With less toll money, Northern Virginia looks to fund a pared-back transit project list
A Metrorail train runs down the middle of I-66, accelerating towards Ballston after leaving East Falls Church. Image by the author.
The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) has less money this year to fund transit projects along I-66 — a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic and fewer drivers paying tolls. Only $4 million is available to be awarded to the projects competing for money, down from the $20 million pot we saw last year.
The Commuter Choice program, administered by NVTC, is a competitive yearly grant program local governments can use to help fund transit on or near the I-66 corridor. Beginning in 2018 when peak-direction rush hour tolls began on I-66 between the Beltway and DC, the program is designed to use some of that toll money to fund transit projects which are scored on how efficiently they might move more travelers.
Projects funded through Commuter Choice in the past included new Fairfax Connector service from the Government Center to Foggy Bottom, the Loudoun County 88X extension to Dulles South, and increasing service on the Metrobus 3Y along Route 50 in Arlington.
The evaluation process which NVTC uses looks at a projects’ merit, or how well the project works. Person Throughput, the largest factor, is 45% of the overall technical evaluation. Other factors include the amount of travel time the project should save, how well it connects with other forms of transit, how well the project links people and places they want to go, and cost.
Image from NVTC a September 3 Commission meeting presentation. 
The coronavirus pandemic caused usage of the nation’s highways to plummet earlier on in 2020, and as a result, VDOT has less money to give to NVTC to use for the Commuter Choice program. Toll revenues from Single-occupancy Vehicle drivers in the spring on I-66 dropped to 10% of what VDOT budgeted, according to the staff report, and revenues are now back to just 25% of historic trends.
Due to the limited funding available for projects this year, NVTC is essentially splitting the grant round into two. A small first round of projects will be funded this year, and the remaining projects will be carried over to next year when the commission hopes to have a better idea of how much money there might be.
After an initial delay from earlier in the year, NVTC staff have narrowed the list of initial projects to be funded by this years’ Round Four funding to six:
Image from a September 3, NVTC Commission meeting. 
The public comment period for NVTC Commuter Choice funding is open from September 1 through 21, and the commission is holding a virtual “town hall meeting” on Friday, which is open to the public.
The commission expects funding next year to be more stable than what they have to dole out this year, thanks to an agreement signed with VDOT and the Commonwealth earlier in the year. That agreement, recently modified to allow toll revenue to be used for the Long Bridge and Rosslyn Metrorail projects if/when they come to be, states that NVTC should receive $10 million in revenue from those traveling I-66 inside the beltway during rush hour in the peak direction.
An additional $5 million yearly for NVTC is expected to be paid by I-66 Express Mobility Partners, LLC, the firm managing tolling on I-66’s new tolled lanes being built between the Beltway and Gainesville.
However, the toll money which NVTC would use for the Commuter Choice program assumes that the money is coming in in the first place; if the concessionaire or VDOT running the toll facility isn’t able to cover their own bills first, then that money won’t be available to NVTC either.
Both sources of funding to NVTC - the $10 million for Inside the Beltway and $5 million for Outside the Beltway - are expected to increase their payouts 2.5% annually.
Five projects remain under consideration for the second half of the Round Four funding. The selection process for determining which projects get those funds would occur next year.
Image from a September 3, NVTC Commission meeting. 
On I-395/I-95, NVTC staff have no new project selections to make this year. Due to the two-year project funding cycle decided on by the commission, the “call for projects” for the FY2022-2023 round will occur this fall, and the projects that get funding will be selected next year.
Funds for the I-395/I-95 Commuter Choice projects comes from Transurban, the company in charge of running the tolled lanes between the DC line and down to near Stafford, Virginia.