Alarmed by last summer's flood-caused shutdown of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, a Northern Virginia lawmaker has introduced a bill to impose a $2 toll on that facility and the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel.
Del. Joe May, R-Leesburg, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, says the measure would raise an estimated $100 million a year.
May said Tuesday that he was "somewhat taken aback" by what he learned in the aftermath of the July 2 flooding incident that shut down the westbound Hampton Roads tube for eight hours and brought traffic in the region to a virtual standstill.
Besides the House transportation panel, May also chairs the Joint Commission on Transportation Accountability, which heard testimony from state transportation officials after the tunnel shutdown.
The flooding resulted from a water-main break that went undetected for hours.
An independent review panel that included experts from other facilities in Maryland and New York reported in December that out-of-state tunnels are inspected more frequently. They also have an around-the-clock maintenance presence on-site to resolve problems before they become crippling, the review found.
May said he believes the region's tunnels lack adequate funding for regular maintenance, let alone major repairs and eventual replacement.
The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel is 52 years old, he noted. "It does have a finite life."
His bill, HB1323, would provide for an automated collection system that would allow motorists to travel through the tunnels without slowing to make payments.
The revenue collected at each tunnel would be deposited into a segregated account and allocated for the operation, maintenance and future improvements or replacement of that tunnel and the approaches to it.
For much of the past decade, state lawmakers and successive administrations have been unable to agree on how to raise money to fix old roads, bridges and tunnels and build new ones.
During the fall campaign, Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, laid out a variety of ideas for how to pay for road projects, including tolls.
But May said his bill is his own idea and was not submitted at the request of McDonnell or anyone else.
Hampton Roads lawmakers could not be reached Tuesday evening for reaction to the proposal.
Bill Sizemore, (804) 697-1560, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com
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$2.00 Toll
Yes there needs to be an answer to the traffic problem, but tolls are not the way to go. No one has mentioned the college students who travel to and from college. Between tuition, books and gas prices. You could possible be add an additional 80 per month. Others have posted that the people who use these bridges should be the ones who pay for them. We are the working poor. By the time you pay healthcare, daycare and by gas this would be devastating to us. Why not tax the areas that can afford it North Virginia. That's where are money collected from these tolls would end up anyway.
Tools
I don't like the car tax, but at least its equitable and a huge money maker. The proposed toll on the HRBT and MMBT are ridiculous. They are the main arteries to military installations and heavy manufacturing infrastructure. They were built to facilitate access between the Southside and the Penninsula. Now, the message is don't use them or you will have to pay. So make it easier for us to commute between the two areas which in addition to making employment available also facilitates commerce between the areas. Don't give a bad idea any more traction!
Same politician?...
I wonder if this is the same politician that "fixed" a section of Route 17 not too far from Leesburg. It was a rural stretch that connected Route 66 to Route 50. The route was very rural. Residences are mostly large horse farms that are set way back off the road. Most importantly it was a big time and fuel saver for truckers. It saved them about 40 miles of driving when they needed to get from 66 to 50.
First the speed limit was dropped from 55 to 45, 35 in some places. Noise restrictions for exhaust brakes were put in place. Big fancy signs were put up telling drivers not to blow horns, truck drivers to slow down, and police were patrolling this stretch more aggressively than any thing here. Then trucks were banned completely.
There was no reason I can fathom other than an easily annoyed politician with too much money! I just wish I could remember which one it was that lived on that big house on the hill. Several thousands of dollars of labor and fuel are now spent yearly there due to the fact tha drivers now have to take a much longer route to around that area.
Declining
Lets add it up. $6 round trip tolls on the downtown tunnel, midtown, MMC and HRBT, only a 1.4% pay increase for military next year, a 1% increase in state tax possibly, a repeal of the car tax, and declining housing prices. You get the picture. We are in for tough times ahead people.
tolls
What is wrong with adding casinos to help pay some of the road repair, bridges, and tunnels? we pay too much in taxes already. Give us some pleasure for our money. All of the states around Va already have slot machines. What are we waiting for?
It's Time to Take Some (Ir)rational Action!
I wonder if we can legally secede from the not so great Commonwealth of Virginia. A Carpet Bagger from Northern Virginia wants to levy tolls on us and will probably have some loopholes in the legislation so other parts of the state can reap the benefits.
Take a look at most roads west of Richmond. They're in a lot better shape than around here and it's our tax dollars that did it. We do not get anywhere close to the taxes we pay to improve, or even maintain, the infrastructure in and around Hampton Roads.
Maybe it's time we become the 51st state and use our taxes for ourselves!
