It’s about to get more expensive to drive through Maryland.

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments is studying three road pricing models that could potentially relieve Washington’s notorious traffic problems.

In times of trouble, jurisdictions find creative ways to raise cash. For Virginia, it’s allowing well-heeled individuals and influential corporations to slap their name on roads and bridges.

The Post’s Dr. Gridlock reports that at this hour, a stretch of Route 1 in Alexandria is closed in both directions after being inundated by the heavy rainfall that swept through the area this morning.

Heading to National or Dulles by car today? You’ll want to add in some extra time to get there — a large motorcycle procession will block several major Virginia roads Friday afternoon.

That’s the quote of the morning, as we survey the fact that most major highways in Virginia and Maryland, and some arterial routes in the District, looked more like a wintertime version of the explosion scene from The Day After than a normal stretch of highway.

Motorists traveling on highways in Virginia will once again have the option to relieve themselves at the commonwealth’s public rest stops. The Commonwealth Transportation Board today voted to spend $3 million to reopen 19 rest areas that were closed last year, The Virginian-Pilot is reporting. Reopening the rest areas was a key campaign pledge made by newly sworn-in Gov. Bob McDonnell. Last year’s closures were intended to save $9 million as part of a larger…

The amount of miles logged by Maryland, Virginia, and District drivers fell sharply in May, contributing to a national drop of more than 9.6 billion miles, the third largest slide in the country’s history. The decrease saw local drivers notching between 1.7 and 4.2 percent fewer turns of the odometer. So, you might ask, what’s this got to do with Metro? Well, lots. The conclusions that we can draw from this drop are many -…