The minutes for the 26 September 2012 Sully District Council are available online.
The September meeting is documented via a series of pictures available from the Sully District Council's Photo Gallery.
The only scheduled meeting topic was a presentation on the I-495 Express Lanes project by Mr. Mike McGuire of the firm of Transurban. Following self introductions by the attendees, Mr. McGuire began his presentation.
Mr. McGuire began by noting that Transurban Corporation is one of several members of the public / private partnership established to design, construct, operate and maintain the I-495 Express Lanes facility. The other members of the partnership include the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the US Department of Transportation, and the joint venture firm Transurban/Flour as the designer, constructor, and operator.
Mr. McGuire’s presentation may be accessed in either pdf or ppt formats.
The I-495 Express Lanes project will add four new travel lanes of vehicle capacity (two lanes in each direction) along the median area of a portion of the Virginia section of the Capital Beltway. The general limits of the project are from the vicinity of the Springfield interchange (I-95/I-395/I-495) on the south to the vicinity of the Georgetown Pike interchange (VA193 / I-495) on the north. The four new lanes will be toll lanes, with all entering vehicles charged for their use of some portion of the facility. This will be an all electronic toll facility, with EZ Pass type vehicle transponders used to record the entry and exit point of all users.
The facility toll pricing structure will reflect a dynamic pricing philosophy by time of day to maintain a relatively uniform and consistent travel time and speed over the length of the facility. The concept here is that higher prices will be charged during morning and afternoon peak travel periods, although this will be a toll facility 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.
In addition to the entry / exit points to the general purpose lanes of the Capital Beltway at the northern and southern project limits, a limited number of additional entry/exit points will be provided. Several of these, such as at the I-66/I-495 interchange, will be integrated into existing Beltway exits. Other Express Lane entry/exit points, such as at the Lee Highway (US Route 29) overpass and in the Tysons Corner area, will provide new connections from the Beltway to major activity centers.
For those vehicles which elect to use the Express Lanes without having an EZ Pass transponder, cameras will record the vehicle license number and a bill for the use of the facility and an administrative processing charge will be sent to the vehicle owner by VDOT. Two types of EZ Pass transponders will be accepted by the facility: the traditional EZ Pass transponders now in use across Virginia and a number of neighboring states and an “HOV FLEX EZPass” which will allow the driver to indicate whether or not the vehicle has multiple passengers and allows a lower toll rate to be charged. The current toll rate schedule anticipates HOV vehicles to use the facility at no charge. Vehicles which currently have an EZPass transponder will be able to immediately use the facility once it is opened to traffic. New or replacement transponders will have a modest fee per month charged for their use.
Previously known as a High Occupancy Toll or “HOT” facility, the I-495 Beltway lanes project is currently planned to have a toll rate schedule of between $0.20 and $1.25 per mile traveled. These variable pricing / congestion pricing fees will be adjusted over the course of the day to maintain consistent end to end travel times and operating speeds over the total length of the facility. The fee charged each entering vehicle in terms of the toll rate per mile traveled will remain constant for that vehicle over the length of its trip, even if the toll rate is increased or decreased immediately after the vehicle enters the facility and passes under the first electronic monitoring station.
Similar express lane / variable pricing toll facilities are currently in operation in California, Florida, and Minnesota. The existing Dulles Greenway facility in Loudoun County, Virginia also has a variable pricing scheme but requires all users to pass through toll barriers at low speeds and also allows payment by EZPass, cash, or credit card. The I-495 Express lanes facility will be totally electronic, similar to the recently opened Intercounty Connector in Maryland, and will not require vehicles to stop for toll payment processing. Only two axle vehicles (private passenger cars or small vans) and authorized transit buses will be allowed to use the I-495 Express Lanes facility; trucks will be banned.
In closing, Mr. McGuire referred the attendees to the recently updated project website (www.495ExpressLanes.com) and opened the floor to questions from the audience. The following topics were discussed:
Transfers at each end of the express lanes facility to and from the general use Beltway travel lanes will be provided in the form of a regular merge or diverge maneuver.
