THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 15, 1994 TAG: 9411150325
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 161 lines
Eleven months from now, 100,000 daily commutes should be a little easier and up to 25 cents cheaper.
Gov. George F. Allen announced Monday that he wants to take the tolls off the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway on Oct. 1, 1995. He has asked the Commonwealth Transportation Board to vote this week to remove the tolls.
Allen described his recommendation as ``keeping faith with the citizens of Virginia Beach,'' by fulfilling a promise made 26 years ago to make the highway free when the construction bonds had been repaid.
``I think this will make coming to the Beach a little bit more enjoyable,'' Allen said during a news conference at the Virginia Beach Pavilion on Monday morning.
Enough tolls have been collected to pay off the bonds used to build the highway, and by next October enough extra will have been raised to resurface Route 44 six years from now and complete $22 million in planned improvements, Allen said.
Nearly 102,000 cars and trucks pass through the expressway's main toll plaza on an average day. More enter and leave the highway at interchanges and never reach the plaza.
Together, they leave behind more than $11 million a year in dimes and quarters.
Getting rid of the tolls would reduce back-ups at the plazas and the automatic toll machines at the nearby Independence Boulevard interchange, Allen and other toll opponents said. Eliminating tolls would also cut down on accidents caused by inattentive drivers who fail to slow down at the booths.
Not everyone thinks getting rid of tolls is a good idea.
Virginia Beach City Council voted unanimously last week to ask the state to delay removing tolls until several other highway improvement projects can be funded. Without the revenue, Council members said, the quality of the expressway's maintenance will suffer.
Enough General Assembly members opposed lifting the tolls earlier this year to kill measures calling for their removal.
Some of the folks who have to ante up every day also think the move may be short-sighted.
Norfolk resident Forrest Collins was sitting in a car just past the plaza when he learned of plans to remove the tolls.
He was pleased at first, then thought again: about the maintenance money that would be lost, the road projects that couldn't be built, the toll-takers who would be unemployed.
``Some good things come out of it, some bad things come out of it,'' Collins said. ``If I had the choice, I wouldn't take them down.''
Michelle Macon, who was driving Collins into Norfolk, said there would never be enough money to finish the road. Paying tolls is a drag, and the sooner they come off the better, she said.
``I go this way every day to work and I don't appreciate having to pay the tolls,'' she said, after pulling over near the toll plaza to make a call.
Allen said he would have taken the tolls off sooner, but decided that those affected needed time to adjust.
The state has to issue bids for the removal of the toll plazas, and the 75 toll-takers have to find new jobs. The 16-member Commonwealth Transportation Board must make its decision this week to be able to approve next year's toll road budget on schedule, Secretary of Transportation Robert E. Martinez said. The board, which is appointed by Allen, is likely to approve toll removal, said Martinez, its chairman.
Allen said he thinks the money left over in the toll road fund is sufficient to keep the expressway in good condition for many years. Projects that could still be built, he said, include: $5.7 million to expand the interchange at Birdneck Road, $6.7 million for park-and-ride locations, $3.4 million for widening the westbound entrance at Rosemont, and $1.1 million to build sound walls along the highway.
Although he did not address it directly, Allen's move puts another roadblock in the way of plans to build the Southeastern Expressway, Del. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, said Monday.
Wagner, who led the fight to remove the tolls, said those who wanted to use Route 44 tolls to fund construction of the expressway connecting Virginia Beach to Chesapeake have now been foiled.
Toll-takers had hoped that they would be able to transfer to the Southeastern Expressway when Route 44 toll booths were eliminated. That's no longer a possibility. The new road is no longer a certainty and would take years to construct.
Staffers of the 14 toll booths at the Virginia Beach-Norfolk expressway's mid-point were obviously disappointed by the governor's decision. They got the news from a driver stopping at the tolls after attending the governor's news conference.
Word spread quickly from booth to booth.
It is a close-knit group of 48 full-time workers and 30 part-time employees.
They talk about ``spirit'' and joke about working Lane 7 to meet - and hopefully marry - the rich lawyer who passes through every morning. The truck lane would be the best suited for the wedding procession, they say, it's the widest.
Many of the full-time workers began cross-training earlier this year when it became clear the tolls were being targeted. They will be transferred to other Department of Transportation jobs, if possible, they have been told.
But most of the new work is boring and isolated, they say - sitting in the middle of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, underneath the James River, all alone for hours.
They couldn't use the people-skills they've developed by talking to thousands of people for seconds at a time, several toll-takers said. There wouldn't be the camaraderie of the break room or the tunnel that links the booths to the control room.
``We've got to have one serious Christmas party,'' said Teresa Willie, a part-time worker who will get no help finding a new job, ``now that we know it'll be our last.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA/
1994:On an average day, about 102,000 cars and trucks pass through
the main toll plaza on the Route 44 expressway. Combined with the
tolls paid at other interchanges, the highway pulls in $11 million a
year.
B\W photo by Bill Abourjilie
1967: The first wave of cars line up at the toll gates at the
opening of the Virginia Beach-Norfolk expressway on Dec. 1.
Color photo
Gov. George F. Allen
THE HISTORY
The state sold $34 million in 40-year bonds to finance
Route 44 construction in 1965. Repayment of the debt was expected
to take until 2004, but toll revenue from heavy traffic already has
retired most of the debt. In the past 10 years alone, tolls have
produced more than $100 million in revenue. Instead of paying off
the bonds as soon as possible which would mean removing the tolls
the state has used much of the revenue to pay for construction or
upgrades to expressway interchanges.
THE TRAFFIC ISSUE
Pros
Traffic could decrease along Virginia Beach Boulevard.
Because backups at the toll plaza would be eliminated, access to
Virginia Beach and Norfolk could improve.
Cons
Traffic on Route 44 could increase 10 percent to 20 percent.
With the toll plaza removed, exits to the east Rosemont Road
and Lynnhaven Parkway especially could have increased congestion in
the evening. The toll booths act as a natural control
valve for the road.
THE MONEY ISSUE
Virginia Beach's loss ...
In 1994, tolls provided about $11 million in revenue.
The City Council has argued that the tolls are needed for
maintenance and expansion of Route 44.
... is motorists' gain.
Commuter savings for 500 trips, based on the average 250-day work
year:
Toll: 25 cents Annual savings: $125
Toll: 15 cents (with discount book) Annual savings: $75
Toll: 10 cents
Annual savings: $50
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH-NORFOLK EXPRESSWAY TOLLS ROUTE 44 by CNB