... As huge tolls become part of daily commute

from here to NY tolls about $38.00, and about $31.00 coming back.

One way toll. Similar to New York City, the toll is about $7 to get in, but it is free to leave.

"A $2 one-way toll on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel. Between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and again from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., tolls could be $3. In other words, folks who have to schlep between the Peninsula and Southside during rush hour would pay $1,500 a year."

Note the ONE-WAY TOLL in the article. A $2 one way toll would be $4 round trip x 5 x 52=1040. A $3 one way toll would be $6 round trip x 5 x 52=1560. Did you really think they'd let us get away with paying one flat round trip toll free?

is all ANY of them care about. The Republican word for taxes is fees and cuts, but I still prefer tolls to taxes. Toll, you pay for what you use, if I don't use those roads then I won't have to pay the toll.

Tolls will require a new infrastructure and approximately 35% of the collected money will go toward supporting this "new government". All residents will end up paying the inflated toll (tax) in one way or another. The simplest and most economical method is the fuel tax.
Our representative don't have to the stomach for this. Instead they would rather we pay inflated prices so that they can declare that they didn't raise taxes and get reelected. Pityful.

3 x 5 x 52 = 780

A one way toll of $3 a day for a 5 day work week is $780 a year (no vacations/ holidays) - not $1500 a year. If 460 was improved to interstate conditions and the speed was increased accordingly, it would alleviate a lot of truck traffic and vacation traffic to Richmond and to 95. The tolls will help to reduce traffic by encouraging people to travel at off-peak times and to carpool.

Indiana sold their toll road to investors for a nice upfront wad of cash. Now tolls have more than doubled and no new cash is flowing into Indianas coffers. The new toll cash is all heading out of our country.

Please see www.texas121.org for how a modern toll road can be operated with no toll booths.

Those with electronic transponders for EZ Pass or similar systems pay a discounted fees, the rest are billed by photographing, electronically, their license plates.

Take two people. One drives 20 miles a day and cross several toll booths. Another drives 20 miles a day but doesn't cross any. Which one creates more load on the road? Why does the first person carry far more of the tax load?

If they're going to do this, they should have the system that Dubai, UAE has in place on its main artery road, Sheikh Zayyed. It's completely electronic with cameras and scanners. There is no need for stopping to hand money to a booth operator. The sticker chip is placed on the windshield and as you pass under the toll, it scans you. If you use the toll without the required toll tag, you get a bill in the mail for the violation. When you are low on toll fare, an SMS is sent to your cell phone informing you to recharge your account.

But I bet VA will do it the hard way...

With government run programs, you get inefficiency and the expenses that go along with it. With corporate run programs, you get cost overruns and hidden profiteering unless their expenses and billings are tightly watched and controlled by an outside agency. Two evils. And here we sit with still bad roads, traffic getting worse and worse and no solutions in sight. It looks to me like the people of Hampton Roads are going to get screwed one way or another.

I use to live on the Eastern Shore and traveled the CBBT every day to Norfolk. Those tolls are a lot more than the $1 and $2 mentioned here. It's the costs of living where you do and the mere fact that our roads and transportation needs are not sitting idle, they need repairs now, not another decade from now.

It is ironic that on the same day that this editorial appeared in the V-P, a short article appeared in the Parade Magazine titled, "For Sale: U.S. Roads." The article deals with the trend toward private ownership of our roads, and states, "To turn a profit, investors likely will have to raise tolls. A round trip on the Dulles Greenway soon may cost $10, and the Virginia State Legislature voted to require more scrutiny of the company that owns it. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D., Ore), a member of the House Transportation Committee says the government is shirking its responsibility and allowing the roads to further deteriorate. 'Insisting that private leasing initiatives can fix the problem is total denial of reality,' he adds, 'and a disservice to the future of our economy.' "

It troubles me that the Commonwealth's budget has doubled in a decade, but funding for road construction/improvements remains unresolved.

"Tolls hurt poor/middle income people alot more than those well off, as does the price of food, gas and everything else while wages stay relatively the same."

Won't more taxes hurt more poor/middle income people? Take into consideration many poor/middle income don't travel some of these toll roads at all, why should they have to pay for them?

Everyone uses the transportation network built by our brothers and sisters. From sidewalks to bike paths to shoulders to roads, we are all dependent on it.
We as a Nation have got to start paying our debts and making it work with the resources that we have. Taxes are the only way to raise money to operate such a diverse society.
Our infrastructure is falling apart and as often is the case nothing will be done until its to late and then becomes an expensive emergency.
Our tax system is not working for the middle American that keeps this train going, it is controlled by the 1%. Tolls hurt poor/middle income people alot more than those well off, as does the price of food, gas and everything else while wages stay relatively the same.

The MONEY CHANGERS are at it again!!!

If everyone had just voted for a 1 cent regional sales tax increase, all these projects would have been built WITHOUT tolls. You reap what you sow, people.

...I am laughing so hard at the thought of tolls, the heavy traffic, the bridges, the tunnels! I really am laughing!!!

you finally got to the point. Mixing taxes and tolls does not reduce the cost, it merely hides a portion of it. Paying for these improvements with tolls simply makes the true cost visible.

Paying for these roads and tunnels with weight graduated tolls allows the cost of the roads to fall on those who benefit from them, as it should. It also allows us to more clearly decide which roads are really worth building. I commute three days a week to Hampton from Chesapeake. A buck to use the Reversible Roadway during rush hour would be worth it to me until we buy it back from the Feds and can drop the HOV restriction altogether. $2 would be worth it to eliminate the congestion at the HRBT.

The 3rd crossing has utterly no value to me, but if those who will use it are willing to pay the toll required to build it, then it can be built, if they aren't, then we know it isn't worth it.

We will all be dead and gone before casino's will ever be an option in Virginia. In this bible belt, some things will take forever. I don't believe we can wait that long to get our roads and transportation needs met.

Actually there is a way to fun the roads that dosn't invole tolls or taxes. Just as the lottery funs the school, casinos and slots could fund roads. Until people stat talking about using casinos, all options have not been explored.

A toll is a tax and you will pay it even if you stay at home. It costs more money to collect tolls.
A gas tax is an efficient and fair user fee.

Sole dependence entirely on the 64 corridor constrains a million people in a cul de sac, slows the transport of freight and cripples the region's economic progress.

If I have to choose between taxes and tolls, then it's tolls for me.

Can someone explain to me the need for 460 improvements? I don't mind slowing down for the small towns and the road has never had congestion. If accidents are the problem then put a barricade down the center of the road to prevent head on collisions.