By Liz Essley
A Virginia judge's ruling threatens to jeopardize the way Virginia is using private companies to run the Beltway Express Lanes and build similar lanes on Interstate 95.
Portsmouth Circuit Court Judge James A. Cales said in an oral ruling earlier this month that he thought Virginia's tolls on the Midtown Tunnel set as part of a $2.1 billion deal with a private company were unconstitutional, since part of the revenue was going to the firm and constituted an illegal tax. Cales also questioned Virginia's public-private partnership law, saying the General Assembly can't hand over its duty to set tolls to unelected bodies. . .
The judge's ruling also could affect the Dulles Toll Road, since it questions tolls set by unelected bodies. The unelected Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board sets the tolls for the Dulles Toll Road. . . .Click here for the rest of this article.
If this stands, it would certainly change the equation for Dulles tolls because no legislator would vote for the toll increases now planned by MWAA to finance Silver Line construction. It is, however, a significant possibility that the judge's ruling will be overturned by the Virginia Supreme Court.
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