I-66 Tolls: Pass LeMunyon HB 1

written by Chris Beer December 5, 2017

We were told I-66 tolls wouldn’t be more than $5, Republican candidates were called fear mongers when we suggested adding tolls on I-66 would be a disaster. But now, two days into this despicable experiment, DC commuters from the suburbs are being extorted for tolls as high as $40 for the honor of driving the fastest and easiest way to work. It’s really an outrageous setup that Terry McAuliffe and Virginia have come up with here where Virginia commuters are now being directly taxed just to go to work. Nevermind I-66 is almost forty years old and capacity has never been added. You either sit there and take it or you bypass to off-roads which are even worse.

Sadly, Northern Virginia voters were more motivated to stick it to Donald Trump rather than listen to a score of Virginia. Republican delegates and senators who have said since this idea was rolled out that this very thing could happen. Chief among them was Del. Jim LeMunyon of Fairfax who was just defeated in November. He patroned THIS bill that offered the following rather cogent line of lawmaking:

“No toll shall be imposed or collected for the use of any existing component of Interstate 66 east of mile marker 67.”

Kirk Cox, Todd Gilbert, Tim Hugo and Tommy Norment need to take LeMunyon’s bill and submit it as their very first order of business in the January General Assembly session. Refuse to move on any other matter before this extortion of commuters and Virginia taxpayers is repealed. The RPV position should be without compromise – no tolls on 66. None. Nothing. $0.00.

No compromise, no hedging. Republicans need to force Democrats and Ralph Northam to fix this mistake and ban all tolls on I-66. It is a slap in the face to everyone who lives and works in Northern Virginia. We sit in almost two hours of traffic every day, at least let us do it in peace. Remember, folks up here actually have to budget tolls and time into our everyday lives. Cost of living is already high enough and making low to mid six figure salary guarantees you may be able to afford a townhouse. Right now we are the victims of a greedy state government and a greedy governor who just wants our money, quality of life be damned.

This is a unique opportunity for Republicans across the state to prove to Northern Virginia voters that we can actually help and affect them every day in a positive way. We aren’t the cretins Democrats would have you believe, they are the ones who use our transportation woes to squeeze every last dime out of you, and do it while you’re sitting in an hour of traffic with nowhere to go.

Pass LeMunyon HB1 and don’t do anything until it is done.

Chris Beer

Since 2006 I have been blogging at Mason Conservative and have been a local Republican activist. I believe the goal of all politicians should be advancing personal liberty and freedom for all. I cut my teeth in the world of Fairfax politics but have just moved to Manassas with my lovely wife and daughter.

Slugger #1

don’t drive 66 if you don’t want to pay the toll – the whole idea is to reduce cars by encouraging car pooling – this is a money making scheme taking advantage of anti-social drivers who refuse to do their part for the environment by sharing their rides – stop whining about the cost for the new route – you never had this option so the cost could triple for all I am concerned
- Jeanine Martin
  
  Stop whining about the environment and have more concern about parents and children in NOVA.
  - Slugger #1
    
    there are other ways to get into DC – always have been. Why not take them – or, if you want to take 66, then pay up – not sure where the concern for parents and children in NOVA comment comes from – how many children are driving into DC and chose to take 66 – What the heck are you going on about now. – do you ever read what you write?
    - David Dickinson
      
      The 1-way toll on I-66 today exceeded $40. That is obscene. If you want to get to work in a reasonable time, should you be forced to pay $80/day; $400/week; $20,000/year?!?
      
      You shouldn’t have to choose between daycare and health insurance and tolls.
      - Slugger #1
        
        Before this week, you could not drive on 66 without HOV. There is no charge for HOV now. The change is for those who choose to go that way-a purely optional route. Your complaint is silly since there are other ways, always have been. Don’t want to pay, go the other way. Or bring 2 guests. Duh
      - Jeanine Martin
        
        Where are the new roads we were promised with the massive tax hike for transportation in 2013?
      - Slugger #1
        
        New roads? What about the road you drove last week?
      - Eric the half a troll
        
        In fairness the extension of the HOV time slot by like a hour each way really impacts those who commuted in during the wee hours of the morning and out before 4pm when the road was not HOV. That is not peak rush hour though so perhaps the new toll is not as high during their commute. As a person who owns a hybrid and took advantage of the hybrid loophole during my commute to Arlington, I really do not have a problem with the change. I simply found a new route that cost me an extra 15 minutes. If I need that time, then I will pay – and I might take Metro more frequently, the jury is still out in that regard. I think they should roll back the time expansion (or maybe split the difference) as those people (many civil servants, btw) are the most impacted.
      - David Dickinson
        
        “and I might take Metro more frequently”
        
        And this is what the VDOT head said yesterday. The point of high tolls is to force people into mass transit. That mentality is dangerous and shows what NOVA’s future is: Pay outrageous tolls or use our mass transit.
        
