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Here's an example of an area on the coast (Tidewater, Va.) , and what tolls can do. Look how much money the projects cost! They are doing all this with tolls. 526 could be built next year easy.
Under a new road funding proposal, Tidewater could see more tolls by 2022. (More than $13 Billion dollars!)
They would help pay for several major projects, including a new High-Rise Bridge; the Third Crossing; added capacity on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel and Interstate 64; and a U.S. 460/58 connector. Total cost for the projects: more than $13 billion.
The Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission will hear the full report today at its 12:30 p.m. meeting. HRTAC, a board created in 2014 to oversee a pot of transportation money set aside for Hampton Roads, will hear from a private consultant who concocted six ways to help pay for the projects:
1. A $2 toll on the Third Crossing, which would connect Norfolk and Portsmouth to the Monitor-Merrimac via Craney Island.
2. High-occupancy tolls, which apply to single-occupant vehicles in lanes marked for ones with multiple passengers, on existing I-64 HOV lanes, the High-Rise Bridge, the HRBT, the Monitor-Merrimac and the Route 460/58 connector, and a $2 toll on the Third Crossing.
3. $1 tolls on the High-Rise Bridge, Patriots Crossing (a bridge-tunnel segment of the Third Crossing that would tie into the Monitor-Merrimac), HRBT, Monitor-Merrimac and high-occupancy toll lanes on the connector.
4. $2 tolls on the High-Rise Bridge, Patriots Crossing, HRBT, Monitor-Merrimac and high-occupancy tolllanes on the connector.
5. A $1.50 peak toll and $1 off-peak toll on the HRBT in addition to scenario three.
6. A $3 peak toll and $2 off-peak toll on the HRBT in addition to scenario four.
The tolls are in 2015 dollars. With inflation, a $1 toll could be as much as $1.28, and a $3 toll could be $3.84 by the time they would start in 2025. A commuter from the Peninsula to Norfolk paying the peak toll inflated to $3.84 would pay more than $1,900 to get to work in 2025.
Even with the tolls, all scenarios would require hundreds of millions to billions of dollars in help from the state, bonds and other revenue streams.
The best scenario might be to toll all lanes with peak pricing, David Miller of PFM Group said in an October meeting. Miller and his team were contracted by an HRTAC committee dedicated to finding funding strategies for Hampton Roads projects.
The proposal comes after the area’s transportation pot, called the Hampton Roads Transportation Fund, was reduced by $2 billion through 2040 because of bad gas tax revenue forecasts.
But decisions are still a ways off. The plan will be voted on at an HRTAC meeting in the near future. Decisions are based on a two-thirds majority vote of the commission, representing at least two-thirds of the region’s population.
The tolling scenario covers construction of all major projects, which might not happen. The consultant also did not look at options such as public-private partnerships similar to Elizabeth River Crossings.
You make a lot of sense to me. It's just that folks here don't want change and hate progressiveness.
Just one of the reasons why Charleston was one of the top 5 cities in the country in the 1700's, but are now probably 120th. Not saying we want to be a "Major Big City" but we do need to stay abreast of the times.
I'm not sure I would categorize the use of tolls as progressive. It's certainly not a new form or taxation.
Yep, they never met a tax they didn't like!
I'd be all for tolling the extension of 526 if it means that it would finally be completed. By then they'll need to think about a third lane for the rest of it of course...
I still dont understand why we go on about tolls? The nix-526'ers dont care about the price...theyre the reason the price is so high, because they keep stalling the project. They dont want sprawl and development, not a pricey highway. So youd be tolling the people the are actually in favor of it.
The highway could be paid for, if both sides would just agree and nix all these lawsuits and protests. Lowcountry lawyers are the only ones benifiting right now. Everybody else is stuck in a game of tug of war.
And tolls sure havent helped I-185. Its paid for I believe, but its so seldmonly used, it could be 1 lane each way and you could still go 90+ with your eyes closed, if youre that brave.
Heading home out of Chas for Thanksgiving, the gf just texted me and said "I wish there was a way to bypass West Ashley. Its bumper to bumper."
If only. Everyone have a safe Thanksgiving. Careful on these roads.
True dat!
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