Two members of this forum have left comments on that WTOP article. I don't know why I bother. The level of public ignorance about the 495 Express Lanes project is really pathetic, although what's more pathetic is that so much of it is what in tort law is called "willful blindness"—people refuse to listen to anything rational that would educate them about the project.
Hoo, I
strongly agree.
There are an
awful lot of people around this area (and
not just in Virginia) that on the one hand agree with politicians that motor fuel taxes must not ever,
ever be raised, and on the other hand will moan and groan and complain that tolls are "too high." Those very same people also seem to think that they have an absolute entitlement to a congestion-free trip where ever and when ever they need to go.
A case in point includes the elected officials that slam the (private) owners of the Dulles Greenway for charging tolls that are "too high," and make repeated demands for an "audit" of the books. Never mind that the Greenways's tolls are regulated by the State Corporation Commission.
Another case in point, on the other side of the Potomac River, are the craven claims by certain Maryland politicians that the Maryland Transportation Authority is setting the tolls on some of its crossings (in particular the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the one toll point on the John F. Kennedy Highway) "too high," without any data to support same.
There's "no such thing as a free lunch." And there's no such thing as a free highway.