Virginia DOT Proposes Much More Use of Toll Lanes to Tackle I-66 Congestion

To change commuter behavior and ease congestion on heavily clogged Interstate 66 running between northern Virginia and the District of Columbia, the Virginia Department of Transportation wants to remake much of the route into toll lanes and put more riders into fewer cars or on buses.

If the plan moves forward, it could not only apply tolls to lanes that are among the heaviest traveled in the nation, but could spur development of bus rapid transit systems to take many more drivers off those roads.

News agencies reported that the plan VDOT is presenting to the regional Transportation Planning Board entails building two high occupancy toll lanes in each direction for 25 miles on the east-west highway between Virginia Route 15 and the I-495 Capital Beltway. That would still leave untolled lanes for open access in each direction.

But for the 10 miles inside the Beltway, VDOT proposes to convert all those lanes to rush-hour HOT lanes by 2017, forcing more commuters to ride together or else pay fees to use the highways.

The plan also calls for adding a lane in each direction to one section of I-66 outside the Beltway, converting some no-charge high occupancy vehicle lanes to toll lanes and increasing the car occupancy requirement on them to escape tolls.