The Virginian-Pilot
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Highway officials want to know how much motorists are willing to pay for faster commutes through the Elizabeth River tunnels.
The Virginia Department of Transportation is conducting surveys about possible tolls at the Downtown Tunnel, Midtown Tunnel and Martin Luther King Freeway in Portsmouth. They want to know whether users are willing to pay for reduced congestion and travel time and, if so, how much.
Tolls of $2 to $3 for cars and up to $9 for trucks are an integral part of a private proposal to build a parallel Midtown Tunnel and an extension of the Martin Luther King Freeway in Portsmouth, as well as rehabilitate the existing Midtown and Downtown tunnels.
At rush hours, the tunnels between Norfolk and Portsmouth are congested because the demand exceeds their capacit ies. An accident or incident that closes a lane or two can have a paralyzing effect on traffic.
Regional leaders have said the proposed tolls are too high, but they don't have hard data about motorists' toll tolerance.
"Probably the biggest issue we have in this whole process is the tolls and what is considered a reasonable toll," said Hampton Roads Partnership President E. Dana Dickens III, who chairs the Independent Review Panel evaluating the proposal.
"It certainly makes sense to ask those who use the tunnels," he said.
Survey postcards were mailed last week to the drivers of 1,000 cars and 200 trucks that used the Downtown and Midtown tunnels in the past month, said Shannon Marshall, a VDOT spokeswoman.
Surveyors randomly photographed license plates and mailed instructions directing motorists to a Web site for a 10-minute survey.
In addition, drivers were approached in late April at random places and asked to participate either online or via computer kiosks. Those locations included Old Dominion University, Pretlow Library in Norfolk, the Portsmouth Military Commissary and Department of Motor Vehicle offices in Norfolk and Portsmouth.
Survey participants were asked how often they use the Elizabeth River tunnels, the times of day they travel, their trip durations and their preferences when given various toll scenarios that showed a range of travel time savings.
For example, they were asked whether they would pay $2 to cut 20 minutes off their commutes. If they did not favor a toll, they were asked to explain why.
More than 2,000 responses have been gathered, about double what's needed for the results to be statistically significant, Marshall said.
Preliminary results of the $150,000 survey will be available within weeks, she said.
Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com
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Little tardy
but thats ok.
First,
The HOV lanes are a waste of money how they are used today. They are there to encourage carpooling right? I'm not sure if anybody has noticed but this area is made up of a very large number of military personnel. I being one, have lived in the area since 1998. What most civilians don't realize is that the military doesnt work on a 9-5 schedule like most. Therefore most commute between 6am and then 4pm. We don't work to a set time then close and head home. We work flexible varying hours, meaning we all don't get off at the same time, even if we are at the same command. This makes carpooling useless. For those who complained about the military....lock it up.... If it wasn't for the military this place would be a ghostown, and half of you would be without work. Hmmm i wonder why their fighting to keep Oceana here.
The main set of HOV lanes that run along the 64/264 interchange to the 64/564 split is comprised of mainly military traveling to NOB. In the mornings you'll see a handful of cars using it , then see 64 backed up to Northampton Blvd sometimes further. It's simple.....open up HOV during rush hour!!!! Or create a HOV pass and charge yearly i
I agree with
Troll Hunter: quit whining
Bill H: create a HOV Pass
Troll: Let’s take a small number of base employees (military\civil service\contractor) say 10,000 going to NOB from VaBch and Ches and 1/3 take the HOV that would remove 3,333 cars from the interstate! It is not the gov’t…it is the selfish one car riders!
Bill: $25/yr…that is welfare! Make the toll\fee whatever you want to call it $25/wk which may make Mr. Troll Hunter’s HOV workable in addition to saving rider 1 or rider 2 as much in gas with an added benefit of reduced pollution.
