For those of you who take the beltway in Virginia, things could be on their way to getting a bit more interesting, commute-wise. VDOT has signed a contract with a pair of private firms to build a set of toll lanes along 14 miles of the Virginia Beltway, from the American Legion Bridge, down to the Springfield 395/95 interchange. The basic idea behind the whole thing is that people will either grab more people, to ride for free, or pay whatever the going rate is. What’s fascinating here is that tolls will be dependent upon how busy the road is. If it’s empty, it’ll be inexpensive. If it’s full, it will be expensive. A very interesting idea, indeed.

Better yet, no state money is going into the construction, which will all be underwritten by the two developers picking up the tab. Of course, we’re still looking at an open date, at the very earliest, of 2010.