Virginia’s I-66 Expansion Plan: A win for the state, the contractor, and the driving public
A Washington Post editorial last week, tracing the benefits of a major new tolling project in Northern Virginia, points to some of the key facts and arguments that could help the new Trump Administration develop a funding pathway for the ambitious new infrastructure program the President-Elect has promised.
The timing couldn’t be better, as the new Administration begins the always tortuous process of translating campaign promises into practical policies and programming.
Before the vote, there was talk of new infrastructure investment from all sides of the political spectrum, but in the ups and downs of a long campaign, the details were secondary. Now, it’s time for details. And as the Post tells the story, Virginia’s I-66 expansion project is exactly the kind of practice model the new Administration will need.
Something for Everyone
I-66 is a six-lane, east-west artery through the Northern Virginia suburbs, described by the Post as “one of the most congested commuter chutes in the Washington area.” Capacity is so strained at the moment that drivers with no passengers aren’t even allowed inside the Washington, DC Beltway at rush hour.
The road is one reason the national capital earned dubious recognition in 2015 as the most gridlocked urban area in the United States.
Final project details are still taking shape. But the Editorial Board of the Washington Post describe plans for a highway expansion that will have something for everyone.
The state’s “most ambitious and costly highway construction project in decades” will expand a 22-mile stretch of I-66 from six lanes to 10.
A private sector consortium—to be confirmed next year, when the winning bid is announced—will cover the $3 billion in project costs.
The budget will include a $500-million lump sum payment to help the state fund other transportation projects along the corridor.
The Commonwealth of Virginia will also receive another $850 million for transit improvements along I-66 and $350 million for nearby highway projects.
The consortium will keep all of the toll revenues it collects over the 50-year life of the project.
If the project went south and the consortium went bankrupt, it would retain responsibility for all remaining debt, but the road itself would stay with the state.
In what the Post’s editors describe as “a major achievement for Governor Terry McAuliffe,” the Commonwealth of Virginia has developed an innovative plan. Thought out the details. And found a pathway to make it a “win” for everyone—the state, the contractor, and the driving public.
Just as the new Trump Administration wants to do.
A World of Possibilities
The I-66 story points back to the infrastructure challenges facing the Administration in three ways.
First, it shows that creative solutions are possible when the public and private sectors roll up their sleeves and work together.
Second, it answers several questions that have been swirling around Washington, DC, regarding the infrastructure projects the new Administration decides to emphasize: I-66 is a project that would not have been possible without new money from some source, was not going to be funded by the public purse, and required smart collaboration to get off the drawing boards.
And most important, it relies on the tolling industry, a community of practice and expertise that has developed a suite of innovative models for getting badly-needed highway infrastructure built, improved, and maintained.
Over the last decade, tolling agencies have been masters of flexibility, adapting a basic funding method to accommodate an array of local issues and circumstances. The industry has a powerful, positive track record, and agencies stand ready to move farther, faster to help the Administration deliver on a necessarily ambitious set of promises.
Photo courtesy of http://virginiadot.org/