But that would place a “burden” on us as individuals and take personal responsibility to reduce traffic congestion as it would interfere with our personal liberties…
Tolls
There's not much else I can say that would not be repeating what has been said here, though I will add the following. Expand the downtown tunnel to a minimum of three lanes each way, toll-free, then do what you what to extensions and extra crossings, THEN I'd accept the proposal to toll whatever amount at the newer routes. It's amazing to me how much this area has problems with tunnels and cities like Pittsburgh, PA do NOT have such tunnel issues asides from accidents et cetera. The engineering in this area HAS to improve for minimal upgrade changes to last more than a meer 5-10 (based on pop. growth). I think VDOT may have let go the wrong personnel when they did budget cuts!
a much cheaper program would be...
send everone with a Hampton Roads address back to a remedial drivers education program...God knows 99% of the people on the road need it. Witness: 4 cars traveling alone through the tunnel, one will slow down to 50mph as he or she enters, causing a bottle neck that can ripple and last for hours...Witness: 1 car in the fast lane on 264 during rush hour doing 55mph with 100 cars behind him tailgating...
The problem isn't the roads, it's the bad driving and lack of law enforcement on stupidity and no concern for fellow commuters.
The HR Entities are the problem
Perhaps that's why the House of Delegates is still Republican is because they don't believe in throwing away money on roads that won't resolve traffic congestion. Like light rail for one. There is where your bottomless pit for money will be. The state is too busy making Michael Townes and the rest of these unelected unaccountable HR Entities rich and the expense of the rest of us.
Huh?
I fail to see how stopping to pay a toll will improve my commute time.
Please
Mr. Barrett, grab your check book and fund away.
You may make enough money that every tax hike proposed looks like a great idea to you. However, there are many people here stuggling to stay in their homes and put somegthing on the dinner table other than mac & cheese.
I say we put a nice big whopping local income tax on those making over $250,000 a year. Why tax the poor non-skilled worker making $5.50 per hour when there are generous liberals out there willing to fund everything? Or better yet, why not a developement tax of 30% of gross profit? The big winners aught to be the big payers, after all that's just good socialist policy....progressive taxation....priceless.
RE: The problem is merging traffic
I couldn't agree more with this assessment of the problem, but that post misses the mark on the solution.
Perceived etiquite aside, "flying by" and "cutting in" are how merges are supposed to work, and how they work best for everyone most of the time. But when some people merge early, all it does is push back the congestion further than it needs to be, and slow everybody down.
An even better solution that's been proven effective in many other cities is using signals to meter merging traffic. But I don't see that happening here, since everybody already ignores the signal lights at the tunnels.
Also, there's almost as much of a problem from diverging traffic, and some drivers slow down before they pull over, and some cut across double-white lines into exit lanes in violation of signs posted nearby.
Here we go again.
"Hampton Roads Partnership" a front for the old HRTA gang. Mayor Fraim, Frank and Mr Farmer over at HRPDC will not quit until they tax and toll every public street in Hampton Roads. Does anyone know exactly why we pay State & Federal, sales, income, and user taxes. Where does that money go?
Maybe sending an Aircraft Carrier or two down to Jacksonville isn't such a bad idea. Sure would help the traffic, and wouldn't cost a dime. Just make sure they take a proportionate amount of jets as well.
Amazing
It is absolutely amazing to read some of these posts and not to think we deserve exactly what we have gotten; that is, a transportation system headed toward total gridlock at rush hours which when the recession ends will be the length of the entire business day. To think that we collectively voted No on the transportation referendum, which would have used PPV's to start the design and construction of the projects, including the midtown tunnel, and would have involved tolls on most of the projects as well, is simple verification that the voters here are in a perpetual state of denial. To think we have returned republicans to the House of Delegates, and they have, on our behalf, totally refused to deal with this most important function of government, is to suggest that frankly, we really don't care. We want to be stuck in traffic, we are as parochial as our Delegates think we are, and we prefer to wait until the crisis is so unbearable that it can't be fixed, and we prefer to complain than to fund improvements. We got what we deserve.