Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 6, 1995 TAG: 9510060082
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HERNDON LENGTH: Medium
A $1.75 one-way toll on the state's first private toll road in modern times has proved a bit too rich for many commuters.
The 14-mile Dulles Greenway connects Dulles International Airport with Leesburg.
``I'm only going to use it on a bad-weather day like today,'' Brad Whitney, who was commuting from his home in Clarke County to his job in Merrifield, said Wednesday.
Using the toll road shaves as much as 20 minutes from his 1 1/2-hour commute, Whitney said, but ``I can't afford it every day.''
Wednesday was the first day tolls were charged on the road after four days of fee-free travel to entice commuters to try the new route.
From 5 to 9 a.m. Wednesday, 3,400 vehicles used the four-lane highway, compared with 8,100 Monday and 9,800 Tuesday, according to figures released by the toll road company. An updated figure was not available Wednesday evening, but it was clear that the count would fall far short of Monday's total of 31,000 vehicles and Tuesday's 32,000.
The privately built, $326 million Greenway is an extension of the state-operated Dulles Toll Road, which links the airport with Interstate 66 inside the Capital Beltway. The Greenway has been promoted as an alternative to Virginia 7 and 28 in Loudoun County, which often are congested during rush hour.
The Greenway must average 33,000 vehicles a day by its second year of operation if the company is to make its loan payments without additional funds from investors, said Greenway spokeswoman Suzanne Conrad. By law, the state is not allowed to bail out the Greenway if it does not make enough money to keep up debt payments.
Greenway officials played down Wednesday's drop in traffic, saying they had expected a sharp decline.
``It was pretty much in line with our projections,'' said Conrad, adding that she expected it would take about a year to get back up to the level seen Monday and Tuesday.
``I don't think we'll have a problem reaching the projections,'' she said.
The one-way toll of $1.75, which will increase to $2 on Jan. 1, makes the Greenway one of the most expensive toll roads per mile in the country.
Private toll roads were common in early Virginia history.
Such roads ``have for a long time served the same purposes they serve now. It is a way to get a road system for the peoples' needs that somehow was not available some other way,'' said Donald M. Sweig of the Fairfax County Office of Heritage Resources.
An international group of investors, including Virginia heiress Magalen Bryant, Italian road company Autostrade International and Brown & Root of Houston, raised $50 million. They used the seed money to gain financing through a consortium that included CIGNA Investment Corp. and John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co.
by CNB