Two toll plazas possible for I-95 motorists

With a tentative nod from the Federal Highway Administration this week, state leaders are looking at construction of two toll plazas on Interstate 95 — one between Fredericksburg and Richmond and the other between Richmond and the North Carolina line.

Initially, the state requested a single toll facility at the North Carolina-Virginia line to help pay for upgrades to the I-95 corridor, including Interstate 295 near Richmond and Petersburg.

"The Federal Highway Administration asked that we look at more than one facility and look up and down the corridor," Secretary of Transportation Sean T. Connaughton said Wednesday in a telephone interview.

"One of the concepts we were encouraged to look at was one location where you toll southbound but not northbound, and another location where you toll northbound but not southbound," he said.

But it's possible that the state will opt for two tolls in each direction, meaning drivers passing through Virginia would pay twice, he said.

Connaughton said that the state would prefer open-road tolling — a system of collections that does not require vehicles to stop — which would prevent heavy congestion and reduce long-term operating costs.

A year and a half of studies and public hearings will determine the exact locations, number of tolls, method of collection and amount collected, he said, adding that the tolls could be in place within three years.

The state previously estimated the cost of construction for the proposed North Carolina-Virginia toll station to be $4.3 million with annual operating costs of $4.3 million to $5 million. Connaughton said the costs for two tolls could be as much as double that but probably significantly less.

Early VDOT estimates indicate that the tolls — based on collections of $2 to $4 per car and $10 or more for tractor-trailers — initially would bring in between $30 million to $60 million per year and more in years beyond.

The tolls would be in place for at least a decade, and perhaps indefinitely.

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Not surprisingly, some aren't pleased with the prospect of paying to travel I-95. Again.

"This is just another way for the government to make the people pay for their mistakes," said Hanover County resident Shirley Delbridge. "I will stay home before I pay the tolls again after all the years of paying before."

For 34 years, tolls were collected on the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike, designated as part of I-95, ending in 1992.

"To put tolls on that road again would be like a slap in the face," Delbridge said. "I can tell you it will hurt this area."

AAA, which has nearly 850,000 members in Virginia, also opposes the proposed tolls.

A Christopher Newport University poll in January showed 54.1 percent of Virginians opposed adding tolls to highways, bridges or tunnels, with 42.4 percent in support.

Respondents were more open to the idea when it came to interstate tolls on the North Carolina border, with 46.9 percent in support and 48.4 percent opposed.

Now that the concept has changed, with the possibility of tolls in busy portions of the state frequented by commuters, it's a safe bet that popularity will dip.

But the state says it desperately needs the revenue to upgrade the aging, traffic-choked corridor, which has an average service level of D with busy portions deteriorating to F during peak hours.

Still, some I-95 regulars don't understand why tolls must fund the fixes.

"What concerns me about the tolls is state lawmakers haven't adequately explained the need for them," said Richmond resident Rudolph Hickman. "Recently, Gov. [Bob] McDonnell stated there was a $132 million surplus to be put in the state's rainy-day fund. Last week he said the state's annual revenues were up 7 percent over last year this time. … So why are the tolls needed, I ask?"

Mike O'Connor, president of the Virginia Petroleum, Convenience and Grocery Association, said the plan could backfire.

"If this does come to pass, the transportation and logistics people at these large companies are going to recognize that they can avoid this by going either out of state or up and down I-81," O'Connor said.

Pointing out that Virginia's fuel tax of 17.5 cents per gallon on gasoline and diesel is below neighboring states, O'Connor said that's a major draw for trucking companies traveling up and down the East Coast. Adding tolls on the state's main thoroughfare would crush that incentive, he said.

"I don't see how the economics work out," he said, noting that the average long-haul truck with a 300-gallon tank brings the state $52.50 in fuels tax each time it refuels at a Virginia station.

"So you're going to trade $52.50 in fuels tax for a $10 toll?" he said. "According to my math, you're down $42.50."