Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Raise the Tolls More, MWAA! Really, I Mean It!

My daily commute along the Dulles Toll Road has been much, much more manageable lately.   So clear  that, thankfully, I run the risk of getting a speeding ticket most days.  On the other hand, my alternate route, Route 7 through Great Falls, has remained as crowded as ever.

While the quicker drive on the Toll Road, could be attributable to completion of portions of construction of the Silver Line, a report shows that in the first quarter of 2012, traffic on the Dulles Toll Road was 1% lower over the same period last year.  That decline coincides with a 25 cent increase in the toll at the main toll plaza, effectively following elementary economic theory - the higher the tolls, the fewer the drivers.

Given that absolutely nothing else is working to reduce traffic in this area, I am all for higher tolls on the Dulles Toll Road.   Call me an elitist pig, but I would gladly pay another $1-2 per day to cut my round trip commute time by 10-20 minutes.  In fact, those tolls would probably be less than the taxes I’d pay for construction of new roads and there’s a far more direct effect on my own commute.  In short, the higher the tolls, the fewer crappy drivers in my life.

Count me in!

UPDATED at 9:30 on 5/8: Courtesy of David Dickinson, it looks like I have more to look forward to.   MWAA plans toll increases that will decrease toll road usage by 18% next year alone!  Woo hoo.

No comments:

Post a Comment