Study may determine whether the region will see more tolls

HAMPTON

Now that Hampton Roads has been empowered to raise local taxes, fees and tolls to pay for major transportation projects, area leaders are wrestling with a problem: how to make up a $113 million-a-year hole in their construction plans.

Shortly before the General Assembly passed its landmark transportation bill last spring, lawmakers were told repeatedly Hampton Roads would need to raise $275 million a year and permission to place tolls on local interstates.

With that much money, regional leaders said, a new tunnel under Hampton Roads could be built within a decade, as would a new Midtown Tunnel at the Elizabeth River and wider interstates where congestion is most severe.

State legislators and Gov.

Timothy M. Kaine only authorized the region to collect a group of taxes and fees that would raise $162.2 million annually – about $113 million less than was requested.

State officials also permitted the new Hampton Roads Transportation Authority to establish tolls.

On Wednesday, the authority agreed to spend $300,000 for a six-month study by CRA International, a Cambridge, Mass., financial consultant, to help learn whether $162.2 million a year is enough money and how tolls will help provide some of the road-building money.

If it’s not enough revenue, the authority will have to figure out what to do. One option might be to take longer to complete the projects.

“The first order of business is to find out what is possible with the revenue streams that will be collected,” said Dwight L. Farmer , deputy executive director for transportation at the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, which advises the new authority. “It’s a big study and it’s going to give us a big answer.”

In examining tolls, which generally are expected to cover one-third of construction costs, the consultant is expected to outline how much motorists could pay in tolls and where toll gates could be installed.

Some of that information has been previously developed by the planning district commission in a toll study completed in 2005 that found none of the region’s big transportation projects could be supported with tolls alone. Some additional source of money would be needed.

The earlier report also found that different projects would support different toll rates. A new Midtown Tunnel – and the old one – could charge cars 58 cents a mile, meaning it could cost $2.05 during peak travel times and $1.50 off peak, the study found.

Portions of the third crossing could cost a similar amount, it said. No tolls could be applied to roads until improvements are made, meaning tolls still will be years away.

Tolls are being considered for Interstate 664, from Bowers Hill in Chesapeake to Hampton; the Elizabeth River tunnels; U.S. 460 from Suffolk to Zuni; the proposed Southeastern Parkway and Greenbelt; and sections of I-64 on the Peninsula and South Hampton Roads at the High-Rise Bridge.

Tolls probably will be of a variety that increase during peak times and fall when traffic is lighter. This “congestion pricing” method allows the region to maximize collections when demand is highest and lower prices during off-peak periods, said Arthur Collins , acting executive director of the authority.

“We will likely charge the most along highly traveled roads during commuter hours as a way of thinning out the congestion and urging people to car pool,” Collins said.

Determining exactly how much to charge is a complicated analysis, transportation officials have said.

“There is a limit to what you can charge before you drive people off the interstates and the revenue will go down,” Collins said.

The proposed tolls do not include the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, arguably the region’s most annoying congestion hot spot, or the James River Bridge. Those facilities were excluded from regional tolling efforts by lawmakers who objected to tolls there if improvements were not planned.

But the Hampton tunnel is being eyed for tolls under a separate state program, Collins said. In other action Wednesday, the authority hired PFM Group as its financial adviser.

An adviser is needed to help the authority navigate through various financial institutions that charge different interest rates and fees for services.

The adviser also will guide the authority on what its cash flow needs likely will be as it develops the transportation projects the General Assembly assigned to it. The authority is expected to collect about $40 million a quarter.

Tom Holden, (757) 446-2331, tom.holden@pilotonline.com