Toll rates on the Dulles Toll Road between I-66 and roads near the Dulles International Airport will officially go up 75 cents in 2023.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority approved the increase unanimously at its Wednesday meeting.

The current maximum rate of $4.75 total for two-axle vehicles will increase to $6 total on January 1. The tolls are split between one charge at the main line plaza and another charge exiting at the ramps. Tolls are higher for larger trucks. A toll calculator is available online for shorter trips.

Drivers heading to or leaving Dulles International Airport do not pay a toll, but the toll road itself is a key commuting route through Loudoun and Fairfax County.

The fees are paying for more than half of the $5.8 billion Metro Silver Line project. The second phase of the project opened Tuesday. Tolls also go toward MWAA debt and operations, maintenance, and improvement of the toll road.

The board has planned the increases since 2019.

“This is not a surprise, as the board will recall this as part of the plan that we established,” board member Kate Hanley said. “And it is something of a miracle… that even after the (economic) downturn, we did not have to alter that plan in order to do our part to pay for rail to Dulles.”

Almost 100 people weighed in during the public comment period, with most saying the rate increase was unfair or had a negative impact on them. Others asked MWAA to find an alternative way to pay for the Silver Line project.

Toll rates are expected to go up every five years: $7.25 in 2028, $8.75 in 2033, and potentially as high as $11.25 in 2043.

The board also voted to authorize a $1.60 administrative fee for pay-by-plate transactions. Motorists who don’t pay tolls electronically through an E-ZPass will be identified by their vehicle license plate and receive an invoice to their registered address. The toll road, like many in the region, is going fully cashless next year.

“Eliminating toll booths is expected to speed traffic flow and benefit the environment by reducing emissions that would have been produced by vehicles waiting in toll-booth lines,” the Authority wrote in a statement.

Courtesy MWAA