Arlingtonians. The proposed project threatens to impede the efficient flow of transit and HOV commuter traffic in the I-95 and I-395 corridors. It is expected to lengthen transit and HOV times, to increase congestion in current HOV lanes, to create safety and enforcement issues, and to increase traffic on local streets. The project can be expected to worsen already poor air quality. Arlington and others in the region have expressed these concerns. The categorical exclusion that the Federal Highway Administration granted this project in January 2009 was based on a deficient NEPA analysis by VDOT that seriously understated the project's many adverse impacts. Once a categorical exclusion is issued, the only avenue for appeal and the only way to obtain a legally binding agreement to address the concerns is a lawsuit. Taxpayer dollars built the Shirley Highway HOV facility to move more people Arlington has long been committed to policies aimed at encouraging transit and taking cars off the road. We filed suit only after trying for years, together with others Barbara Favola Arlington The writer is chairman,
Larryg, you aren't really saying the Arlington County School system does not exist nor that the Arlington county roads do not require maintenance are you?
Sure, we all like a hurdle or two. But a Million of them?
most modern dense urban places where subway, taxicab,
bike and pedestrians rein but that won't solve issue of folks
who live in places like Fburg and work in places like NoVa.
We ran out of R/W and we ran out of bucks and that left us
with really few options.
Some folks would be okay if VDOT operated the tolls but
they have a major failure with their Pocahontas Parkway
that they had to sell to Transurban or else default on their
bonds.
So.. who knows how this will turn out if Transurban pulls
back...
Well, THAT gets interesting as soon as we get to the
Potomac River and The District of Columbia. That's always
been the bottlenecks. I couldn't take my car downtown on
the 4th of July. I took the metro from Springfield where I
parked. The idea one needs an automobile inside that
point is going to be a luxury. How about nothing but
pedicabs and rickshaws? Maybe horse drawn carriages? I
know they'd do better time and we'd create jobs and
FITNESS to boot.
Well.. yes.. because if they had to educate their kids and
provide local roads for them... it would be a mess.
this way.. they get the workers and none of the expenses of
providing services to them... and we get that job down
here.
That's why there is such a big deal about proffers down
here - to pay for those facilities and services that the NoVa
workers expect and demand.
HOT Lanes don't benefit the NoVa jurisdictions nor us per
se.
They're about maximizing throughput on I-95 since they're
out of R/W.
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