A Virginia state Senate candidate will kick off a campaign against high Dulles Toll road fees Wednesday.
Patrick Forrest, who is running againt Democratic incumbent Janet Howell in the 32nd Senate district, plans to kick off his “No $17 tolls” campaign at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board meeting.
The campaign aims to raise public outrage about the higher round-trip price that MWAA said toll road users would have to pay to fund the construction of a Metro rail line to Dulles International Airport — about $18 by 2023, according to a previous study.
“Raising tolls to that level will be destructive to the economy,” said a Forrest advisor, Robert Detosada. “The fact that this is happening so quietly, with very few people knowing about it, is a very serious problem.”
MWAA board members insist the only way to avoid the high tolls is for Virginia and the federal government to pay more toward the project’s cost. Detosada said Forrest would support more state and federal contributions as well as cost-cutting measures for the rail project.
The campaign’s new website can be found at www.no17tolls.com.
