Why are Northern Virginia tolls so pricey?

ARLINGTON, Va. — As Northern Virginia expands, so does the use of toll roads. You might be wondering why we see so many in the DMV area?

The whole idea started when a woman in Arlington wanted to know more about the travel situation in Northern Virginia.

“I want to know why the tolls are so expensive!” Mary Ellis asked.  “Because they are bothering my bank account.”

To get Mary's question answered, the first thing we have to do is find out why Northern Virginia has toll roads in the first place. To answer that we found a DMV transportation policy expert.

“This all just revolves around one issue,” said Terry Clower, the Director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University. “Government doesn't have enough tax revenue to build all of the roads and to maintain those roads that we need, given a growing population and growing business activity.”

Clower pointed out that as other funding sources like gas taxes continue to dwindle Virginia is going to become more reliant on toll roads, not less.

“If you think about it from a purely kind of economic, almost engineering perspective, it is a user pays system,” he said. “Why should somebody who rides on the Metro system for 85% of their transportation needs be paying into a tax system that creates more roads?”

That's why we have toll roads in northern Virginia.

But to Mary's big question, why are tolls in Virginia so expensive?

Clower explained there are a couple of reasons. There are two types of tolling in Virginia. Standardized tolls like on the Dulles Toll Road have existed for decades. But recently, transportation groups have found another revenue source: express or hot lanes, which deal with traffic management.

“The theory here is you want the toll lanes to have an advantage which would be mobility,” he said.  “It’s based-on demand. If its rush hour it's going to be higher than it would be at 10 a.m.”

Sadly, there is one option if Mary doesn’t wanna pay the tolls: take a different, longer route.

“They have to make the decision, 'Do I leave 30 minutes earlier and be on the regular lanes or take a different route?'” Clower said. “Or do I save myself that time and be willing to pay a toll?”