Virginia tolls: how to maintain

Files: /srv/toll/draft/VA, last built 2026-10-09 11:14 ET · the VA toll page · map test · facts below are read from the files each time this page is built (python3 /home/geo1/system/handbuilt/maintain_pages.py VA)

Procedure for this state

Two layers. The corpus (/home/geo1/maps/toll/corpus/VA) carries the rates printed on VDOT's "Toll Roads in Virginia" pages; va_state.py starts from it and adds positions, the operator-sourced amounts below, and the express-lane schedule rows.

When to check

• January 1: Elizabeth River Tunnels (erc_toll_rates_api, erc_toll_chart_2026) and the Jordan Bridge (snjb_tolling, snjb_toll_rates_2026) publish the new year's rates. The file names carry the year: put the new URLs in urls.txt.
• Dulles Greenway: the rate file its calculator reads (dullesgreenway_tolls_json, now tolls-2025-08-01.json) changes name when rates change. Check dullesgreenway_calculator for the file it loads.
• Dulles Toll Road (MWAA), RMTA, Pocahontas, Powhite Extension, CBBT, Chesapeake Expressway, Dominion Boulevard: corpus, refresh with python3 /home/geo1/maps/toll/bin/tollup.py VA update then TOLL_WEB=/home/geo1/maps/toll/corpus python3 /home/geo1/maps/toll/bin/publish.py VA.
• Facilities list: tollroadsinvirginia_facilities (new or ended facilities: Coleman Bridge ended 2025-08-08).
• Express lane schedules (hours and direction only; no amounts exist):
  • 95/395 reversible: Transurban's "Approximate schedule" (expresslanes_learn_the_lanes). The rows hold the rest-of-year schedule (weekday reversal 11 a.m.-12 p.m.). From late May to early September Transurban reverses at 10 a.m.; holidays change it too. Rows: W95 in va_state.py.
  • 64 Norfolk reversible: VDOT (vdot_hrel_norfolk_reversible); rows W64. Chesapeake segment: 24 hours (vdot_hrel_chesapeake_segment).
  • 66 Inside: VDOT (vdot_66express_about): eastbound Mon-Fri 5:30-9:30 a.m., westbound 3-7 p.m., free otherwise ($0.00 rows). Federal holidays are not modeled.
  • 495, 66 Outside: 24/7.
  • The "how to check" text (live price pages, HOV rules) is in the constants TU, REV, I6, O6, X64, NOR, CHE.

Refresh and rebuild

1. python3 /home/geo1/system/handbuilt/fetch_list.py VA [names] (all VA sources are in urls.txt).
2. Rate images: erc_toll_chart_2026 (PNG) and snjb_toll_rates_2026 (JPG) are read by eye and typed into va_state.py (ERT: erc_toll_rates_api JSON is the machine source; SNJB: the image only). A new image means re-reading it.
3. Rates only: python3 va_state.py. New or moved points: the full chain. OSM box for VA/MD/DE: -83.7,36.5,-75.0,39.75 (vamdde).

Express lanes

No operator publishes an amount or a minimum (regulation 24VAC30-620-30 B: rates "vary as necessary to manage the demand"). Each express-lane point carries rows with an empty amount: live (toll in effect, with hours and direction) or closed (reversible lanes not running that way). The engine turns them into notices in passed[] with express_lanes; they never enter a total. The router never drives reversible lanes (OSM oneway=reversible), so the 95, 395 and 64 Norfolk lanes are told through the beside: points on the general lanes next to them.

Watch out

• Positions estimated by hand (list below): 395 north of Shirlington, the 66 Outside segment booths (the operator's corridor map is not to scale), 95 south of Dumfries and the Fredericksburg extension, 495 NEXT, the 64 Norfolk and Chesapeake booths, the beside: points. Re-check them after an OSM refresh.
• Payment labels with two alternatives ("Cash + Out-of-State E-ZPass") keep both: PT is keyed by (payment, alternative).
• The Transurban live price feed (transurban_live_prices) is archived but not used.

The chain every state shares

Hosts: geo1 (192.168.50.220) holds the sources, builders, drafts, map and API; b100 (192.168.50.14) is the test client. All times are Eastern.

1. Refresh a source

1. Fetch into a new dated folder: python3 /home/geo1/system/handbuilt/fetch_list.py VA [name ...] (no names = every line of urls.txt). A new source: add a line to urls.txt first, then fetch it by name.
2. A site that refuses geo1 (HTTP 403) or scripts: fetch it on b100 in headless Chrome with node ~/apitest/fetch_b100.mjs <out> <name>=<url> ..., then rsync -a <out>/ geo1@192.168.50.220:/home/geo1/maps/toll/VA/sources/. Its meta.json records that it came from b100.
3. Compare the new file with the previous dated one (diff, pdftotext -layout for PDFs). Same content: nothing to do. Changed amounts or a new effective date: rebuild (step 2) and update the expected amounts of the affected regression trips from the operator's own figures.

