Tolls may return to I-95 at North Carolina border
Tolls may return to Interstate 95, as part of Governor McDonnell’s plan to maintain and improve the state’s busiest interstate. Charles Fishburne reports.
Old timers will remember the tolls on the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike, which predated the Interstate system, and were finally phased out in 1992. These would be different. For one thing, they would be placed at the North Carolina line.
Connaughton: At the North Carolina border our current vehicle counts are between 36,000 and 38,000 cars a day.
State Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton.
Connaughton: All we’re asking for is essentially the authority to essentially place a user fee on these vehicles.
Connaughton says a toll of a dollar or two per axle could generate $30 to $60 million a year, and that I-95 needs about $600 million for maintenance and improvements already. Governor McDonnell has asked the Federal Highway Administration for permission to switch a rarely-approved pilot program from the I-81 corridor to I-95. Tolls on interstates are usually not allowed.
Charles Fishburne, WCVE News.
Post new comment