September is shaping up as a sweet and sour month for Northern Virginia. First came the Sept. 6 announcement that Volkswagen of America would move its corporate headquarters from the Detroit area to Herndon. The old-line manufacturer will broaden the profile of Dulles’ high-tech corridor, and it comes with a high-gloss finish: 400 new jobs and a $100 million investment. Then on Sept. 17 AOL employees learned that the Internet company plans to move its corporate headquarters from Dulles to Manhattan — a move that supposedly will not affect most of the 4,000 employees at the Dulles campus.

Just when the score looked even, the Texas Transportation Institute weighed in Wednesday with the 2007 Urban Mobility Report. It ranked the Washington metropolitan area as second worst in the country — behind only Los Angeles — for traffic delays. Drivers sit in congestion for an average of 60 hours a year, the report said, and waste nearly 91 million gallons of fuel.

While some commuters can get to work in 30 to 45 minutes, congestion is definitely getting worse for others. In 2000, the Washington area ranked as the sixth-worst for traffic delays. While economic growth brings jobs, it also brings cars. That’s the dilemma for NOVA, how do you have one without the other?

The construction of four express “hot” lanes starting next year on the Capital Beltway in Virginia is expected to provide some relief. The lanes would be free to carpools of three people or more. Other drivers would pay a toll based on traffic volume. Rush hour tolls are expected to run between $5 and $6. A private-sector consortium, Texas-based Fluor Enterprises and Transurban of Australia, has agreed to finance more than three quarters of the project’s $1.7 billion provided they can build, operate and maintain the lanes for 75 years.

So there you have it. A market-based answer to congestion. Only time will tell if it can work.