The plan included a four-lane access road beginning at the I-95 / I-395 / I-495 Springfield Interchange, and extending about four miles west to the airport site in Burke, just south of the intersection of VA 645 (Burke Lake Road) and VA 652 (Burke Road). Even as the Federal government began buying land for the proposed 4,500-acre airport, local opposition arose to the project. In the face of this opposition, President Dwight Eisenhower ordered planning to be stopped, and land that was acquired to be sold, at the Burke airport site. He also reopened the site selection process, which recommended the site of Blue Ridge Airport in Willard Crossroads, near the border of Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. In 1958, President Eisenhower and the Civil Aeronautics Administration (formerly the CAA, now the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA) settled on this site for the proposed "Chantilly Airport," which at 9,800 acres was more than twice the size of the originally planned Burke site.
PLANNING THE CHANTILLY AIRPORT ROUTE: Planning for the freeway began immediately after the Federal government announced plans for the Chantilly Airport site. Officials suggested the following alternatives, all of which were to entail construction of a four-lane freeway:
The freeway, which had a 70 MPH speed limit, was designed with a 400-foot-wide right-of-way to accommodate the construction of additional lanes in the future. Overpasses were designed to be long enough to accommodate the construction of these outer lanes.
As it was intended for use solely for airport-related traffic, the Dulles Airport Access Road was designed with no exit ramps in the westbound traffic, though westbound traffic bound for the airport could enter the freeway at select entry points. In the eastbound traffic, there were only exit ramps for local traffic, and no entrance ramps for Washington-bound traffic. Local commuters seeking to travel east from northern Fairfax County first had to travel westbound toward Dulles Airport, then turn around and travel eastbound toward their destinations.
During the first decade of operation, the FAA repeatedly offered the VDH the use of the flanking rights-of-way to build parallel roadways, but the VDH rebuffed the FAA's overtures. However, by 1973, the VDH changed its view on building these roadways, with the provision that the two additional lanes in each direction--as the state proposed--would be financed by tolls. The estimated cost for the additional lanes was $11 million, though the state estimated it would save at least $2 million in land acquisition by using the rights-of-way reserved a decade earlier.
The proposed toll lanes languished in the Virginia General Assembly through much of the 1970s as the state commissioned additional studies on the route, notably as I-66, along with the Dulles Airport Access Road connection, had yet to be built. The Federal government's approval of I-66 construction between the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge and the Capital Beltway in 1977--this became known as the "Coleman Compromise" - ultimately paved the way for studies to be finalized.
The Virginia General Assembly approved the toll lanes in 1979, as well as the sale of $57 million in revenue bonds to finance construction. However, the sale of the bonds was delayed until 1982 as the state awaited a more favorable interest rate environment in which to sell the bonds. The state, along with the FAA (which still owned the right-of-way), to settle with landowners adjoining the proposed lanes.
The first piece of the Toll Road-related work was actually the 3.5-mile (5.6-kilometer) extension of the Dulles Airport Access Road. The four-lane, toll-free freeway section, which had a wide center median to accommodate a future Metrorail line, was opened to traffic in November 1983 and cost $25 million to build. As there was no interchanges between VA 123 and I-66, and as the recently-opened I-66 (it was opened to traffic in December 1982) was restricted to high-occupancy vehicles (HOV) east of the Capital Beltway, access on this section of the Dulles Airport Access Road was restricted to HOV use east of VA 123. Moreover, trucks are prohibited from using this section given the truck restriction on I-66 east of the Capital Beltway.
The new Dulles Toll Road was opened to traffic on October 1, 1984, three months ahead of schedule. In addition to the construction of 13 miles (21 miles) of twin two-lane carriageways in each direction, the work included the construction of mainline toll plazas just east of VA 7 (Leesburg Pike) in McLean. It also included the construction of new interchange ramps (previously the interchanges were incomplete ones designed exclusively for airport-bound traffic), as well as new entrance ramp tolls (except at the partial interchange at Wolf Trap, where the ramp tolls were not installed).
Construction of a third travel lane in each direction on the Dulles Toll Road began in 1989. Although these lanes were designed to be used by carpools and buses, they were only used as such for a short period. The third lanes opened from EXIT 9 (VA 28 / Sully Road) east to EXIT 12 (VA 602 / Reston Parkway) in October 1991; followed by eastern extensions to EXIT 14 (VA 674 / Hunter Mill Road) in November 1991 and to EXIT 18 (I-495 / Capital Beltway) in December 1991.
In April 1993, Warner's committee decided on building a fourth lane in each direction of the Dulles Toll Road that would be set aside for HOV use during rush hours. Under this proposal, VDOT would spend $25 million to widen the existing roadway by six feet, narrow the width of the existing roadways from 12 to 11 feet, and narrow the shoulder widths from 12 to 10 feet. No additional land would need to be purchased, such that it would not interfere with long-range plans (yet to be implemented) to widen the toll-free Dulles Airport Access Road from two to three lanes in each direction. The announcement of the new toll lanes was a timely one as the state announced a public-private plan to build a 14-mile (22.5-kilometer) extension of VA 267, the Dulles Greenway, northwest toward Loudoun County.
In March 1995, Governor George Allen signed a bill to build the fourth travel lanes on the Dulles Toll Road for HOV use. The state sold $45 million in bonds to finance the project, whose projected costs had nearly doubled in the prior two-year period, though this amount did not include an additional $15 million for the renovation of existing toll plazas to accommodate electronic toll collection under the Fastoll (later EZ-Pass) system.
