Private companies controlling toll roads crucial to daily commuters will not impose unreasonable levies on motorists driving on the highways, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine said Tuesday.

Virginia law allows the private firms to set toll levels largely unchecked by the State Corporation Commission, which has jurisdiction over the companies that operate the roads. As governments increasingly rely on private companies to fix traffic problems by building toll roads, Congress, state lawmakers and motorists are becoming concerned that profit-focused companies will set tolls too high.

“It is a legitimate concern,” Kaine said during his monthly appearance on WTOP radio. “Here’s what prevents it from becoming unaffordable -- if they raise the toll to unaffordable levels people won’t use the road and they’ll lose a lot of money.”

A private consortium is paying much of the $882 million cost of building three high-speed toll lanes from Arlington to Dumfries in Prince William County. The consortium is relying on revenue from the lanes, which will be free to vehicles with three or more passengers, to recoup its investment and return a profit.

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Tolls for the lanes, which will open in 2010, have not been announced. They will fluctuate based on congestion and whether the vehicle carries any passengers. Estimates have pegged the tolls between $7 and $14 for an average one-way trip during rush hour. The consortium has guaranteed that vehicles will average at least 55 mph inside the Beltway and 65 mph outside of it during rush hour in the toll lanes.

“This is new infrastructure that people haven’t been able to drive on before,” Kaine said. “People have shown some willingness to pay tolls instead of taxes for new infrastructure. If people were to step forward and say they’d rather pay higher taxes for new infrastructure, we’d have a different discussion.”

The rates could increase on an existing toll road later this year. The corporation commission is reviewing a request from the owners of the Dulles Greenway that would allow the maximum toll to rise to $4.80 by 2012. The maximum toll is $2.70 for the 14-mile highway between Dulles International Airport and Leesburg.

jrogalsky@dcexaminer.com