Thursday, April 21, 2011

Toll Road Users Sue Over Diversion of Funds to Rail

According to The Newspaper dot com, "a journal of the politics of driving," users of the Dulles Toll Road in Northern Virginia filed a federal class action lawsuit yesterday [April 15] seeking refunds from toll hikes imposed to fund a $7 billion mass transit project. Great Falls resident John B. Corr and Hillsboro resident John W. Grigsby argued that the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) has no authority to set toll rates and that the diversion of over $130 million from motorists constitutes an illegal tax.

"'No taxation without representation' is not simply some slogan redolent of a past age of patriots and heroes," attorney Robert Cynkar wrote on behalf of Corr and Grigsby. "Rather, it is an ever-vital principle at the heart of representative government and the liberty such government is established to preserve... This case challenges exactions of money from motorists, through the tolls they pay for the use of the Dulles Toll Road, that violate this fundamental principle and so are unconstitutional under the federal and Virginia constitutions."

In 2005, the Commonwealth Transportation Board increased the amount of tolls far beyond the cost of operation, maintenance and debt service for the Dulles Toll Road. The extra money was meant to be used to bankroll the construction of a Metrorail line to Dulles International Airport, 25 miles outside the nation's capital. MWAA took control of the toll road in 2008.

Read the full article.

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1 comment:

  1. Oh my, selfish and greedy much? How are 2 people a "class action", I bet I use the Greenway and Toll Rd more than both of them and no-one consulted me.

    Fine, raise the damn gas taxes in the area then.

    ReplyDelete