Virginia State Route 267
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| State Route 267 |
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| Length: | 28.68 mi[1][2] (46.16 km) | ||||||||||||
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| Formed: | 1982 | ||||||||||||
| West end: |   US 15/SR 7 in Leesburg |
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| Major junctions: |
 SR 28 at Dulles Airport SR 7100 near Herndon I-495 near Tysons Corner |
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| East end: |  I-66 near Falls Church |
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State Route 267 is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia. It consists of two end-to-end toll roads — the Dulles Toll Road and Dulles Greenway — as well as the Dulles Access Road,[3] which lies in the median of the Dulles Toll Road. The combined roadway provides a toll road for commuting and a free road for Dulles Airport access. The three sections are operated by separate agencies: the Dulles Toll Road by the Virginia Department of Transportation, the Dulles Greenway by a private consortium, and the Dulles Access Road by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.
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[edit] Dulles Access Road
The Dulles Access Road is a four-lane, 13.65-mile[1][2] (21.97 km) highway that runs "inside" the Dulles Toll Road along its median. There are no general-access exits from the west-bound lanes, and no general-access entrances to the east-bound lanes, with the exception of gated slip ramps to and from the toll road that buses and emergency vehicles can use. The Access Road was built as part of the construction of Dulles Airport, and opened with the airport in 1962.
The Dulles Access Road is operated by the Virginia Department of Transportation under contract with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the owner of the land under the Dulles Toll Road.[4] The Dulles Airport Access Road can be used only for travel to and from Dulles Airport and other businesses (such as air freight, hotels, and gas stations) on the airport grounds. Although illegal, some commuters evade the toll and moreover the traffic on the Toll Road by taking the Access Road to the airport, then "backtrack" to their exit. For a couple of years prior to the opening of the Dulles Toll Road, VDOT issued special stickers for a fee allowing commuters to backtrack legally along the access highway, but these were discontinued when the toll road opened.[5]
[edit] Dulles Toll Road
The Dulles Toll Road is an eight-lane, 16.15-mile[1][2] (25.99 km) toll road. It was built in 1984 by the Virginia Department of Transportation. It begins just inside the Capital Beltway near Falls Church at a connector to Interstate 66 to Washington, D.C., travels westward through Fairfax County past Dulles Airport, and terminates at the entrance to the Dulles Greenway, a privately owned toll road. Officially, the road is named the Omer L. Hirst - Adelard L. Brault Expressway, in honor of two Virginia state legislators. However, the road is rarely referred to by that name. The speed limit is 55 mph (90 km/h).
From the Beltway, motorists exiting onto SR 267 toward Dulles Airport must choose between lanes marked Airport Traffic Only and To All Local Exits; the Airport Traffic Only lanes lead to the two westbound lanes of the Access Road. Eastbound traffic is routed differently; Dulles-originating traffic can choose destinations between Herndon exits (putting them on the mainline Toll Road) or further on (starting them on the Access Road), and transfer exits are provided from the Access Road to the Toll Road before the Herndon exits, Reston exits, and the Beltway. Access Road traffic to State Route 7 gets a separate exit ramp from those of the Toll Road, and then the two eastbound segments merge before the junction with Interstate 66.
A main toll plaza west of the Beltway interchange collects a 75 cent toll in both directions. In addition, toll booths are located on westbound exit ramps and eastbound entrance ramps, which collects tolls of 50 cents; although at the Route 7 interchange, tolls are only collected from Route 267 east to Route 7 east. All tollbooths are equipped with both the Smart Tag (Virginia) and E-ZPass (Maryland to Maine) electronic toll collection systems. Currently, 25 cents of each toll is attributable to the financing of a rapid mass transit line to Dulles Airport (see Silver Line (Washington Metro)).
HOV-2 restrictions are in effect during weekday rush hours, 6:30 to 9:00am eastbound and 4:00 to 6:30pm westbound, limiting the left lane to vehicles with two or more passengers between State Route 28 and the main toll plaza. Motorcycles and "clean fuel" vehicles (hybrid and compressed natural gas) are exempt from HOV restrictions in Virginia, allowing single-passenger vehicles of those types to use the lanes as well. During rush hour, the appropriate directions of Interstate 66 between the Beltway and U.S. Route 29 are HOV-2, as well as the portion of the Access Road between I-66 and SR 123.
On March 27, 2006, the Washington Metropolitan Airport Authority took over from Virginia the operation of the Dulles Toll Road, including the outstanding debt and the obligation to construct a rapid mass transit line in the median strip of the toll road.[6]
[edit] Dulles Greenway
The Dulles Greenway is a privately owned toll road in Northern Virginia, running for 12.53 miles[1] (20.17 km) northwest from the end of the Dulles Toll Road to the Leesburg Bypass (U.S. Route 15/State Route 7). Although privately owned, the highway is also part of SR 267. The speed limit is 65 mph (105 km/h).
