IIRC the local volumes reported in the 2004 studies were in the 20-25% range. There are plenty of towns and cities along the route and it has been over 40 years since the last segment was completed, so while traffic growth has been slow it has had a long time to grow. So local users (as in the 10 to 50 mile trip range) will definitely benefit from capacity improvements.
Agreed. I had misinterpreted your initial response as being sarcastic (as in those towns now will have higher taxes), that's the position my response came from.
Northern Virginia does have tolled express lanes on 4 Interstate routes and I-66 outside the beltway will have tolled express lanes, but as noted VA-267 is the only one with tolled general purpose lanes.
Express lanes or not, there's still a free freeway option. The I-66 outside the beltway widening will benefit everybody, as interchanges will be fully reconstructed, reconfigured, expanded, etc. to handle more traffic volumes, the gap between I-66 and the VA-28 freeway will finally be closed, etc.
The Springfield Interchange expansion, Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement, etc. benefited everybody, and those were completed before the Express Lanes.
Now, if they could find funding to add another GP lane to I-95 and do the same thing happening to I-66 but on I-95 down to Fredericksburg, or at least Stafford. The tax increase providing $40 million annually to I-95 could help accelerate that. $400 million in 10 years could help speed up a massive I-95 expansion to 8-lanes, as that's $400 million less needed from traditional sources over a 10 year period. For 25 miles (Occoquan River to I-95 C/D lane project in Fredericksburg), if it's $50 million per mile (a base estimate for adding one 12 foot lane and 12 foot shoulder in each direction in the median), it'd be about $1.25 billion. If subsidized by $400 million in a 10 year period, that's now down to $850 million. It's certainly going to be needed in the next 10-15 years, it's tolerable to some extent now, but it's just gonna get worse.
Obviously, an actual project would likely feature interchange expansions, etc. and be more costly, but for a basic 8-lane widening / relief project similar to what's happening with I-64 on the Peninsula (simply adding a lane for congestion relief, no actual interchange improvements), it could be close.