Plans by the Virginia Department of Transportation to turn I-66 into a toll road met with considerable skepticism from members of the Falls Church City Council at its work session Monday night, with concerns for the impact on City roads from persons avoiding the tolls in deference to I-66 users whose destinations are not in this area, but Points West of the City.
Representatives from VDOT and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation presented a summary of its report, “I-66 Multimodal Improvements Inside the Beltway,” to the Council, and despite the City staff recommendation of “concurrance from Council on key items” in the report, Council member Marybeth Connelly asked the key question from the Falls Church perspective, “What’s the purpose of this?” and Mayor David Tarter added, “We don’t want people to blow through Falls Church.” Vice Mayor David Snyder, the City’s representative on numerous regional bodies, said, “There are many negative consequences for closer-in communities like Falls Church. There is only one solution to road congestion, which it to have a truly effective Metro system and bus route expansion.”
