The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) invited residents to an open house at South Lakes High School last Thursday, Sept. 10 to inform them of the raises in tolls on the Dulles Toll Road that are planned for the next three years and gather comments. It was one of three public hearings on the toll increases, and attendees were encouraged to fill out comment sheets and drop them off in boxes.

The airports authority will take over the toll road from the state at the beginning of October and will begin this year paying off debt service on the bonds it is selling to cover its share of the cost of construction of Rail to Dulles. Over the next three years, MWAA plans to raise tolls at the main-line toll plaza just east of Route 7 by 25 cents per year, with a 2012 toll of $1.50 for two-axle vehicles. Tolls on the ramps would rise by 25 cents next year and hold steady through 2012.

At its Aug. 17 board meeting, the Reston Association unanimously approved the toll increases, but other groups in western Fairfax have become dissatisfied with the funding plan for rail, which is to cover more than half of the $5.25 billion construction cost through tolls.

According to material provided at the open house, debt service payments in 2012 would be about $50 million, necessitating gross revenue from tolls of around $100 million. However, payments on the approximately $2.7 billion in debt that MWAA plans to buy over the next seven years would increase incrementally through 2042, peaking at more than $350 million. The airports authority would have to take in nearly $500 million in tolls that year, five times what it plans to take in for 2012. Last year, toll revenues totaled $87 million.

The debt is to be paid off in 2053, at which point, MWAA would turn the toll road back over to the state.

"Yes, tolls will go up," said MWAA spokeswoman Tara Hamilton. "We’ll be back to the public each time there’s a proposal to raise the tolls." She said it remained uncertain what toll rates would be in later years, and that the airports authority would do a study on toll road use after the first year of increases to begin to project further into the future.

She said the money would only be spent in the Dulles corridor, on rail construction, road maintenance and various improvements. These could include interchange improvements, upgrades for other roads in the corridor, improving sound walls and other projects.

"We don’t have a firm, specific plan [for improvements] at this time, but we’ll develop it in the next year," said MWAA manager of planning Bill Lebegern, adding that the airports authority didn’t have steady money to do a study on improvements until a few weeks ago, when it sold its first $963 million in bonds.

In addition to tolls, about 17 percent of funding for rail construction is to come from federal funding and a little less from special commercial tax districts in Fairfax County, with Virginia and Loudoun County each pitching in about 5 percent and about 4 percent coming from MWAA.

The airports authority’s share is to cover the cost of a station at Dulles Airport, and Hamilton noted that the authority was also providing the right-of-way for Metro and a rail yard at the airport. While she said MWAA had not projected the economic benefit of rail for the airport, she said most international airports found mass transit to be "a great advantage." However, she noted that most of the estimated 70,000 to 80,000 Metro riders per day on the new line would not be airport traffic.

Several members of the Dulles Corridor Users Group, a citizen group that recently filed a complaint in federal court calling for the cessation of tolls on the toll road and a refund of what it deems past overcharges, were in attendance at the open house. One of them, Rob Whitfield, said he did not support the funding plan because it placed too much of the funding burden on residents of western Fairfax and Loudoun, the primary users of the toll road.

As cost projections rose over the last few years, he said, planners’ solution was to cover the increases with toll road revenues, multiplying the amount that would need to be taken in from tolls. "There was no attempt made to find a more equitable solution," Whitfield said. Also, he said the toll increases were unfair because everyone would be subjected to them, regardless of their income levels.

While he conceded that rail would have some benefits for the area, he said he wanted to see discussion reopened on whether rail in the Dulles corridor remained feasible. "I’m opposed to what’s on the table now because it’s no longer cost-effective," Whitfield said, adding that a solution would need to include a public oversight body with access to all of the numbers involved, including future operational costs, and that a greater share of the burden would have to be placed on Tysons Corner.

While shouldering less of the project’s costs, Tysons Corner landowners would reap more of the benefits than the landowners, residents and businesses in western Fairfax. "Why should Tysons be such a huge winner at the cost of us on the corridor?" he asked.

"There’s no other circumstance I know where airport access is funded by tolls," said Chris Walker, head of the Dulles Corridor Users Group. He said the plan would diminish traffic in the corridor while sucking money out of the area. "This is a recipe for economic depression for the entire corridor."

Reston Association President Robin Smyers disagreed, saying that if development around future Metro stops were properly planned, the rail would also bring money into the area. "It’s going to bring people from Washington out to our area," she said, adding that the rail would also help Reston residents get into D.C. and would cut down on driving, benefiting the environment.

Also, Smyers said, "Just because you raise tolls doesn’t mean people are going to stop using the road." She pointed to the Dulles Greenway as an example, noting that she had seen cars backed up for miles to pay the toll to get onto the road, which is $4.50 for a car during peak hours, several times what drivers currently pay to use the Dulles Toll Road.

"The bottom line is, nobody likes tolls," she said. "But the RA has supported Rail to Dulles for a very long time." She said the association had sent a letter to the airports authority not only approving of the toll increases for the next three years but also encouraging MWAA to look for funding sources other than tolls. "You can’t just say, ‘Don’t raise tolls.’ That’s not good for the region," Smyers said.

The Reston Citizens Association (RCA), however, recently released a statement opposing the proposed toll increases. While the association supports Rail to Dulles, President Marion Stillson wrote, members felt that the plan would benefit Tysons Corner at the expense of points west. While most Tysons properties are ripe for redevelopment that has already been largely planned and will not include commuter parking, development opportunities along the Dulles corridor are more limited, and the 5,800 commuter parking spaces planned for the Wiehle and Herndon/Monroe stations would increase traffic congestion, the statement said.

Moreover, Stillson wrote, while a commercial tax district in Tysons Corner pays for 14 percent of both phases of rail construction, tolls paid primarily by those living to the west cover 43 percent of the cost of phase one, which runs to Wiehle Avenue, and 81 percent of phase two, which would extend the line to Ashburn.

The RCA recommended installing a toll plaza from Route 7 onto the westbound toll road and plazas where Route 123 intersects with the Dulles Connector, as well as reworking tolls at all plazas to increase the tolls for Tysons Corner users and reduce them for Reston and Herndon residents. The group also urged that MWAA and elected officials lobby for more state and federal funding and said some toll revenues should be used to mitigate congestion cause by commuter parking lots at western rail stations.

"Everybody will benefit hugely from Metro, but why should the costs be so skewed?" the statement asked.