Sarah Raymond, The Examiner
2008-07-23 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

Construction crews broke ground Tuesday on the Capital Beltway High Occupancy Toll Lanes project amid a flurry of anticipation as well as discontent from local residents.

The $1.7 billion project will create two high-occupancy toll lanes in each direction on a 14-mile stretch of Interstate 495 between Springfield and Georgetown Pike.

Tolls for the HOT lanes will vary based on congestion and will have no cap. Drivers can avoid tolls by carpooling if they have three or more passengers or by using the free, non-HOT lanes.

“Currently on the Beltway, you have no choices,” said Steve Titunik, Virginia Department of Transportation spokesman. “The HOT lanes give people choices: You can sit in traffic, you can ride a bus, you can take the HOT lanes. For the first time, you can have a choice.”

Though they hold promise for relieving the choking Beltway traffic, the Virginia HOT lanes have been a source of consternation for local residents in recent months. In April, Fairfax County officials learned that seven parks would lose trees and trail areas.

This month, local environmentalists tried to convince VDOT to delay construction near Annandale to protect birds that have nested nearby a site.

VDOT also unexpectedly cleared three acres of trees in April that had served as a buffer between a Fairfax County middle school and the Capital Beltway on Balls Hill Road. Since then, Dranesville Supervisor John Foust, whose district encompasses the area, has worked with VDOT to have the perimeter of the area landscaped and fenced.

“We’re pretty satisfied with the results,” said Cheryl Patten, an aide to the supervisor. Patten said her office now wants VDOT to construct sound walls to protect neighboring residential areas.

VDOT also has come under fire recently for agreeing to pay what could amount to millions of dollars in carpool subsidies to the private companies Transurban and Fluor Corp., which are building the lanes.

According to Titunik, the state had few alternatives. “We just don’t have any money in the transportation budget for a big project like this,” he said, in response to challenges that the state pay for the roads itself.

“We have to be able to attract that private investment,” he said. “There has to be a give and take.”