VDOT to clarify role before talks on new Midtown tube

The Virginia Department of Transportation delayed Friday's starting talks on building a new Midtown Tunnel under the Elizabeth River.

VDOT said it wants to clarify its relationship with the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority before asking companies for ideas on a tunnel parallel to the existing one. VDOT had planned to announce Friday that it would seek proposals for a new tube but held back until efforts in the General Assembly to change the regional authority appeared largely to have passed.

"We're in a position to move forward now and reach an agreement with the authority," said Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer.

The authority was created by the legislators last year to finance and build six major regional projects, including a new Midtown Tunnel. It was authorized to collect a series of taxes and fees, most relating to vehicle ownership. Those fees, which are expected to raise about $162.2 million a year, are scheduled to start in April. But an unanswered question has lingered: What is the relationship between the authority and VDOT, the traditional developer of transportation projects?

Arthur L. Collins, acting executive director of the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority, has been quietly pushing VDOT to make its intentions known to avoid confusion. Collins said he'd like to know what part of the authority's future income would be used for the project.

How the project is financed, Collins said, can also dictate how much money will be needed up front.

The project is expected to cost about $775 million and will likely use tolls on both the Downtown and the two Midtown facilities to help pay the debt. Tolls would not be imposed until the project is built and open for use, planners have said.

Previous studies also have found that a toll will produce an excess of revenue.

Regional planners wanted to use some of that excess money to support other projects, but if VDOT develops the Midtown, Collins wants to know who would control it.

Competition to build a new tunnel is expected to be strong because there is money to start, relatively few regulatory hurdles and a near-universal consensus that it's needed.

Congestion at the Elizabeth River tunnels is notoriously intense, especially at the Downtown tube, among the most heavily traveled two-lane roads in Virginia.

A new Midtown would ease that situation because the project also includes an extension of the Martin Luther King freeway south to a new interchange with Interstate 264 in Portsmouth.

Unlike many major regional transportation projects, the Midtown Tunnel would pose fairly routine environmental hurdles for developers.

The Federal Highway Administration signed a revised record of decision to the environmental impact statement in July. The statement did not find major environmental obstacles to construction.

The project will still need permits from the Army Corps of Engineers.

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