THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 2, 1994 TAG: 9411020472
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
By this time next year, the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway could be a freeway.
``We've been told that the tolls are coming off,'' Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said at Tuesday's council meeting.
Del. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, who has fought to eliminate the tolls, said Gov. George F. Allen ``gave very positive indications'' in a recent letter to him that the governor would have the tolls lifted by Oct. 1, 1996.
Wagner said Tuesday that Allen is also considering his request to remove them as soon as next October.
The City Council has fought repeatedly to keep the dime and quarter tolls on the road after the construction debt is retired, saying the money is needed for maintenance and expansion of Route 44.
The city's legislative delegation has warned the
council that there may be no way to block Gov. Allen if he decides to lift the tolls.
Facing the new political reality, the council Tuesday decided to change its toll policy. Instead of pleading once again that tolls be preserved, members opted to ask the state to provide substitute revenue for repairing and expanding Route 44.
Removing the tolls administratively was presented as an option to Allen by State Transportation Secretary Robert E. Martinez.
The governor's press secretary and Martinez said Tuesday that no decision has been made.
Wagner was one of several state legislators who tried to do away with the tolls last February. The state Senate sided with the City Council, however, and preserved them.
Gov. Allen could bypass the legislature by taking the matter to the Commonwealth Transportation Board, a 16-person panel appointed by the governor that makes policy decisions for the state Department of Transportation.
In a letter to Virginia Beach City Manager James K. Spore, dated July 15, Allen said he, the transportation secretary and the transportation board would be considering toll removal and its impact on Virginia Beach.
He did not state his position but stressed that ``there is a fundamental obligation to keep faith with the motoring public and remove the tolls and redeem the outstanding debt as soon as it is appropriate to do so.''
Tolls have been levied on the Beach's main artery since the road opened. Its first full year of operation was 1968. Construction debt was expected to be repaid until 2004, but thanks to heavy traffic most has already been retired.
At a breakfast meeting with council members last month, the Virginia Beach delegation said tolls would likely be removed regardless of the council's position.
``I don't think there's been an absolute commitment to remove the tolls,'' state Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, said Tuesday, ``but it is my understanding that the governor's office is exploring the possibility of removing the tolls as early as next October.''
The council had hoped to hold onto the tolls until 2001 and use the money to build a $25 million interchange on the expressway at Witchduck Road, a $15 million interchange at Rosemont Road and sound walls along a seven-mile stretch that will cost $7 million to $8 million.
In 1994, tolls provided almost $3 million for road maintenance and $5.6 million for improvements to Route 44. About $3 million more was used to pay the cost of collecting the tolls and policing the road.
Removing the tolls would force the Beach to compete for a share of the $16 million in road construction money provided each year to this area. Some of the loss would be offset if the road could be designated an interstate highway by the federal government, thus making it eligible for federal maintenance and construction funds.
Mayor Oberndorf said removing the tolls would make it extremely difficult for the Beach to raise money for the interchange projects and sound walls.
Stolle said the increased competition would ensure that only needed projects get built.
The senator, who represents the eastern half of the city, said now is as good a time as any to remove the tolls. The council will always have a wish list for the toll revenue, he said.
But Del. Robert Tata, R-Virginia Beach, said he's not convinced it's a wise time for the governor to remove the tolls.
Building prisons is clearly a higher priority for Allen than picking up the maintenance costs of a road that has always paid for itself, said Tata,who represents a section of Virginia Beach that borders on Norfolk and Chesapeake. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Gov. Allen is considering toll removal.
by CNB