Senator Howell, HOW MUCH were the "tolls as originally planned"? Huh? What was that number specifically?

Why are tolls being used to pay for a BRANCH of a public metropolitan-wide transportaion system, the Metro Silver Line, when no other BRANCHES have been funded by a LOCAL TAX??? Why is Reston the recipient of this unfairness? Why have our elected officials deemed this resolution of funding to be acceptable? Why have our elected officials not screamed to the high heavens about the toll collection overages for the last 30 years that amount to over $650 million that have gone... well, where exactly have they gone? Certainly not to help disperse Northern Virginia gridlock!

Our elected officials are nice people (Janet, Ken and Kathy) but time has come, sadly, for someone, anyone, to stand up for Reston as a community and fight for OUR interests.

None of this makes any sense to residents or commercial interests. The Silver Line must be paid for by ALL who will prosper from it. This means EVERYONE in the State of Virginia and County of Fairfax. Reston wants the same deal as Vienna, Springfield and Mt. Vernon. And while you are at it, get rid of the toll way or make EVERY road a toll way. Enough gouging of Reston/Herndon residents. We are sick of it.

Candidates should address these points:

1) Dulles Rail costs WAY too much for what it is. 2) Why aren't the business landowners who will reap a gigantic windfall from this boondoggle being forced to pay more? The fee and payment increases are all being loaded onto the area taxpayers who probably do not live or work along the rail line, and really will not benefit from it. 3) Why aren't ALL of the costs of this little rail line added up together - the rail, the stations, the parking, AND the access infrastructure that is not funded, and is somehow kept off the books so nobody realizes how expensive all of this is. 4) Why didn't we set up a serious bus system, instead of this slow, expensive little local-only train line? The massive overcost of the rail will probably push off the express bus service that could have done a much better job for much less. 5) Are we going to do more of this wasteful and unaffordable spending for more transit here? What will we use for money to pay for it? 6) Do the candidates know that MWAA's credit rating was just downgraded by Fitch? What are they doing to prevent that from happening to Fairfax County? And what is being done in Loudoun County to keep it from happening there?

Give it up, Bob. Metro to Reston is a done deal. Yeah, it's not perfect but it is ours and, at this point, it's unstoppable. In the future -- say, at least 10 years from now, our Metro will be seen as a sound investment that will enrich our neighborhoods, even if its going to attract unwanted thousands to our little corner of paradise.

My only regrets about the whole project are that (1) it didn't by-pass Tysons (opting for a shuttle service through Tyson's from a HUGE station with parking at Rte 7 and the Toll Road), (2) given that it was going through Tyson's, they didn't choose a tunnel (Have you seen the elevation changes that ride will make at Route 7? It looks like the Superman at Six Flags.) and (3) there's no internal station stop at Dulles.

A $17 toll? Static government projections are a joke. This will be like the bridge they built between Sweden and Denmark with a $30 toll. No one takes it.

People should think about this: $17 tolls, 30 years from now, just because of this ONE little rail line? This is a betrayal of your children, and your grandchildren... and for what? For whom? How many of you are actually going to use this line?

If this slow, local rail is such a good thing, then shouldn't we have $17 tolls everywhere, so there can be more of it? Or maybe it's not such a good thing. It's time to look and see that this just doesn't work, instead of dreaming about how to reduce the tolls from $17 to $16, especially when that involves... what a surprise... more taxes, etc. It is amazing that people are so easily manipulated as to accept such a ripoff. "Oh yes, well a politician says that this is wonderful... so it must be true."

People should face reality: we already can't even afford MAINTENANCE on the Metro now... and at these bloated prices, we sure can't afford the cost of -more- Metro! But I guess people won't realize that, until bankruptcy overtakes the region... if they even realize it then.

I'm guessing, Bob, that you don't use Metro on a daily basis. And, if you really object to the $17 toll (not that I think it will ever come to that), you have Route 7 or Route 50 that you can access. And if you're really feeling daring, you can loop back to the airport and use the Access Highway.

Still, you are so concerned with the negatives of a $17 toll that you forget the positive aspects of such a thing. First, it will encourage people to get out of their cars and start using mass transit. Second, it may encourage people to start looking for jobs in their neighborhoods. Third, it may make people plan their trips down the toll road instead of heading to the mall whenever the urge strikes them. Fourth, it's jobs, Bob.

BTW, what did you do before there was a Toll Road?

I love the toll road, and I'm happy to pay a fare so long as the road is less congested. But 30 years from now it won't matter what if the train was a boom or boon for Reston and Herndon, because no one will live anywhere near the toll road. Our property values will plummet as the tolls increase. Businesses will not want to re-locate to the Dulles Corridor because they won't be able to attract the employment due to the high tolls. Due to the decrease in the use of the toll road, the fares on Metro will increase dramatically. And then no one will use the rail system, either - except for those ferrying drugs from other areas of the Metro area. What the area desperately needs is a sound bus system (private and public for all I care), as buses can take you much closer to your final destination. We need "bus only" lanes during peak hours on the toll road and an additional lane on I-66 inside the beltway for the same purposes. (NYC seems to have successfully cracked that nut.) While property taxes continue to increase (tax rates may be flat, but our appraisals are several times higher than real market value) every year, my family cannot afford a $5000 to $7000 a year road tax.

The really important statistic is what percentage of your take home pay will you be spending on transportation 30 years from now versus what you spend today. If you live in Reston and drive to your office downtown today, you are spending $3.50/day on tolls plus $10-12/day for parking plus gas.You are already spending the $17 today,

"The [Howell/Plum] letter comes five days after Forrest launched an online petition encouraging Northern Virginians to speak out against $17 toll rates."

Shouldn't we all be saying "Janet, what took you so long!" Perhaps she has been down-state too long and forgot about the issues that matter to her constituents? Isn't that the most important bit of information one gleans from the article?

Um, so if we increase the daily toll costs from $3.50 to $17, then if we are paying $17 today, we will be paying more like $30 a day then. I don't consider that to be workable.

Bob, you are right but you will never convince your critics to open their eyes to see the failure of the Dulles Toll Road subsidy as our elected Federal Officials can't see the disaster that is overwhelming our country. Their answer is to kick the "kick the can down the road" and let the next generation handle the problem.