Firms tout interstate HOT lanes

Spotsylvania board hears duel- ing consortiums describe bene- fits of adding toll lanes to I-95.

Date published: 6/29/2005

By EDIE GROSS

Two road-building teams vying to widen Interstate 95 presented competing proposals to Spotsylvania supervisors last night.

The Board of Supervisors took no action during its monthly workshop. But like other elected officials up and down the I-95/I-395 corridor, Spotsylvania's supervisors are expected to comment on the proposals, possibly even endorsing one of them, by the Aug. 3 comment deadline.

A panel of state and regional transportation officials will spend the next six months collecting those comments and evaluating both proposals to see if either is worth pursuing.

Both would add a third lane to the existing HOV lanes in Northern Virginia and then convert them to High-Occupancy Toll lanes, or HOT lanes.

Like High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes, the HOT lane facilities would be free to buses and cars with three or more occupants.

But single motorists could pay a toll to use the lanes, shelling out more during peak periods than quiet ones.

Both proposals also would extend those HOT lanes up to Washington's 14th Street Bridge.

Where they differ is how they treat the Fredericksburg area.

The $913 million plan put forth by the Fluor/Transurban team would add two HOT lanes from Dumfries--where the current HOV lanes end--to Massaponax.

The $815 million proposal from the Clark/Shirley consortium would create three HOT lanes from Dumfries to State Route 610 in North Stafford and two HOT lanes from there down to U.S. 17 in southern Stafford.

At that point, Clark/Shirley would build a series of collector-distributor lanes and extra travel lanes on the main line of I-95 to help move traffic between U.S. 17 and congested Massaponax. Unlike HOT lanes, those lanes would be free and open to anyone.

Spotsylvania Supervisor Vince Onorato said he was disappointed that the Clark/Shirley plan didn't include HOT lanes to Massaponax.

But Clark Bottner, project director with Shirley Contracting Co., said extra lanes on the main part of the highway would serve the area better, offering free travel lanes to local residents who, say, just want to travel between Massaponax and U.S. 17.

"We looked at the local needs," Bottner said. "They aren't served well by HOT lanes."

The original Clark/Shirley proposal, submitted in September 2003, didn't include improvements to the Massaponax area.

Gary Groat, director of project development for Fluor, said his group's proposal must have inspired Clark/Shirley to expand its plans.

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Date published: 6/29/2005