Shortly after the passage of the VHCA, VDOT applied for project approval and completed the environmental studies needed to advance the Dulles Greenway. In March 1989, TRCV submitted a proposal to fund and construct the Greenway privately. The Commonwealth Transportation Board approved the application in July 1989.
After receiving the proposal, the SCC issued a two-part report evaluating the proposal. The Commission concluded that it would cost TRCV approximately four times as much to construct and operate the project over its lifecycle, compared to a public construction (by VDOT). The large disparity in cost was due to the fact that the private developer would pay higher interest costs compared to the government. In addition, unlike VDOT, the company would be required to pay both income and property taxes. Further information from both VDOT and the investor clarified the discrepancies in the large cost difference between public and private options. In 1990 however, VDOT announced that they had no plans to move forward with a public construction and operation of the project.
With the absence of the public option, SCC issued a Certificate of Authority to the private developer, which by that time had changed its name to TRIP II, to build and collect tolls on the Dulles Greenway over a 42.5- year operating period. TRIP II was composed of the Shenandoah Group, a local family-owned investor with a majority interest in the company, Autostrade International S.p.A (a large Italian toll road operator) and Brown & Root (a U.S.-based construction firm). Financing was secured by 1993, and construction on the $298 million project began in September of that year. The Dulles Greenway opened to traffic in September 1995.
The Dulles Greenway was the only toll facility in Virginia to be developed under the VHCA public utility model. Subsequent long-term P3 concessions for transportation facilities in the state have been implemented under the Public-Private Transportation Act enacted in 1995.