ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: STERLING
The General Assembly is considering a bill that would allow the Dulles Greenway to obtain federal highway loans, even though the private toll road was never supposed to ask for government help.
Del. Vivian Watts, D-Fairfax County, introduced the bill this week that would allow the state to provide the road company with free services and issue loans using federal transportation money.
Government involvement was never envisioned when the $326 million project began in the late 1980s. The state law that authorized the venture prohibited the state from bailing it out if financial problems arose.
But traffic on the four-month-old highway connecting Leesburg with Washington Dulles International Airport is averaging only about 10,500 vehicles a day. The company's financial plan was based on an estimate of 34,000 drivers a day.
The shortfall in toll proceeds has put the company in danger of missing construction loan payments. If the company cannot renegotiate terms or find other financing, it faces having to surrender the road to its creditors.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 31 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB