On Aug. 18, George Mason University Professor Roger Stough and state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Centreville, hosted a three-hour transportation summit with the goal of educating the public and providing political momentum for real solutions in Northern Virginia.

     As Cuccinelli put it, this was a rubber-meets-the-road discussion.

    About 150 persons attended the summit, a larger than expected turnout, and the seating capacity of the conference room was quickly exceeded.

    Three separate panels tackled regional transportation issues, HOT lanes and Dulles rail.

    Transportation is a hot-button issue with the voters in Northern Virginia, as any commuter can readily attest. Our commonwealth's unmet transportation needs for 2002 were estimated at $80 billion.

    By comparison, in 1991 this same estimate stood at $24 billion. In other words, during the last decade, we managed to almost quadruple the gap between transportation funding and needs.

    As state revenues decrease because of a slowing economy, it's easy to conclude that there isn't enough money to bridge the gap in transportation funding.

    Accordingly, this summit explored new ideas that could be implemented to relieve some of the traffic bottlenecks.

    One innovative suggestion calls for the construction of new High Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes. This requires the formation of public-private partnerships, in which private sector entities build new highway lanes at no cost to the state government.

    In exchange, they are allowed to administer the system and collect tolls that pay off the bonds used to finance the construction.

    The new lanes usually run parallel to the existing ones, allowing motorists to make an economic decision. They can enter the HOT lanes and pay a toll that is priced based on the flow of traffic, or simply remain in the free - but congested - traffic lanes.

    Local polls indicate some initial public resistance to the HOT lanes proposal. Liberals label them ``Lexus lanes," while car-pool advocates are concerned that this is a back-door attempt to open up the HOV lanes to all traffic.

    One of the panelists, Bill Hellman, a former secretary of the Maryland Department of Transportation, cautioned that educating the public is essential before the HOT concept takes root.

    Where HOT lanes have been tried (currently, in California and Texas), they have been very successful in moving traffic, as well as alleviating some of the congestion from the non-HOT lanes.

    Another panel examined two radically different proposals for the Dulles corridor. Proponents of extending MetroRail to Dulles International Airport estimate it will cost $4 billion. However, no heavy rail project has been completed without significant cost overruns.

    The proponents of Bus Rapid Transit argue that a high level of service could be provided for a fraction of the cost. They estimate that a BRT system from Falls Church to Dulles would cost less than $500 million.

    They also argue that the BRT solution would allow for an HOV/HOT option, whereas extending MetroRail excludes other alternatives.

    The Federal Transit Administration seems to agree. The FTA already has labeled the MetroRail proposal ``unpractical."

    So does the American Dream Coalition. In an exhaustive study, it concluded that outside some inner-city areas, rail transit carries far too few people to play any role in reducing traffic congestion. They also calculate that BRT costs 3.2 cents per highway passenger mile, as opposed to 71.2 cents for rail transit.

    Worse, MetroRail proponents advocate doubling the tolls on the Dulles Toll Road to pay for their project. The Dulles Toll Road is fast becoming our commonwealth's cash cow. In 2001, it generated $41.9 million in revenue, while maintenance and debt service only amounted to $25 million, producing a net profit of $16.9 million. That's a lot of quarters!

    No wonder MetroRail supporters see the toll road as their meal ticket to partially fund this project. Obviously, those paying the tolls disagree, and local opposition to this proposal is heating up.

    Irrespective of the merits of extending MetroRail service, diverting the toll revenues will set a terrible precedent. If we permit this funding scheme, why stop there? It won't be long before politicians propose setting up toll booths on the Beltway to pay for all kinds of pet projects.
    Cuccinelli deserves a lot of credit for his willingness to tackle our region's transportation problems, particularly when he knows that some of these proposals could be met with voter resistance.

    However, leaders are not guided by popularity contests, and Cuccinelli has taken the lead in this critical infrastructure question that could make or break our region's economic future.

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Phillip Rodokanakis, a certified fraud examiner and political consultant, lives in Oak Hill.