Toll Roads Are the Future in Virginia per Sean Connaughton

In an interview with Peter Samuel, editor/publisher, TollRoadsNews.com, Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton highlighted that virtually all future major road improvements/construction will have to be financed by tolls--"the ultimate user fee"--including I-95 through a possible public-private partnership (P3).

In other comments,

• Connaughton called for a new Potomac River road crossing west of the American Legion Bridge.  
• Connaughton noted the state's interest in keeping down costs on Dulles Metrorail and said that the financial arrangements for Phase 2 would likely fall through if Loudoun bows out.

In a larger sense, the article implicitly raises questions about how much Virginia (or the country) can expand its road network to accommodate a larger traveling population in the future--both physically and financially.  Toll roads may be part of the answer, but that doesn't address the implications for fairness and equity.  Tough problem.  Good read!

Click here for the rest of this good interview report on Virginia transportation issues.