        It is another Metro boondoggle forcing people into their failing system.
      - Eric the half a troll
        
        Well seeing as how we are funding Metro infrastructure, it would really be a huge waste if it wasn’t used. At this point they are sunken costs. It makes fiscal sense to use whatever measures we can to increase ridership and reduce the need for more roads to the extent possible.
      - David Dickinson
        
        Completely backwards. We should be putting as much money into expanding roads as possible.
        
        With the advent of self-driving cars and trucks we are going to see an exponential need for more roads. Metro is a 19th century technology in a 21st century world and its time has passed.
      - Chris B
        
        These tolls effect people’s living wages
      - Slugger #1
        
        Not if you drive a different way. How did you get into DC last week. Here is my advice. Go that way.
      - David Dickinson
        
        You have to cross the Potomac and there are very few ways to do that and get to DC.
        
        If a road is as heavily congested as I-66, then it needs to be widened. I-66 should be at least 6 free lanes in both directions.
      - Slugger #1
        
        That is a different conversation. Yes, we need more options and better roads. But, you were able to get to DC before Monday without taking 66. You can still go that way.
      - Jeanine Martin
        
        What happened to all that transportation tax money? In NOVA we’re stuck with a sales tax that is 20% more than the rest of the state. Why aren’t we getting new roads? We are taxed and taxed again and tolled to death!
      - Chris
        
        Must be why so many people are moving here.
  - Chris k
    
    Won’t someone please think of the children.
  - Eric the half a troll
    
    HOV is not about the environment, it is about reducing the number of cars on the road in half. The part that is about the environment is the authorization of alternative fuel cars (read hybrids) to use 66 free of charge with only one person. They are the ones who got screwed. If you are one of those who says “screw the environment” you should like this change. 66 is now a gas guzzling highway again.
- Fist Rockbone
  
  Isn’t a slug an invertebrate, slimey slithery thing?
- Chris B
  
  the problem is this is theory, not reality. People need to get to work and there isn’t enough car pooling and Metro IN THE WORLD to move the 451K and 1.14 million residnets of PW and Fairfax counties from their homes to Washington DC to work. Obviously not all of them, but even just a small fraction there isn’t enough pure capacity of roads, Metro, buses and carpooling to avoid traffic. Forcing people to pick and choose based on a false premise of “saving the environment” is truly putting ideology over reality.
  
  People just want to get to work and make a living, your bullshit is getting in the way and the sooner people see this the better.
  - Slugger #1
    
    How did they get to work last week? The reality is that there are other roads. Driving 66 is not a need, it is a want. So pay up or go the same way you have been going for years and hope there are enough rich folks who are willing to pay anything to take 66.
    - Chris B
      
      I love this attitude … please keep going, please never change.
- Cam Jones
  
  Screw the environment. I’m a Republican; I live for dirty air and dirty water. I’m leaving all 7 of my cars, my mowers, chainsaws, weedeaters, and every other gas burning thing I have running 24/7 until these tolls are repealed.
Isophorone

I would note that LeMunyon’s successor did not take any position on transportation, but ran on “Hate Trump” and “Free stuff.” Let’s put clowns like Karrie-fornia Klueless on the record!
David Dickinson

This is THE ISSUE that Republicans need to gravitate to and take up. The recent RPV soul searching often came back to what issue Republicans can own to give us the edge. This is it! Republicans need to run towards ending tolls in Virginia and hang all the previous comments from Democrats (find their quotes supporting this outrageous highway robbery from election 2 years ago) on them. Make tolls the issue that pulls Democrats down and champion an end to tolling. You want to win NOVA? THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT!!!!

1. Tim the Tollman Kaine was the Democratic Governor that signed over the Dulles Toll Road to MWAA. NOVA was supposed to ride the DTR toll free after the bonds were paid off (the lie politicians told). Once they were paid off, Tim the Tollman Kaine signed the road over to MWAA so they could fund the disaster called Metro. When his election comes around next, remind people of this.
2. Democrat Terry McAulliffe pushed this I-66 tolling through. Republicans in Virginia should never let up that this Democratic shuckster pushed $40 tolls on Virginians. (Note: we need it investigated to find out why he was so in favor of this. There must be a payoff somewhere). Republicans were strongly against the tolling of I-66 and we need to remind NOVA of this constantly.

Democrats = Tolls
Republicans = No Tolls

That is the message we need to drum beat ad naseum to win NOVA
- Mick Staton
  
  Except the Republicans let it happen in 2016. A deal got struck between McAuliffe and the Republicans and LeMunyon’s bill was quietly killed in committee, allowing the tolls to go forward.
  - David Dickinson
    
    Swamp Republicans and of no matter. Perception is reality. Pin tolls on Democrats. It is McAulliffe’s toll. Democrats own it.
    
