Officials fear tolls could isolate South Hampton Roads

A map of Hampton Roads that depicts a ring of fire engulfing the region has made its rounds at city halls and in the community.

The ring is connected by a series of new toll roads, bridges and tunnels that have been proposed to improve movement in and out of the area, which is increasingly getting choked with traffic. The map showing the possible tolls was created by city of Norfolk staff.

With a price tag on almost every major entry and exit point, many local leaders fear South Hampton Roads could become isolated, threatening the region's vitality.

"The dynamics of all that are worrisome," Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim said. "What does it mean for our economy? Has anybody thought through all this?"

"With the backlog of transportation projects we have, we're all anxious to move forward," said Barry Bishop, executive vice president of the Greater Norfolk Corp., which works to enhance economic activity in the region. "But here's the rub - we need these projects to move forward, but not at any cost.

"We need to be careful as we try to cure the disease, we don't kill the patient."

All the toll roads would be operated by private companies. The proposed rates:

- $4-$6 on an expanded Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel as well as on the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel and the James River Bridge;

- $2.17 on an expanded Midtown Tunnel as well as on the Downtown Tunnel;

- Up to $1.07 on the Martin Luther King Freeway extension in Portsmouth;

- $5.50-$11 on an interstate-quality U.S. 460 between Suffolk and Petersburg;

- $2 on the rebuilt Jordan Bridge in Chesapeake.

Tolls are already collected on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, the Chesapeake Expressway and the Coleman Bridge between Yorktown and Gloucester Point.

The new toll levels are all worst-case scenarios with no state or federal contributions.

"My greatest concern is that it would appear that tolls of these levels would defeat our purpose for these projects - a lot of people won't be making these trips," said Dwight Farmer, executive director of the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization. "That being said, I don't think the policymakers would move forward on projects that require a toll level that would defeat our purpose."

Indeed, there will be revenue analyses to gauge toll sensitivities, Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton said.

"We are very aware of the fact that tolls cannot be such as they limit mobility and economic vitality, not just on a project-by-project basis but on a regional basis," he said.

Connaughton said many of these proposals are early in the review and approval process, so the actual project scopes and financial plans are not set. Even so, he said, "The state will participate in all these projects. The question is to what level."

Connaughton said Gov. Bob McDonnell will be rolling out transportation funding strategies over the next few weeks that will have "direct positive impact for projects contemplated for Hampton Roads."

The state highway budget has dipped 22 percent since 2008, mostly because of dwindling gas tax revenues.

One thing most officials agree on is that tolls will have to be a component of most major transportation projects going forward. A debate swirls around whether to knock down toll levels by raising money from other sources such as by increasing the gas tax or vehicle registration and other transportation-related fees.

"The private sector has recognized tolls are part of the solution, not the sole solution," Bishop said.

Bill Jackson, chairman of RJR Elite Trucking Co. and president of the Tidewater Motor Truck Association, said his industry does not care how the projects are funded, just that they're built. Congestion not only adds to travel time costs but also increased crashes and other costly hazards.

"Whether it's tolls, or fuel tax, or sales tax, the piper has to be paid," he said.

Whichever method is chosen, Jackson said, trucking companies cannot absorb the costs but instead will pass them on to consumers through higher-priced goods and services. That's already happening to some extent with congestion costing truckers extra time on the road, he added.

And that's exactly what economists have warned.

"Whether you pay the cost of sitting in a traffic jam or you pay the cost of tolls or higher taxes, one way or another you're going to pay," said James Koch, an economist and former president of Old Dominion University. "There are costs attached to doing nothing."

Koch said "reasonably modest" tolls, similar to what is proposed at the Midtown Tunnel, would likely be beneficial because of the gains in mobility from the road improvement.

Tolls as high as the ones proposed for the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, however, "would probably choke off commerce," he said, adding that adjustments would be made in the long term, such as moving closer to work and using transit or carpools.

"The real questions of equity and who should pay - this is knotty," Koch said.

Joe Harris, Virginia Port Authority spokesman, said, "I don't know what's the right funding solution, but from a port perspective and a commuter perspective, something has to be done soon because there will be a come-to-Jesus moment in 10 to 15 years when we run out of space on the roadways."

The transportation planning organization has predicted that congestion will more than double over the next 20 years, clogging nearly a third of the main roads, even if every project in the region's long-range plan is built.

"The last thing we want as a port is to have a reputation as being congested," Harris said. "The ripple effect is huge if customers start taking their business elsewhere."

Bishop said the community needs to start having conversations about the options and their implications. Fraim has suggested creating tolling studies or even a toll authority in which collected revenues are shared among tolled facilities.

"We need to be careful that conversation doesn't become an excuse to do nothing," Bishop said. "Doing nothing - that's not an option."

Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com