Congestion pricing moves forward in Virginia

William B. Cassidy carries the story:

State breaks ground on control center for high occupancy toll lanes

Virginia broke ground Wednesday on a control center for high occupancy toll lanes on a stretch of the I-495 Capital Beltway that ranks as one of the worst U.S. congestion bottlenecks.
The 30,000 square-foot HOT Operations Center, not far from the Springfield, Va., "mixing bowl" interchange connecting I-495, I-95 and I-395, will be the high-tech nerve center for 14 miles of HOT lanes running from Springfield to just north of I-66.
That section of Interstate highway was the 20th worst congestion bottleneck in the nation last year, according to the American Transportation Research Institute's 2009 Bottleneck Analysis, released May 26. The section's average peak-hour speed is 33 mph, ATRI said.
The four Capital Beltway HOT lanes are the first public-private HOT initiative in the U.S., said Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean T. Connaughton. The $2 billion project is nearly two years into construction and is expected to be completed in 2012.
The HOT lanes are also a bright spot for a state that is struggling to raise transportation funding. Virginia sold $492.7 million in transportation revenue bonds this month and Gov. Robert McDonnell wants to sell $293 million more next year.
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The HOT lanes are also a bright spot for a state that is struggling to raise transportation funding. Virginia sold $492.7 million in transportation revenue bonds this month and Gov. Robert McDonnell wants to sell $293 million more next year.

 Note that congestion pricing makes transportation bonds attractive to the investor.  Local governments who have no cash left might consider selling their most valuable commodity. 

But, clearly a warning sign.  When the technology people want to build big data  and traffic control centers, they are mostly full of crap.  In the age of communications, we never need any big data centers.