The road was privately built and is not a public asset. The current owner is "Toll Road Investors Partnership II" (TRIP II), which is a consortium of the Bryant/Crane Family LLC, and Kellogg Brown & Root (KB&R). On August 31, 2005, Australian firm Macquarie Infrastructure Group announced that they have paid $533 million to TRIP II to acquire its 86.7% ownership of the Greenway, and is negotiating with KB&R for the remaining ownership rights.[7]
The road was envisioned as early as the 1970s, when new residents were attracted to Loudoun County because of the relatively low cost of real estate. The road was completed and opened in 1995 and is often cited as a success story of public-private partnership. Tolls for two-axle vehicles are a maximum of $3.50. This is set to rise again; by 2012, drivers face a maximum round-trip toll of $9.60, when congestion pricing is taken into account.[8] The Greenway is also one of two routes where a subscription membership (exclusive to Smart Tag) allows for an additional discount. Alternate (free) routes include State Route 7 and State Route 28, both of which are generally more congested.[9]
The Greenway was later widened to six lanes from the mainline toll plaza to Leesburg. Use of the Greenway has grown, reflecting the increased population of Loudoun County. In 1996, the Greenway served 6.3 million trips, growing to 21 million in 2006.[9]
[edit] Exit list
| County | Location | Mile | # | Destinations | Notes |
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| Loudoun | Leesburg | 1 |  US 15 / SR 7 - Frederick, MD, Leesburg, Warrenton |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; signed as exits 1A (south/west) and 1B (north/east) | |
| 2 | Battlefield Parkway | ||||
| 3 |  SR 653 (Shreve Mill Road) |
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| Ashburn | 4 |  SR 659 (Belmont Ridge Road) |
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| 5 |  SR 901 (Claiborne Parkway) |
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| 6 |  SR 772 – Ashburn |
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| 7 |  SR 607 |
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| Sterling | 8 |  SR 606 (Old Ox Road) |
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| 9A | SR 28 south – Centreville, Manassas |
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| 9B | SR 28 north – Sterling |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |||
| Washington Dulles International Airport | Eastbound exit is via exit 9A | ||||
| Fairfax | Herndon | 10 |  SR 657 – Herndon, Chantilly |
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| 11 |  SR 7100 (Fairfax County Parkway) – Herndon, Monroe |
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| Reston | 12 |  SR 602 (Reston Parkway) |
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| 13 |  SR 828 (Wiehle Avenue) |
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| 14 |  SR 674 (Hunter Mill Road) |
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| Tysons Corner | 15 | Wolf Trap National Park | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 16 | SR 7 (Leesburg Pike) – Tysons Corner, Leesburg |
Signed as exits 16A (east) and 16B (west) eastbound | |||
| 17 |  SR 684 (Spring Hill Road) |
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| 18 | I-495 - Baltimore, Richmond |
Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | |||
| 18 | I-495 north - Baltimore |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |||
| 19 |  SR 123 – Tysons Corner, McLean |
Signed as exits 19A (south) and 19B (north) | |||
| Falls Church | I-66 east - Washington |
Eastbound exit and westbound entrance |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d 2005 Virginia Department of Transportation Jurisdiction Report - Daily Traffic Volume Estimates - Loudoun CountyPDF (634 KiB)
- ^ a b c 2005 Virginia Department of Transportation Jurisdiction Report - Daily Traffic Volume Estimates - Fairfax CountyPDF (3.99 MiB)
- ^ Virginia Route IndexPDF (239 KiB), revised July 1, 2003
- ^ Airports Authority Wants to Control Dulles Toll Road
- ^ Reston Virginia Memories
- ^ http://www.mwaa.com/_/File/_/pr032706.pdf Retrieved 2007-0701
- ^ Ginsberg, Steven. "Australian Firm Buys Greenway", The Washington Post, 2005-09-01. Retrieved on 2007-10-24.
- ^ "Tolls Set To Rise On Dulles Greenway Most Drivers Won't Be Affected Till '09" by Sandhya Somashekhar, Washington Post 2009-09-13 Page B3
- ^ a b "Greenway Drivers Face Dilemma: Tolls Up, but Few Good Alternate Routes Available" by Jonathan Mummolo, Washington Post 2007-07-01 Page C1
[edit] External links
- Virginia Highways Project: VA 267
- VA Route 267: Dulles Greenway, from The Roads of Northern Virginia
- VA Route 267: Dulles Toll Road, from The Roads of Northern Virginia
- VDOT: Virginia Toll Facilities FAQ
- Smart Tag - Dulles Toll Road
- Dulles Greenway website
- History of Washington Dulles International Airport (see the section on "Access Roads")
- Dulles Rapid Mass Transit Corridor
