Newspaper Column: Congestion Prices for Dulles Tolls

Abstract

Last week I called on Virginia Transportation Secretary Shirley Ybarra to emulate on the Dulles Toll Road the Greenway’s lower toll for drivers with Smart Card, thus reducing congestion at toll plazas with gates dedicated to Smart Carders. For some reason, she hasn’t yet adopted my suggestion. So let’s up the ante. During commuting hours, congestion at toll gates is bad, but congestion the length of non-HOV lanes is worse. Why not permit solo drivers to buy their way onto Dulles HOV lanes by paying a higher toll? This would reduce congestion for solo drivers who shift left and those who don’t. Vehicles with 2 or more occupants might have more company in HOV lanes, but a variable toll policy based on monitored congestion would perpetuate free flow in HOV lanes.