County closer to HOT lanes

In addition, the PWC Board of County Supervisors will hold their next meeting on Oct 19th.

This is their 2004 agenda schedule http://www.pwcgov.org/docLibrary/PDF/001867.pdf

Point to make in reply to Gatewayslug above: transportation planners refer to "3+ passengers" meaning that many occupants, including the driver.

HOV-4 could be the answer to the HOV congestion, except for three things:

1. We'd need more parking spaces... at least 25% more to keep the same number of vehicles driving on the lanes.

2. Our opponents (or idiots, as I like to say,) talk about the "underutilization" of the HOV lanes. They obviously haven't been on them southbound on Friday at 5:00 p.m., or northbound on Tuesday at 7:45 a.m. But that fiction is going to continue to be mouthed by the enemy throughout the upcoming HOT War. Fight it with the truth.

3. Vehicles, not passengers, create congestion. Therefore, it would be necessary to reduce congestion by increasing passengers and decreasing vehicles: either eliminate hybrids or require them to carry at least 2 people, if not three.

Sponge, well said. Wow.

I never thought of it that way. Would building a light rail system coming down to at least the stafford county line help?

Other suggestions?

A friend sent me a copy of Fluor's presentation to the PWC BOCS. It's all very plausible and calming on the surface. Lots of talk about buses and mass transit and shifting commuter patterns and repeated emphasis on how this is no cost and no maintenance to the local governments. Scary. Really, really scary.

The scariest part of it is that it IS going to happen. There is just no bloody way to stop it. The top VDOT official has already signed on, all the local governments are behind it, there is a billion dollars, literally, to be made just building the one measly extra lane on I-95, not to mention billions more for its management. With those kinds of dollars at stake and the politicians lined up in support, does anyone seriously think our feeble citizen protests will be heard? Of course not.

But let's not give up. Let's learn more about this dreaded thing and find all the chinks in its armor. Here's what I know/think: (please correct me if you have better or newer information,)

The HOT proposal is part of a REGIONAL traffic plan by Fluor Corporation (Clark Construction has a competing proposal.) Our I-95 slugging route is just a tiny piece of the big HOT plan. Overall, they are trying to build a network, a spider's web of HOT lanes running to Dulles, Tysons, Woodbridge, the Pentagon, Seven Corners, Old Town, Fairfax, Gainesville, etc. In other words, a for-profit toll lane system laid in alongside the existing road system. Your public thoroughfares will soon be an adjunct to a privately owned transportation network, one you will have to pay to use. Forever.

It's the BUSES that are the key to the plausibility of the HOT system. The politicians and planners hear the words "mass transit" and they just start nodding: Must be good! The problem for HOV is that the companies would prefer to limit the HOT to two types of customers: buses and tollpayers. Otherwise, the system gets overloaded. Carpools will be allowed to use the system, sure, of course they will. Heh heh. That is, until the very second the carpools begin to interfere with the toll-paying cars. Then: zap, no more freeloading non-payers on the HOT. This was made abundantly clear, some of you may recall, by the Fluor official quoted in the Wash. Post last spring. (Anyone got a copy of that article?)

Buses will be paying a toll, too, don't forget. The owner of the road isn't going to allow the pothole-causing behemoths to rumble down their private street without charging the bus company something. And guess who is going to have that little bit of something added to their fare?

Enough for now. To recap:

The issue here is at the core of our republic: are we a country where the government taxes the people to build infrastructure that can be used by everyone, or are we a country where private companies take over government's responsibilities and provide services only to those who can afford them, leaving the poor people in an inferior system?

What kind of country do you want to live in?

Below is a copy of the letter I just sent to Maureen Caddigan. I am hopeful that others will do the same to stop HOT in its tracks.

Dear Mrs. Caddigan-

I am a resident of Dumfries, and a daily commuter from the Horner Road lot. I have been slugging for five years and find that this is the best, cheapest, and quickest alternative to the log-jammed roads in this area. While the HOV lanes have definitely slowed in the last couple of years due to mismanagement and short-sightedness on the part of you and your counterparts, the slow-down is nowhere near what is coming should the HOT lanes be implemented.

I am completely against the so-called Lexis Lanes for several reasons. NO ONE should have to pay for a road that they have already paid for through tax dollars. This amounts to nothing more than a double tax on the already over-burdened citizens of Northern Virginia. Further, I understand that the a third HOV lane would be constructed to handle the extra cars expected to flock in the already overcrowded "express" lanes. Unless there is a provision to widen the 14th Street Bridge, I am completely unclear as to how a third lane would benefit the flow of traffic. In fact, I see a merge from three lanes down to two as a nightmare from a congestion standpoint. Add to this the complete mechanization of toll collection and the fact that machines break, and you are adding time onto my commute. Let me stress that I am less than appreciative.

I understand that the state claims to be strapped for cash. I also understand that it's not you and your peers in county government who will suffer because of this. Rather, you will profit handsomely off the backs of commuters. You were quoted in the Potomac News as having said something to the effect of HOT lanes are the, "light at the end of the tunnel." Yes, Mrs. Caddigan, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. However, it's a freight train barreling down on those of us who are powerless to stop it.