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Bob View Drop Down
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    Posted: 01 Sep 2006 at 2:43pm
The way I interpret the federal law, when we get to an average of 45 mph between Dale City and the Pentagon (pretty bad), the state has to throw them out. I think this calculates out to a one way commute time of 33 minutes:

1 hour for 45 miles = X hours for 25 miles (have to check this mileage)
X = 0.55 hours = 33 minutes

We may already be close to 33 minutes and this is still summer.

So we will see what the average speeds are this fall. I think traffic will be terrible starting mid September. Hybrids, start counting the days.

I will be researching this and will post the actual text from the federal highway bill when I get a chance.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote NoSUV Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Sep 2006 at 4:18pm
Bob, Guess you need to have everyone agree with your specific start/stop points. It would be interesting to see if others are averaging 45 mph from the time they enter express lanes to time they exit them. Hard to reconcile with the 75+ mph on I-395 -- would need to be mega slow the rest of the way.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bob Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Sep 2006 at 5:22pm
Fact is, the feds are in control so I guess your little liberal delegate really doesn't have much say. Too bad.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote NoSUV Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Sep 2006 at 7:25am
Bob - you said that before Feds got onboard with ANY law. So, no, you are wrong again. This fall under State jurisdiction, and alway has. Sort of like tolls, you know...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SpongeBob Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Sep 2006 at 11:20am
Hmm. I don't know... seems to me that Virginia has to ask the Feds for permission to do some things to I95 and 395. The road wsn't built solely for the use of Virginians, after all.

And didn't the Feds weigh in on the high-bred exemption? Seems to me they did, but chose not to ask Virginia to drop it.

Wasn't Shirley Highway built partly with Federal funds? And aren't there federal highway funds at risk if Virginia doesn't take steps to reduce air pollution from the highway?

And doesn't the federal government have ultimate jurisdiction over the Eisenhower-generated interstate highway system?

Not that I expect the Feds to stop the toll roads, of course. That would be asking for a deus ex machina.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote n/a Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Sep 2006 at 3:22pm
This, on funding for interstate highways, from Wikipedia.com:

"While Interstate Highways usually receive substantial federal funding and comply to federal standards, they are owned, built, and operated by the states in which they are located. The only exception is the federally owned Woodrow Wilson Bridge on the Capital Beltway (I-95/I-495). About 56% of the construction and maintenance costs are funded through user fees, primarily gasoline taxes, collected by states and the federal government, and tolls collected on toll roads and bridges. The rest of the costs are borne by the federal budget."

And another note that may explain how I95/395 has been manipulated into an HOT road; could it be that the Feds are BEHIND it (same source):

"The dominant role of the federal government in road finance has enabled it to achieve legislative goals that fall outside its power to regulate interstate commerce as enumerated in the federal Constitution. By threatening to withhold highway funds, the federal government has been able to stimulate state legislatures to pass a variety of laws. Although some object on the ground that this infringes on states' rights, the Supreme Court has upheld the practice as a permissible use of the Constitution's Commerce Clause. Critics maintain that using highway dollars in this fashion upsets the balance between federal and states rights in favor of the federal government, and effectively holds funds as ransom in order to coerce state governments into passing laws that would not have otherwise been introduced. Some have even argued that the current arrangement is unconstitutional." "Any state that were to lose federal highway funding would quickly face deteriorating infrastructure, fiscal impoverishment, or both."
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SpongeBob Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Sep 2006 at 4:06pm
No, the toll road was not a Fed idea. They are not sold on it to this day, but seem unwilling to intervene except to monitor.

The Fluor proposal to Virginia was UNSOLICITED by the state or the Feds and toll roads were not part of the regional transportation plan.

But a new law in Virginia REQUIRED a state agency (VDOT in this case) to take up and consider any proposal to allow the private sector to do a government job, such as pave highways.
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