The Washington DC to Fredericksburg High Occupancy Toll Lanes (HOT) will cost you

Did you know that the High Occupancy Toll Lanes are scheduled to run as toll lanes 24 hours a day seven days a week? They will charge a toll on ALL HOV lanes, not simply the one lane that gets added to the HOV lanes under this project. The fees are expected to range from 10 cents to approximately $1.00 per mile. That means if you and your significant other decide to take a road trip to Virginia Beach on a crowded holiday weekend you might end up either sitting in overly congested traffic for hours on end or paying nearly $40.00 just to drive to Fredericksburg. Today you can drive down the HOV lanes during off peak hours for free anytime the lanes are open in your direction. If this initiative passes you will no longer be able to do so.

Later this week I will post some of the questions that were posed at the town hall meeting that VDOT held in Woodbridge in July. You will find the questions and the absence of responses intriguing. In the meantime you can see what they have to say by visiting VDOT at http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/HOT_main.asp. If you can find any mention of the fact that they will turn all of the HOV lanes over to the HOT lane partner anywhere in their guide, please inform me. If this boondoggle offends you write our governor.