Leesburg
A "northern-Va" lawmaker, eh? Easy for him to say. Sorry, but he's not the right guy to even have an opinion on the subject. I'm not totally against tolls but why does it have to be $2. I've got to cross the Monitor-Merrimac everyday and I think this is too much, esp. since I go 30 miles one way. How about 50 cents? Or would $25 million a year not line enough pockets??? Mr. Leesburg, you've got plenty of traffic problems of your own (in northern Va.) so thanks but no thanks.
I'll buy into it, but . . .
I want a 100% guarantee the money stays in this area, and that the funds are used to improve transportation and infrastructure only. And I'd like to see the line item in the budget, so as not to be grouped into other costs.
By the way, for those of you who didn't want the HRTA to exist, do the math. $95 per year cost (fuel tax, registration & safety inspection fees) sure beats the $500 yearly cost for someone to drive back and forth to work via the tunnels. And the localities as a group, not a state agency, had control over where to spend it.
Pocahontas Parkway 895 Richmond.......
is one BIG WHITE ELEPHANT for the State of Virginia. Its a $2.50 toll parkway in Richmond that is hardly used. It probably has the highest highway flyover in the state. Its so "empty" at night, you could have a bar-b-que cookout in the grassy median!
and...
the money spent to build the Pocahontas Parkway should have been used to fund HRBT Maintenance or improve RT460.
Improve 460 so Tourist and Truckers avoid HRBT
Improve 460 so Tourist and Truckers avoid HRBT.
By improving 460 & 58 Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth,Chesapeake
residents can avoid crossing the Chesapeake Bay.
OMG - a Republican Raising Taxes
Maybe there is hope...a Republican with an unpopular idea to create a user tax that makes sense!
Go ahead...
let 'em keep using the EZ Pass as a way out. Pretty soon we'll all have one plastered on our genitals and backsides.
Flush! = Minus two bucks from your account sir/mam!
I think they, the government, should try a revolutionary approach. First, start by limiting the size of government. Second, use funds only for what they were collected for. Third, govern for the people not just for big business/back room good old boy deals.
Naaa... that would take discipline, common sense, and honor.
Need a revenue stream for transportation?
Two words: Slot machines.
Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey are raking in millions of VIRGINIA DOLLARS from bus loads of our day trippers.
TOO MUCH
For one thing this isn't NOVA a fee like that is too much for our area especially when they see the money that's generated there going raise it up the very next year. 1.00 thats all I'm willing to pay or I'll drain the James River and walk across.LOL
Tolls Make Sense
So taxes of $.38cents per gallong were approximately 40% of the cost of a gallon of gas when gas was a dollar a gallon way back in 2001. Now those same taxes are less than 20% of the cost of a gallon of gas today. And I suppose the cost of construction is just as cheap as it was 10 years ago. Come on folks, use your college education, or if you don't have one then go to the Fox website, they love the uneducated.
By the way!
By the way, this legislator was probably asked to do this by one or more of our local representatives. Now won't have to take the heat. Part of politics my friends.
May needs to look under his nose first.
Why is May putting attention on tolls in this region? Why not take a look at the real money whole areas that suck up the states transportation funds. Leesburg is up near Washington DC for those that don't know. That being said, why not toll the I-95/495/295 I-83 and I-270 areas. Have you seen the amount of work that has been done and continues to be done in that area yet traffic there is still at a stand still. Put tolls on the roads there since they seem to be taking most of the state resources. Tolls there would bring in $900M. Do that first before looking at tolls here. Truth be known, the lack of funds is NOT a REVENUE ISSUE, it's a SPENDING ISSUE. Funds that should be used on road improvements and construction have been hyjacked by politicians to pay for their pet programs and projects that have little to nothing to do with roads. Put the tolls on the regions that are using the all the states funds. This area pays more than enough in and is getting little back.
Heh
The gentleman legislator from Leesburg ought keep his nose out of our backyard. This is but a power play in the form of a regressive tax. And it's going nowhere fast.
Motor Fuel Excise Tax
Virginia motor fuel excise tax is 17.5 cents per gallon (CPG), plus 1.9 CPG listed as other state taxes, for gasoline and diesel fuel.
Federal motor fuel excise tax of 18.4 CPG for gasoline and 24.4 CPG diesel fuel.
In Virginia, the total minimum taxes per gallon at the pump are 37.8 CPG for gasoline and 43.8 CPG for diesel.
Where is that money going? The taxpayers should demand an accounting of those taxes before they roll over for yet another tax/toll.