The Virginian-Pilot
©
PORTSMOUTH
Leaders of the group that wants to build a second Midtown Tunnel and the Martin Luther King Freeway Extension plus refurbish the Downtown Tunnel said they're looking for ways to cut the $2 billion price tag and the $2 to $3 projected tunnel tolls.
"We're working very hard with VDOT and the community to make that happen," said Karl H. Reichelt, executive vice president of Skanska, an international construction company and one of the leaders of the private partnership.
"The tolling must work.... Tolling is critical," he said.
Malcolm Kerley, Virginia Department of Transportation chief engineer, said the agency and the proposers already have started talking about the possibilities.
Representatives of Elizabeth River Crossings LLC, a consortium of private companies, met Wednesday for the first time with an independent review panel appointed by the state transportation secretary to evaluate the proposal.
"The tolls will have to be affordable before we pass on it," said E. Dana Dickens III, chairman of the review panel.
Dickens, president of the Hampton Roads Partnership and a member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board, said after the meeting that his informal discussions with political leaders and residents indicate that a toll of $1, perhaps $1.50, appears more palatable than a $2 to $3 toll.
"Tolls could be the deal breaker in this," he said.
A key to controlling costs is keeping the project on schedule, Reichelt said. After the first quarter of 2010, the cost would rise about $300,000 a day for every day construction is delayed. The project would be completed by 2015.
The group would construct and overhaul the facilities and operate and maintain them.
No state money is required, but tolls would be as high as $3 each way for cars and $9 for trucks at both tunnels, plus a 50-cent car toll and $1.50 truck toll on the MLK Extension. The tolls would be assessed electronically, so there would be no toll booths.
Despite the concern over tolls, some local leaders say the proposal is the region's only hope in the next decade of easing congestion on some of its most heavily traveled roads. The Midtown Tunnel, with about 35,000 vehicles daily, is the most heavily traveled two-lane road in Virginia.
Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com
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MIDTOWN TUNNEL
New section of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel - Total Length (including approach roads): two lanes at 23 miles, one bridge, southbound: 2,591 piles. Construction began June 16, 1995, and the project was opened to traffic on April 19, 1999 46 months. They built the origional bridge and tunnel in 42 months, 23 miles of road, a bridge, 4 islands and dropped two tunnels.
Now tell me why it will take 60 months to complete???? If they can build the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel which is alot more difficult to build.
Here is the thing, they should have never removed the tolls off of the tunnels and 44 which is now 264 to begin with. So the compnay's or LLC VDOT is looking at, maybe they need to look at the company who built the CBBT.
One person mention about a bridge. I dont see the federal goverment granting money to a project that will cause headaches for the mariners. Contrary to people belief, boaters have the right of way, not cars, so the people who use bridges, dont get upset when you sit through a bridge lift. They will help convert all bridges that are currently in place to become at lest 65ft on anything that is part of the AICW. (Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway).
I
Tolls will devestate families
I think it's a great idea to toll the tunnels. Then half the work force won't be able to come up with the money for the tolls. This in turn will have fewer cars on the road. At a time when the financial system is at its worse and joblessness is at its highest, the idea of tolls is just mind-boggling. Thank goodness I don't have to use the tunnels downtown or the recently planned Jordan Bridge. I have enough worries of paying my bills and feeding my family without the stress of where I am going to find the money to pay tolls to get to work. The only bright side of this picture is how much revenue Norfolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake will make prosecuting toll runners in their courts...
Hey Digiroad
Hey Digiroad,
I don't know ANYBODY that lives near the 168 bypass that pays a toll... Those that live in the area know to ride Battlefield all the way down and avoid the toll.
The toll is a different story all together.
How many people that make minimum wage or low wage cross the tunnel everyday? LOTS. At minimum wage they have to work about forty minutes to pay for one $3 toll. The 168 by-pass is only used by people that don't know how to go around it. Can you really estimate the $300,000 cost per-day? Then why is it every single job they do has huge over-runs? What a bogus scare tactic.
What a conn!
If an additional tunnel were built in the right place, it would relieve the bottleneck of downtown Norfolk and take over half the car traffic and nearly all the truck traffic off of Hampton Blvd from the tunnel to Terminal Blvd. Anyone that travels through the Mid-town from the Churchland or Suffolk areas can tell you how much traffic is backed up accross the West Norfolk bridge. Very little traffic comes from the ramp just before the tunnel. That being said, a tunnel from Craney Island (near new marine terminal) to Terminal Blvd (right beside NIT) would take most truck traffic off of Hampton Blvd through Ghent area. Propose a bridge instead of a tunnel and the federal government will pick up the tab to make it a tunnel because it's a requirment of the federal government on not blocking the channel with a bridge. Notice how all the people on the committees have ties with the construction companies? Does that tell you anything? HINT: LOADS of MONEY OUT of YOUR POCKET and INTO THEIRS.
Proposed Midtown Tunnel Project
Everybody wants improvements in transportation, but nobody wants to pay for them! This project offers the only solution on the near horizon to accomplish this needed improvement in a vital transportation corridor. We'd better realize their is no free ride, and the phrase, "pay me now, or pay me later," comes to mind. Time and again, the Virginia legislature has squabbled about how to pay for transportation, without success. The public has turned down recommendation after recommendation, and still the needs are there. People said fervently, "I won't use the 168 By-Pass ($2.00 toll), but they are!")Let's get real folks! It's time to make a realistic decision!
End VDOT - redirect the state gas tax to each locality
Since the "plan" appears to be to have local communities pay for STATE roads, bridges, and tunnels, why aren't the STATE gas taxes we pay being reduced - sicne VDOT is having less and less work to do? End VDOT and toll the roads, but don't keep both! BTW - glad to see a private solution being considered instead of unaccountable regional government. As a Libertarina, the free market is normally a superior solution to more government. User pays is a fair approach. What we all need to pay attention to is what limits are placed on how high the toll can be raised, and how often. We don't need for profit extortion on public assets that taxpayers already paid for. Further, tolls should only be placed on roadways & tunnels with expanded capacity, not vague "improvements".
TOLLS
Forget it I will never pay that much to go through a tunnel when I
can take another route and save myself $3.00 a day or almost $200.00 a
year. Save $300,000 a day. This sounds like a scam!