A post-COVID back-to-work culture, aided by some help from Mom Nature, helped fill the Dulles Toll Road’s coffers during the opening third of the year.
Toll Road revenues for the first four months of 2023 stood at $66.5 million, up 33 percent from a year before and 7.6 percent above budget, according to figures reported May 17 by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. The authority operates the roadway.
The 23.5 million individual transactions reported during the period were 7 percent above estimates.
In addition to more workers returning to the office, “we had some very good weather” during the winter months, said MWAA president/CEO Jack Potter.
(Indeed, less than an inch of snow fell across much of the Washington region this winter.)
The Airports Authority at the start of April eliminated options to pay by cash or credit card at tollbooths; human toll-takers had been eliminated at the start of COVID.
In April, 92 percent of those using the roadway paid via EZPass, while the remainder received bills in the mail through the roadway’s pay-by-plate option.