    If Republicans want a rallying cry in NOVA, ending tolls is the visceral issue that will motivate people. I got a circuitous email from the Bob Marshal camp. His posting yesterday on I-66 tolls got 14,000 views in a single day. People are outraged. If Republicans want to pick up an issue that will motive people, here is that issue.
- Eric the half a troll
  
  what about the Greenway??
  - Eric the half a troll
    
    Come on, David, what about the Greenway? That stretch of road is nothing more than a private tax to fund corporate profits and costs me bitterly each and every day. So much for the private sector being better for taxpayers than the public sector. I would much rather own the road and have a say (at the ballot box and with my elected representatives) in its management than have the conservatives force the welfare of private corporations on me without my consent.
    - David Dickinson
      
      I fully support the State or County purchasing the Greenway and have advocated for it several times before.
- Eric the half a troll
  
  From a purely political sense, I am sure you realize that those who voted D (think inner suburbs who already use Metro and have short commutes) are less impacted by this change than are those in WV and far western Loudoun who already tend to vote R. The numbers may be shocking right now but I doubt the issue translates to votes in a meaningful way. Not the way Trump did in November anyway.
Ron

McAuliffe’s last great money grab.
Ron

How about building new roads, double deckers, etc. Instead of raping the tax payer.
- Jeanine Martin
  
  Where did all that tax income go from the biggest tax hike in Virginia, in 2013? It was supposed to be for transportation! Why don’t we have any new roads? Why is traffic worse than it has ever been?
  - Chris
    
    Building new roads makes traffic worse. (According to some very convincing research.)
Andrew Olson

Both David Dickinson and Slugger are correct: Yes, it represents more freedom (previously non-HOV vehicles were prohibited), yet the price looks out of proportion with the value and so Dickinson is correct that opposing it will win votes. Anytime you oppose or argue for reduction of a govt-set price you get voters on your side.
- Sd
  
  Dickson has always been against a free market economy. He wants socialism where others pay for his luxuries. Typical GOP.
  - David Dickinson
    
    Road construction and maintenance is a core government function and should be provided for from tax revenues.
    
    I’m surprised a socialist like yourself disagrees. Are any minimum wage Democrats going to pay a $40 toll? Only the rich can afford that. Where is your conveniently forgotten sense of justice?
    - Chris
      
      Maybe they’ll carpool.
    - sd
      
      I am not surprised that a socialist like yourself is wanting others to pay so you don’t have to. What is wrong with rich people being able to afford something and paying into the gov’t coffers. You are simply cheap and want others to take care of you
      - David Dickinson
        
        We collectively already paid for I-66 and now we are being charged to use it or are forbidden to use it unless we adapt the communist behaviour of carpooling. That’s just wrong.
      - SD
        
        so, are you suggesting that all public good and services provide by the govt should be free, not fees at all? We have plenty of toll roads, entrance fees, usage fees, etc. What is wrong with having people who use a service pay for it – you seem to want everyone to shoulder the burden of your commute – talk about socialism.
        
        I choose to work outside of DC. Why should I have to fund your choice. Pay your own way and hands off my money .
      - David Dickinson
        
        Republicans need to be the anti-toll party if they want to win in NOVA. That is my main point.
        
        Secondarily, road creation and maintenance is a core government function. We are paying general taxes, paying a specific transportation tax, paying gas taxes for transportation, etc. and then STILL have to pay tolls.
        
        These tolls are an additional tax on “rich” NOVA residents and until NOVA stops accepting them we are going to continue to get squeezed.
        
        Your assumption that I personally commute to DC is incorrect as is your assumption that these I-66 tolls are actually paying for the road.
      - sd
        
        wait, you don’t drive 66 but you are complaining that some people choose to spend their money on the tolls?!? What business is it of yours how they spend their money? Why are you objecting that some value the convenience and their time as much as they do. This is a typical GOP move – getting involved in personal lives – stay out others bedroom and stay our of their car – let them live their own lives
      - David Dickinson
        
        Again with the willful ignorance sd. Tolling is on the upswing and more and more tolls are arising in Virginia. Democrat McAwful put tolling into overdrive (pun intended) and plans to expand tolling westward on I-66. If it makes you feel better, I occasionally go downtown and take 66 but it isn’t part of my regular commute (not that it matters).
        I oppose tolling of all roads at all times. It’s a symptom of my years in California. We have government not doing what it is supposed to do (provide a road infrastructure) and then spending money in places it has no place spending money.
      - sd
        
        you oppose all tolls? Boy, you are one disappointed guy. Th entire world has toll roads, toll bridges, entrance fees, usage fees, etc. Your objections to all tolls is sad – your objection to this particular one is weird considering this is a new route that just opened to single drivers who, until this week, drove different routes and can still go that way.
        
        I object to the entire idea of HOT lanes since they encourage more cars at a time when we don’t have the capacity and need to reduce cars. Having lived and worked and vacation in cities around the world with mass transit systems that work, it is clear that DC must develop more mass transit infrastructure as the are continues to grow.
- Chris
  
  The novelty will wear off and the prices will normalize. In a month this will be an issue that you can use to rile up people who hate Democrats anyway, but one that no actual Northern Virginia commuters care about.
  - David Dickinson
    
    I disagree. Listen to what the head of VDOT said yesterday. He said the high tolls are about right and it forces people off the road and into mass transit. This is behaviour modification of the worst kind and is an indication of where VDOT is going in the future. More and more and more and more tolls to force people into the crappy Metro system, to increase ridership, to increase the amount that Metro can bond and borrow, to keep union labor fat and happy, to give money to the Democrats.
    
    It is this intent of McAulliffe and his cronies that is most dangerous.
    - Chris
      
      Assuming he’s correct, all of these people were being forced onto mass transit last Friday when the entire road was HOV only. So, again, I don’t see what commuters are being harmed exactly. Everything you said is total BS. The only behavior modification is that single drivers now have the option to take 66 when before they did not have that option.
      
      However, on my comment, I was wrong. I read more about this after posting. The tolls are based on the speed the road is moving at, so if everyone on the road is carpooling and the road is full, they will remain high. It’s entirely possible there will be a situation where the road is full of carpoolers, leading to tolls of $50, 60, 70 dollars, and exactly no one will be paying the toll. In which case, why did we spend money on upgrading the road to have a toll system?
      
      I’d be curious to learn what sort of ROI the state has seen on the Beltway toll lanes. The other day I was stuck in traffic and could have saved 12 minutes if I’d taken the toll lane…for $15. I did some math and concluded my time was not that valuable and I should just sit in traffic.
      
      For these toll roads that solely provide new options for drivers, the question should not be how much the tolls are, the question should be if the tolls are a net revenue generator for the state.
      - David Dickinson
        
        Chris, as I said, this is a bad indication of where this is going. It is VDOT’s goal to start tolling I-66 outside the Beltway (and likely elsewhere). As we can see from these tolls, VDOT intends to punish people that drive their own cars. That’s the problem. A big problem.
        
        We should be working to and advocating for an end to HOT lanes in Virginia.
      - Chris
        
        Do you understand why HOV lanes exist? They serve the same purpose as transit: reducing the number of cars on the road while still getting people to work. This reduces traffic and reduces traffic jams, decreasing inefficiency and increasing productivity.
        
        This, by the way, is the reason major metropolitan areas are so reliably Democratic. Has nothing to do with corruption, labor unions, swamps, or whatever other hogwash the anti-urban pundits on the right may claim. City dwellers understand that – to quote the Constitution – government exists to “promote the general Welfare.” It’s sort of like the prisoner’s dilemma – for any one person its easier to drive themselves, to not pay for transit, etc. But if a large number of people carpool or take transit it’s better for EVERYONE – including those same solo drivers. Government exists in order to tackle collective action problems like inefficient commuting patterns.
        
        I agree that converting a free highway to a HOT highway raises some issues. But converting HOV to HOT is fine. Nothing is being taken away from anyone.
      - David Dickinson
        
        No, I have no idea. Please explain HOV.
        
        I didn’t say “HOV.” I said “HOT.” Keep an HOV lane(s) but get rid of the tolls (HOT).
      - Chris
        
        Yup, my bad. I corrected my comment but presumably after it had been e-mailed to you.
      - Chris
        
        HOT is literally HOV except that single drivers may choose to use the road for a fee rather than be prohibited from using it. How on earth is that worse than HOV?
- David Dickinson
  
  Ding, ding, ding, ding. We have a winner!
Chris

Meanwhile 66 used to be HOV only…so…what’s the issue here exactly? Just get a second person in your car and the toll goes away…and then the two of you are on I-66 like you always were. If allowing single occupancy cars on 66 is a luxury that some people are willing to pay for, we can use that money to maintain and improve our highways and transit.

In the long term I expect that few people will pay for it, just as few people pay for the HOV lanes on the Beltway.
John Massoud

Sadly the voters endorsed this in November, and now it is for us to ram it down the throats of those who voted Democrat in NOVA who usually vote GOP but thought they were going to send a message to Trump. All they did was hurt everyone else, and themselves especially.
Rob Blackstone

So just for the record, this article as advocating for government price controls over a supply/demand market-driven system?

I just want to be sure here.
Chris

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2017/12/08/forget-the-infamous-40-toll-heres-what-the-i-66-tolls-are-averaging/?utm_term=.85a5c5d98d3c
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I-66 Tolls: Pass LeMunyon HB 1

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