Opponents of planned fee increases on the Dulles Toll Road showcased their displeasure on Sept. 3 through this oversized pig statue and sign in the parking lot of a McLean shopping center. (Photo by Brian Trompeter)

If Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project officials were uncertain what critics think about plans to substantially hike fees on the Dulles Toll Road, the gigantic pink Porky the Dulles Rail Pig at McLean Shopping Center was a dead giveaway.

“Thanks for All the Tolls, Suckers!” read a sign by the pig. “No Dulles Rail = No Tolls Forever. Dulles Rail = Higher Tolls Forever.”

Rates for vehicles with two axles will rise from 75 cents to $1 at the main toll plaza in Tysons Corner and from 50 cents to 75 cents at ramp booths starting Jan. 1, 2010. Drivers will pay 25 cents more for each additional axle.

And the fee hikes will keep on coming. An additional round of 25-cent hikes at the main toll plaza will occur on Jan. 1 in 2011 and 2012.

Toll-road rate hikes from 2013 on will be determined according to how much money the tolls are generating and how much additional aid, if any, arrives from the federal government.

“It’s premature at this stage to project what those increases will be down the road,” said Tara Hamilton, a Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority spokesman.

Dulles Rail officials outlined their proposed toll-road increases during a public-information session on Sept. 3 at McLean High School. Officials also held a similar meeting on Aug. 24 in Ashburn and scheduled another for Sept. 9 in Reston.

The McLean High event was listed on both promotional materials and directional signs as a public hearing, but officials only listened to residents’ input informally and informed them where they could send written testimony.

The information session was lightly attended. Many of those present were airports and Dulles Rail officials, civic activists and journalists. The high school’s parking lots were packed with students, who were attending pre-school-year activities. The meeting was held in McLean High’s cafeteria, which is located in the back of the school after a downhill walk down a long corridor.

Board members of the McLean Citizens Association (MCA) did not take a public position on the toll-road fee hikes, but criticized the timing of the information meeting, saying that holding it just before Labor Day at 5 p.m. practically would ensure low public turnout.

MCA members are concerned about cut-through traffic in neighborhoods if higher fees along the toll road - especially at the main plaza near McLean - prompt drivers to seek alternative routes.

“People are becoming seemingly ingenious to avoid the main plaza and Tysons Corner,” said MCA member Rob Bates.

The Airports Authority, which is overseeing the Dulles Rail project, will begin collecting the toll revenues on Oct. 1 and spend the funds only on the rail project’s construction and toll-road operations and improvements. State officials have authorized the Airports Authority to operate the toll road for 50 years.

Rob Whitfield, a critic of the project’s financing arrangements, said the project should be monitored by a public oversight body.

“To have such a huge project with no local accountability is a big mistake,” Whitfield said.

The Airports Authority will issue about $2.7 billion in bonds over the next seven years, which will be repaid with Dulles Toll Road revenues. The agency currently has sold $963 million worth of bonds, Hamilton said.

According to Airports Authority data, toll road revenues will have to increase from the $65 million collected in 2008 to $87 million in 2010 and $220 million by 2020 to cover the project’s debt-service costs.

Critics also took aim at the federal government, which financed 80 percent of the initial Metro system’s construction. Federal reimbursement for mass-transit projects dropped to 50 percent, then 20 percent, during the President George W. Bush’s administration.

About 52.6 percent of the Dulles Rail project will be financed by Dulles Toll Road users. The federal government will pick up 17.1 percent of the cost, Virginia will pay 5.2 percent, Loudoun County 4.8 percent and the Airports Authority 4.1 percent.

Fairfax County will pay 16.1 percent of the project’s cost and finance this through special tax districts in commercial areas. One such district already exists for Phase 1 and officials are trying to create a second district to pay for stations on the western half of the project.

Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust (D) said the initial toll-road increases being proposed are reasonable, but it is clear that project backers should seek more federal funds.

“This is really an unfair burden to put on the state and county,” Foust said.