Moseley and tolls

[VA Yankee]

Originally Posted by Pruzhany

Can't wait until Transurban walks away from it and VDOT gets stuck with the bill. Should've been built and paid for in the same manner 288 was done or not built at all.

If they had built a normal draw bridge over the river for the 1 ship a week coming up it they would have saved a fortune instead of that sky interchange to the heavens...

[Pruzhany]

Originally Posted by VA Yankee

If they had built a normal draw bridge over the river for the 1 ship a week coming up it they would have saved a fortune instead of that sky interchange to the heavens...

Give the contract to an Australian company and one gets a piece of expensive artwork. It's sort of funny (took some to read about it) that in 1996 Henrico Co. said it shouldn't be built because the revenue would never cover it. In 2013 Transurban 895 USA was ready to declare bankruptcy in relation to it, yet their webpage says everything is peachy (they played with their financials a little to value it at zero and another set of creditors have walked in).

[Minion1]

Thanks for all of the responses!!!


$6 and change is pretty steep - and like you said, since 895 is a private road that price isn't as stable as some might like.


The area around Midlothian and Moseley appears very nice and is where we'll likely concentrate, toll or no toll. Maybe my employer can offer some sort of off-set. From the sounds of it traffic can be a pain but there are lots of backroads to learn and should be tolerable compared to No VA.


Thanks again for the responses. We are looking forward to moving to Richmond. It seems like a great place to live.

[a3610]

The Moseley/Midlothian areas are hard to beat for housing stock, price, shopping, schools, etc.. As you said, Short Pump/West End is very congested, and is significantly more expensive for the same house. Mechanicsville is simply a different lifestyle and wasn't for us.

The 895 toll is a b*tch. The best way around it still involves a toll although is much less money. From Hull Street Rd (Rt. 360 / brandermill) take 288 North to the Powhite, Powhite north to the Downtown Expressway, DTX to 95 North, 95 North to 64 East out to the airport. It is a few minutes longer than 895 but the tolls I think on the Powhite and 895 are about $2.25 each way.

When I need to make time from Hull St to the airport, I take 288 South to Iron Bridge Rd, then Iron Bridge up to Chippenham which becomes 895. Going to the airport 8 or 10 times a year I can deal with the toll but can understand why you wouldn't want to during a daily commute.

That road is a great example of why these privatization projects of normal government functions don't work. The company keeps raising tolls to maintain a profit, and each time they do the car counts go down. They are usually sweetheart contracts written by politicians that they took good care of and have "golden parachutes" built in should the road not make enough revenue usually leaving tax payers on the hook. A lot of these projects have a non compete clause too. Meaning that if the state builds another "competing" highway that could take away "business" from this one then they would be owed money.

[jobber123rd]

Originally Posted by a3610

The 895 toll is a b*tch. The best way around it still involves a toll although is much less money. From Hull Street Rd (Rt. 360 / brandermill) take 288 North to the Powhite, Powhite north to the Downtown Expressway, DTX to 95 North, 95 North to 64 East out to the airport. It is a few minutes longer than 895 but the tolls I think on the Powhite and 895 are about $2.25 each way.

I believe it's $2.15 each way for that route: 75 cents for the Powhite Parkway Extension, then 70 cents on the Powhite near Forest Hill, and another 70 cents on the Downtown Expressway.