I66 tolls now in effect - at times over $30 one way (Washington: costs, bus)

[NOVAmtneer82]

Agreed. I understand we have limited road funding so I do support reasonable tolls at the previous HOV hours, but these are out of control. And I don't appreciate the nonchalant and smug commentary today by Transportation Secretary Aubrey Lane (who lives in Virginia Beach by the way) on the issue. Maybe we could add some HOT lanes down near his house!

[LM117]

As much as I despise Danville, BS like this makes me glad I don't live in NOVA.

[ICS67]

Originally Posted by NOVAmtneer82

Agreed. I understand we have limited road funding so I do support reasonable tolls at the previous HOV hours, but these are out of control. And I don't appreciate the nonchalant and smug commentary today by Transportation Secretary Aubrey Lane (who lives in Virginia Beach by the way) on the issue. Maybe we could add some HOT lanes down near his house!

Our outgoing governor also had some smug commentary about this that I saw on one of the local newscasts last night. If McAuliffe ever decides to run for higher office, I'm sure that footage is going to end up in an effective attack ad against him as not caring about the impact such astronomical tolls have on the average person. You know, portraying him as a latter day Leona "only the little people pay taxes" Helmsley.

[gomason]

Originally Posted by spencgr

I heard a lot of outrage over this. Single drivers couldn't use it before, now they can...with a large fee. Don't want to pay a large fee? Fine...commute the same way you were before. Nothing changes.

Sooo outrageous! I mean 66 used to flow so well through Arlington when it was free!!!!! I mean its almost like THOUSANDS of people never used to commute through Falls Church and the residential streets of Arlington (see Wash Blvd.).

Forget about all the people that still cut back through those streets for the reverse commute (east in evening and west in morning).

Paging Carlingtonian: are you being assaulted in Westover because of these changes?!?!

[NOVA_guy]

Not to downplay it, because it truly is awful and outrageous but they charge it because they know they can and people will pay it - and eventually all the anger and protesting will quiet down and it'll be back to business as usual.

The folks in Richmond don't care, never have and never will, it's hard to fight or care about an issue in a part of the state where you don't even live. Meanwhile, traffic here will continue to get worst as developers throw up condos and apartments on every patch of land left while the state still refuses to invest in proper infrastructure. I won't even get on the topic of the state getting rid of the proffer law, which was a direct hit to NoVa and our ability to fix some of our infrastructure.

Lol wow, that sounds really depressing but it's true.

[jobber123rd]

Originally Posted by NOVAmtneer82

Agreed. I understand we have limited road funding so I do support reasonable tolls at the previous HOV hours, but these are out of control. And I don't appreciate the nonchalant and smug commentary today by Transportation Secretary Aubrey Lane (who lives in Virginia Beach by the way) on the issue. Maybe we could add some HOT lanes down near his house!

The first segment of the 64 Express Lanes, a conversion from HOV to HOT of the 8.4-mile HOV Reversible Road between I-564 and I-264 in Norfolk, is set to open next month.

The plans (as discussed by Mr. Layne in the video below) are to add HOT lanes to the entire I-64 portion of the Hampton Roads Beltway, to include the expansions of the High Rise Bridge in Chesapeake (Segment 2, projected completion 2021), and the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel (Segment 3, projected completion 2024). There may potentially be a fourth segment of Express lanes west of the Beltway in Hampton and Newport News as well. Of course, these will work much more like the 95 or 495 HOT lanes (where there are non-tolled lanes for non-HOV traffic) than the 66 lanes.

[Flamingo13]

That's not in NoVa!

[jobber123rd]

Originally Posted by Flamingo13

That's not in NoVa!

It's "down by Aubrey Layne's house," so to speak. I was responding to NOVAmtneer82's sentiment that HOT lanes aren't a thing near where the Transportation Secretary lives (Virginia Beach).

[17thAndK]

The tolls are simply having their intended effect. We are learning who is willing to pay for peak-period travel on 66 and who is not. Volume and tolls will self-balance as time goes by.

[NOVAmtneer82]

Originally Posted by jobber123rd

The first segment of the 64 Express Lanes, a conversion from HOV to HOT of the 8.4-mile HOV Reversible Road between I-564 and I-264 in Norfolk, is set to open next month.

The plans (as discussed by Mr. Layne in the video below) are to add HOT lanes to the entire I-64 portion of the Hampton Roads Beltway, to include the expansions of the High Rise Bridge in Chesapeake (Segment 2, projected completion 2021), and the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel (Segment 3, projected completion 2024). There may potentially be a fourth segment of Express lanes west of the Beltway in Hampton and Newport News as well. Of course, these will work much more like the 95 or 495 HOT lanes (where there are non-tolled lanes for non-HOV traffic) than the 66 lanes.

Good- But unlike these 64 HOT lanes (and our own on 495, 95 and soon to be 395 and 66 outside-the-Beltway), the ones on 66 inside-the-Beltway take up the entire almost 10 mile stretch of in-bound highway for four hours in the morning and the entire westbound stretch in the evening. I do hope he uses the 64 HOT lanes all the time! And if the rates get to be even a fraction of what ours have become then maybe he can make another smug/ moronic comment to his neighbors about how 'fair' the new system is and how easy it is to just pick up a person to carpool with or take another gridlocked route into work. That was my main point- He doesn't live in Arlington/ N. Virginia and has likely never commuted on 66 but is telling those of us that do how easy this new reality is to accept.