Construction of the fourth Dulles Toll Road lanes was beset by cost overruns, including $12 million in additional engineering expenses (including new sound walls), $9 million in additional land acquisition and utility relocation expenses, and an additional $2 million to make room for future Metrorail stations. The $71 million expansion project was completed on December 15, 1998, and although costs were nearly three times the 1993 projection of $25 million, the expansion still proved timely, as AADT counts had risen by more than 70% in the prior decade to nearly 120,000 vehicles per day.
A CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP: In 2005, five private firms submitted proposals to VDOT to operate the Dulles Toll Road under the Virginia Public Private Transportation Act (PPTA) through private-public partnerships. Some proposals included a substantial payment to the Commonwealth, which would be used for transit and road improvements in the Dulles corridor. However, VDOT went with a 2006 proposal by the MWAA, which committed to spending $3.7 billion for roadway operations ($2.0 billion) and the construction of the Metrorail Silver Line to Dulles Airport ($1.7 billion); these amounts would be financed through a mix of toll revenue and loans from the Federal government through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA).
The Silver Line project was divided into two phases. Work on Phase I, which extended from the East Falls Church station west to the Wiehle-Reston East station, began in 2008 and was completed in July 2014. Work on Phase II, which extends the route of the Silver Line northwest to Dulles Airport and Ashburn, Loudoun County, began in 2014. Phase II originally was scheduled for completion in early 2020, but construction and Covid-related delays pushed the expected opening date out to late 2022. According to the US Department of Transportation, the total cost of both phases of the Silver Line at $5.8 billion, more than three times the projected 2006 cost.
SOURCES: "New Chantilly Artery Urged," The Washington Post (1/25/1958); "Study Set on Highway to Chantilly," The Washington Post (6/10/1958); "Chantilly Road Hearing Slated," The Washington Post (8/14/1958); "Chantilly Access Road Choice Stirs Varied Views" by Muriel Guinn, The Washington Post (9/13/1958); "Most Costly Road Picked for Airport," The Washington Post (12/26/1958); "Public Freeway to Dulles Airport Advocated by Capital Planners" by Laurence Stern, The Washington Post (4/06/1962); "Dulles Site Tied to Three Sisters Span," The Washington Post (12/13/1967); "Virginia Tollway Along Dulles Road Studied" by Donnel Nunes, The Washington Post (6/04/1973); "Dulles Access Road a Gantlet of Hazards" by Ron Shaffer, The Washington Post (8/16/1973); "Dulles Tollway Under Study" by Maggie Locke, The Washington Post (2/23/1978); "Growth, Dulles Toll Road Eyed" by Thomas Grubisich, The Washington Post (11/21/1978); "Dulles Highway Extension Endorsed in McLean Meeting" by Paul Hodge, The Washington Post (1/28/1979); "In Assembly: Equal Doses of Successes, Failures Mark 1979 Session" by Paul Edwards and Karlyn Barker, The Washington Post (3/08/1979); "Dulles Toll Road Gets Tentative Approval" by Paul Hodge, The Washington Post (9/22/1982); "Virginia Sells Bonds To Construct Dulles Toll Road" by Mary Battiata, The Washington Post (12/02/1982); "A New Highway: Short Addition to Dulles Access Will Be Speedy for Commuters" by Paul Hodge, The Washington Post (9/08/1983); "A Primer for Driving New Dulles Toll Road" by Stephen J. Lynton, The Washington Post (9/30/1984); "Dulles Toll Road Is Opened" by Paul Hodge and Barbara Carton, The Washington Post (10/02/1984); "Car Pool Lanes Urged on Parts of Capital Beltway and I-270" by John Lancaster, The Washington Post (6/14/1988); "Dulles Road Restriction Is Eased" by Neil Henderson, The Washington Post (7/07/1988); "Dulles Toll Road Gets a New Name," The Washington Post (4/18/1991); "Car Pool Restrictions Coming Soon for New Lanes on Dulles Toll Road" by Stephen C. Fehr, The Washington Post (10/11/1991); "Toll Road HOV Lanes Take Effect," The Washington Post (9/01/1992); "Wilder Ends HOV Restrictions on Dulles Toll Road Motorists" by Steve Bates, The Washington Post (10/03/1992); "Plan Would Put Car Pool Lane in Access Road Median" by Stephen C. Fehr and Peter Baker, The Washington Post (1/27/1993); "Plan Would Add Fourth Lane to Dulles Toll Road for Car Pools" by Stephen C. Fehr, The Washington Post (4/02/1993); "Virginia To Seek Money To Widen Toll Road" by Stephen C. Fehr, The Washington Post (10/29/1994); "Dulles Toll Road To Be Widened To Add Fourth, Rush-Hour Lane," The Washington Post (3/26/1995); "Electronic Collecting To Begin on Dulles Toll Road Monday" by Alice Reid, The Washington Post (4/10/1996); "Cost of Dulles Car Pool Lanes Exceeds Budget by 40%" by Michael D. Shear, The Washington Post (5/14/1998); "Car Pool Lanes Smooth Rush on Crowded Dulles Toll Road" by Alice Reid and Alan Sipress, The Washington Post (12/16/1998); "Dulles Toll Road Permit and Operating Agreement," Virginia Department of Transportation and Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (2006); "Police Crack Down on Dulles Access Highway 'Backtracking'" by Adam Tuss, WRC-TV (11/15/2013); "Dulles Airport Was Originally Supposed To Be in Burke, but Neighbors Successfully Stopped It" by Mike Grinnell, Greater Greater Washington (8/02/2017); Cultural Landscape Report: Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts , National Parks Service (2021); Dulles Online; HistoricAerials.com; Scott Kozel; William F. Yurasko.