Tolls are taxes, yes, but they are the fairest kind of taxes. Only the ones that use the facility pay for it. If you don't use, you don't pay. And the ones that don't use them shouldn't have to pay for them with an increased gas or other tax.
It seems that the most vocal opponents to toll roads are the ones who will use these roads. Well, I guess that's way our society has evolved. "I don't want to pay my own way, I want everyone to do it".
Spreading the cost is a lot like "spreading the wealth...".

For years and years I have been hearing that drivers pay for the roads and bicycles should stay off. Now that you find out that not only have you not been paying for the roads with your car taxes, all the other taxes that have been filling the gaps for the last 30 years are running dry too because nobody wants to pay for things they get, and drivers really will have to pay for some of the infrastructure they use and destroy. I want those taxes for the roads I paid for and can't use on my bicycle refunded, just while we're at it.

I live in western North Carolina but I spend lots of time vacationing in the Tidewater area. I think I am more objective than many of your readers. If I had to travel these roads and bridges every day, I'd probably be more inclined to see the negative impact, but as a frequent visitor, I'd pay to avoid some of your traffic, which is about the worst I have to endure anywhere I go...except maybe Dallas, Texas. I'd like to see faster travel from the ocenfront to Hampton, Newport News, York, etc. Yeah, I'd be glad to pay to get out of that parking lot you've got there.

What a joke, it is not going to be several it is the main arteries in and around every city in Tidewater. For one thing, how can roads that we the taxpayers paid for be privatized. Then we are at a time when the economy is in the toilet. Our leaders have charged and printed money so much that our infrastructure is hurt by this. Stop giving our money to anyone but our country. If you are here illegally depend on mama and papa from home to pay for your education. Make our leaders earn their money, they shouldn't prosper as long as they are in a political office and then 7 years after like it used to be. If you want any law but what we have in the US, GO HOME. Stop making me pay to ruin my country!

Tolls deter tourists, hurt interstate commerce, and irritate local citizens to the point they start looking to elect new office holders. Kind of reminds you of a kingdom that enslaves its people through excessive fees, taxes, and tolls. Business doesn't operate well in a restrictive environment.

One only has to look at the expansion in Suffolk and Chesapeake after the opening of the MMBT and the increase in daily traffic on the HRBT to realize how tolls will impact the area. In 1987, everyone I worked with thought that driving to Hampton was a trek, now it's a daily commute. Portsmouth to Newport News was an all day thing. The tolls on 44, remember before 264 in VB, were 25 cents and people drove on Va Bch Blvd to avoid them. Now as we propose a regional economy, enacting tolls will both seperate us from the rest of the state and from each other.

Taxed enough already. Perhaps we need road maintenance more than we need computerized blackboards in the schools.

Putting tolls on most major roads is simply governments way of saying we are totally inefficient in maintaining the highway system and need more money to spend. History will bear out that tolls do not translate into better roads, just a way to collect more revenue although with smart tag technology they can do it without as many large backups at the toll booths!

Based on the "toll map" my yearly commute costs to and from my work place will be approximately $4000.00. Those are dollars that come from my entertainment funds that I will not spend locally. No one knows more than I the need for traffic improvements but I am not convinced that VDOT or the state has improved their system of wasting money (see City of Norfolk)....maybe it is time to move to Williamsburg.

Since Federal, State and Local taxes and bonds were used to pay for these "public right of ways", it seems to illegal to levy fees for using them now, years after the fact. Remember, these bridges and roads didn't use private funds to build them from the get go (minus the CBBT). If these were new bridges and roads and a private company was footing the bill, no problem, that's a different issue than what we have here.