FROM THE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

RICHMOND – A detailed proposal to build HOT lanes - high occupancy toll lanes - on I-495 in Northern Virginia will be reviewed and evaluated by an advisory panel created by Secretary of Transportation Whitt Clement this week. The panel includes representation from the Commonwealth Transportation Board, the Virginia Department of Transportation, the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, the Metropolitan Washington Transportation Planning Board, Fairfax County, and the academic community.

The advisory panel’s second meeting will be held on Thursday, April 1, beginning at 10 a.m. in the Springfield Interchange Office at 6400 Commerce St., Springfield. The meeting will be open to the public. No public comments will be received at this meeting, but a comment session will be held later in the spring.

The agenda for the second meeting includes the following:

Approval of minutes
Financial evaluation of proposal
Traffic and engineering evaluation of proposal
Overview of independent I-495 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process
Review of Capital Beltway rail study
Panel discussions and issues

The panel’s next meeting will hold a public comment session on the detailed proposal. The fourth meeting will be devoted to reaching a conclusion of the panel.

The construction firm Fluor Daniel submitted the HOT lanes proposal under the Public Private Transportation Act. Flour Daniel proposes to build HOT lanes within a 14-mile segment of the Capital Beltway in Northern Virginia. The HOT lanes, two in each direction, would extend from near the Springfield Interchange to north of the Dulles Toll Road. According to the proposal, HOT lanes would be free to carpoolers, buses and emergency vehicles; cars carrying only one or two people would pay a variable toll to use the lanes. Large trucks would not be allowed to use HOT lanes.

The advisory panel members are:

Pierce Homer, Chair and Deputy Secretary of Transportation
Julia Connally, member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board
Kenneth Klinge, member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board
Gerald McCarthy, member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board
Leonard “Hobie” Mitchel, member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board
Malcolm Kerley, P.E., VDOT Chief Engineer of Program Development
Barbara Reese, VDOT Chief Financial Officer
Tom Farley, VDOT Northern Virginia District Administrator
Dr. Lester Hoel, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Virginia
Ron Kirby, Director, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
Young Ho Chang, Director , Fairfax County Department of Transportation
Charles Badger, Assistant Director, Department of Rail and Public Transportation


For more information on the I-495 HOT lane proposal and the PPTA process, go to:
http://www.virginiadot.org/business/ppta-default.asp

Page last modified: March 30, 2004