Arlington
Coalition for Sensible Transportation
Statement
to the Commonwealth Transportation Board
by
Allen Muchnick, president, May 29, 2013
I’m
Allen Muchnick with the Arlington Coalition for Sensible Transportation (or
ACST). Since 1999, ACST has advocated "wiser, not wider" traffic management and
public transportation improvements to I-66 inside the Beltway to most
effectively move more people and minimize highway congestion and travel times.
Last
week, Secretary Connaughton was quoted in the Washington Examiner as advocating
tolls on I-66 inside the Beltway: “If you don't want us to widen the road, then we're going to have to
figure out a way to get more capacity out of the road, and I think express
lanes are a way to do it.”
ACST and Arlington’s elected officials, in fact,
agree strongly with Secretary Connaughton.
As early as January 2001, SRJ 411, a study resolution patroned by State
Senator Whipple and co-patroned by rest of the Arlington delegation, directed
VDOT to study “the
imposition of variably priced tolls for use of Interstate 66, so that use of
the facility at peak travel hours would be more costly than during off-peak
hours”, although this provision was struck from SJR 411 prior to passage.
Moreover, despite the completion of DRPT’s I-66 BusTransit and TDM Study several years ago and VDOT’s I-66 Multimodal Study last
June, the CTB has yet to advance any
of the many previously unfunded transit, TDM, and traffic-management
improvements recommended in those studies, including running all 8-car
Metrorail trains during peak periods.
VDOT's I-66 Multimodal Study was
a vital and commendable start toward developing a much-needed long-range
management plan for this major regional corridor. Its
final report recommends strategically
implementing an integrated multimodal package of highway management,
rail and bus service improvements, transportation demand management measures,
pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and limited highway widening over the
next 28 years. A key finding was
that--without expanded congestion management such as HOV restrictions or
tolls--adding travel lanes to I-66 would undermine the objectives of
moving more people and reducing travel times and highway congestion along the
corridor. Yet, in funding "Spot
Improvement" #2 construction last June, the CTB advanced a 1.6-mile fourth
westbound I-66 travel lane that will prove counterproductive until expanded HOV
restrictions or tolls are finally put in place.
ACST supports converting I-66
inside the Beltway into a High-Occupancy/Toll (HOT) facility, in both
directions--during peak periods only--as soon as feasible and in advance
of any further highway widening. Doing
so would 1) immediately eliminate highway congestion and shorten auto
and bus travel times, 2) effectively address problematic HOV enforcement and
increase ride-sharing and transit use, 3) maximize freeway access for off-peak
travel, and 4) generate much-needed revenue to strategically implement the many
vital and otherwise unfunded I-66 Study recommendations. While tolling an existing freeway is controversial,
toll roads are now an essential and accepted part of our regional travel
network, and effective leadership can sell the public on this change. I-66 has existed as an HOV facility and
Metrorail line for nearly 30 years. A
VDOT commitment to effectively manage these key assets is decades overdue.