1b. The corpus (NJ, PA, VA start from it; DE is published from it)

python3 /home/geo1/maps/toll/bin/tollup.py VA update fetches the adapter's sources (bin/adapters/va.py), stores a document only when its content changes, writes one rate file per version under /home/geo1/maps/toll/VA/rates/ and appends every price change to history.csv (every run to runs.log). TOLL_WEB=/home/geo1/maps/toll/corpus python3 /home/geo1/maps/toll/bin/publish.py VA writes the corpus /home/geo1/maps/toll/corpus/VA from it (DE: plain publish.py DE writes /srv/toll/DE). Never hand-edit either. Then rebuild the draft (step 2) so it picks up the new rates.

2. Rebuild

• Amounts or schedules changed, toll points unchanged: cd /home/geo1/system/handbuilt && python3 va_state.py
• The full chain in one command: bash /home/geo1/system/handbuilt/chain.sh VA (logs in /tmp/va1.log ... va6.log; it prints the points, any point on no road and the untied count). The builders written since October 2026 share state_kit.py (sources, booths, terms, rows, write) and own_state.py (keeps a state's untied list to toll nodes inside the state, by the local geocoder; cache osm/node_state.json).
• Toll points added, moved or renamed, or a new OSM extract: the full chain (about 2-4 minutes):
  cd /home/geo1/system/handbuilt; H=$(ls osm/va_highways_*.geojsonseq); J=$(ls osm/va_junctions_*.geojsonseq)
python3 va_state.py && python3 osm_streets.py VA $H $J && python3 va_state.py && python3 osm_snap.py VA && python3 toll_ways.py VA && python3 va_state.py
• Read the end of toll_ways.py's output: nodes claimed by two points: {} and points on no road: [] must both be empty.
• A point whose booth is an OSM way (OSM way <id>) needs that way in osm/va_lane_ways.json (the builder writes it). A point on a road priced entry to exit needs gantry in its location name, or toll_ways.py treats it as a position-only exit marker.
• Rebuilding NY changes osm/ny_not_toll_nodes.json (congestion-zone gantries that are not tolls); every state's untied list leaves those out, so rebuild NJ and PA after NY.

3. Load it into the API and test from b100

1. The API reads the toll pages and tolls.js when it starts. Restart it: cd /home/geo1/maps/api && kill $(cat logs/test.pid); (nohup /home/geo1/maps/node/bin/node server.mjs > logs/server.log 2>&1 & echo $! > logs/test.pid) (it is started by hand, not a service).
2. From b100 only: python3 ~/apitest/run.py ~/apitest/site/cases.json. Every trip must be OK. Add a trip for every rate or rule you change, with the amount taken from the operator's own source.
3. Engine change (tolls.js): edit /home/geo1/maps/web/tolls.js, check with /home/geo1/maps/node/bin/node --check, copy to /srv/maps/tolls.js with sudo install -o www-data -g www-data -m 644, restart the API, run the trips.

4. OpenStreetMap refresh (all states at once)

The builders match toll points to the OSM way ids the router drives, so the extracts here must come from the same us-latest.osm.pbf the router (Valhalla, /home/geo1/maps/valhalla_data) was built from (now 2026-09-27). New OSM data means: rebuild the router tiles, then for each state cut the box, rebuild its OSM inputs and run the full chain, then compare untied_toll_nodes.csv and the estimated positions below. The box for VA and the cutting commands are in the state's procedure above; the toll-node and way index comes from python3 tollnode_ways.py VA.

5. Publish

A rebuild writes the draft (/srv/toll/draft/VA); the published page (/srv/toll/VA) does not change. python3 /home/geo1/maps/toll/bin/promote.py review VA lists the draft for review: the map and the API then read it instead of the published page. Run the regression trips from b100. After approval, python3 /home/geo1/maps/toll/bin/promote.py publish VA copies the draft to /srv/toll/VA (the previous page is kept under /home/geo1/maps/toll/VA/published/<time>/) and takes it off the review list. After a change, update the coverage line for VA in the API page (/api.html, generator /home/geo1/maps/api/doc/api_page.py) and rebuild this page: python3 /home/geo1/system/handbuilt/maintain_pages.py VA.

Sources (50)

Each fetch is kept in its own dated folder under /home/geo1/maps/toll/VA/sources/<name>/; the builder always reads the newest one, so a new fetch takes effect at the next rebuild and the old one stays for comparison.

Facilities (19)

Positions placed by estimate (20): re-check when OpenStreetMap or the operator changes

Decisions by rule

R2a: 7, R2b: 57, R3: 20, direction: 3, not: 40, priced: 6 (all in decisions.csv).

Open gaps (0)

None.

Untied OSM toll nodes: 134

Toll booths / gantries mapped in OpenStreetMap on or near this state's roads that no toll point claims; a route through one lists it under unpriced. After an OSM refresh, look at new ones here (untied_toll_nodes.csv): a new gantry on a priced road means a point is missing.

Regression trips for VA (16)

Run from b100 (never on geo1): python3 ~/apitest/run.py ~/apitest/site/cases.json. Every trip must come back OK; a changed amount is either a rate change (update the expected amount from the operator's own source) or a fault.