There are currently no planned extensions of the Express Lanes concept into Maryland across the American Legion Bridge over the Potomac River at Cabin John or over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge over the Potomac River near Alexandria. The concept is planned to be coordinated with the I-95 Express lane project from the Capital Beltway at the Springfield Interchange south to the Fredericksburg area.
The I-495 Express Lanes travel demand forecasting models estimate that the typical user trip will be approximately 4-6 miles in length rather than the full 14 mile length of the project in Virginia.
Transurban is paying for Virginia State Police enforcement of toll and HOV regulations violators, similar to the process being used on the Dulles Greenway.
The project has been financed by a federal /state/private partnership; with about 78% of the total facility cost being provided by Transurban and its private sector partners. This private sector financing is estimated to be about $1.5 billion.
Additional studies will be undertaken if VDOT decides to consider any other actions that might divert significant amounts of the currently projected travel demand from the Express lanes facility.
The Commonwealth of Virginia has entered into a 75-year lease arrangement with Transurban for the operation and maintenance of the facility. The toll revenue stream will be first focused on repayment of the capital and operating costs of the facility. These elements should be totally repaid in the first 30-40 years of the lease.
The I-495 Express Lanes project is projected to be open to traffic in late November of 2012. The associated I-95 corridor Express / HOT lanes project is anticipated to be open to traffic in the 2014/2015 time period.
With no further questions, the group thanked Mr. McGuire for his presentation and turned to other regular business.
OLD BUSINESS
Jeff then briefly reviewed the old business items on the meeting agenda, noting the status of the past few land use and zoning discussions that have been brought before the group:
In January, the SDC heard a request for a variance to subdivide 2+ acre parcel on Ashburton Ave. into two 1+ acre lots with 1 lot with required 150’ width and the other with 76’ width (the variance)
We voted to not oppose the variance request.
In May, Keith C. Martin informed the SDC that the variance app for 2 lots on Ashburton Ave has been converted to a Special Exception for waiver of lot width because VA Sup. Ct ruled that the BOS has authority to grant SE’s. Exact same layout just different code section.
Now, due what we understand were environmental issues, the driveway design has changed. See the revised special exception plat and contact Keith for more information.
Even with the change County staff objected to the access on Safron Drive due to tree loss.
We then queried the LUT membership for their views and received this response:
As a representative of one of the communities adjacent to the location of the proposed two-lot Special Exception, I do not have any objections to this action.
It does seem a little curious that Fairfax County staff have objected to the proposed site access onto Safron Drive due to tree loss when I do not recall this comment / objection arising in connection with any of the other recent larger scale development proposals in the Sully District. One could argue that if the removal of existing trees in connection with the development of this two-lot residential property was a concern, it should have been a concern of equal or greater importance relative to any of the development proposals along Centreville Road.
Based on this feedback we will continue with our current position
In September, the SDC heard request PCA-FDPA 2006-SU-007 to revise the CDPA-FDPA, Proffers and Conditions for the Timber Ridge Residential Development on the EDS site fronting Centreville Road between Wall Rd and Cox Offices
The SDC indicated it had no objections to the proposed changes for the development and not to oppose the variance request.
Planning Commissioner Jim Hart provided the SDC the following documents:
Staff's memo to the Planning Commission on the application
President Mark McConn noted that the US Route 29 / Manassas Battlefield Bypass project appears to be becoming active again as it relates to the proposed extension of the Route 234 Bypass and the designation of the Route 606 corridor in Loudoun and Fairfax Counties as the Bi-County Connector / Parkway corridor. While much of this activity is likely to take place in either Loudoun or Prince William Counties, the confluence of the three counties in this area will require all three jurisdictions to collaborate and coordinate on how these proposed highway improvements function as elements of an integrated regional transportation system.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
The next meeting of the Sully District Council will be on Wednesday, 28 November 2012, at the Sully District building on Stonecroft Road. The guest speakers will be from the Fairfax County Department of Fire and Emergency Services.
The December meeting will take place on December 19th and will feature a report from Sully District Planning Commissioner John Litzenburger.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the group, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:30 PM.
Respectively submitted by,
Lewis Grimm.
2nd Vice President
Sully District Council