THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 21, 1995 TAG: 9505210039
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
The trip may soon be free, but there could be hell to pay for some commuters when the tolls come off the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway June 1.
Dwight Farmer, who studies transportation issues for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, predicted new afternoon traffic jams, particularly at the Lynnhaven and Rosemont exits.
Taking the tolls off the expressway will increase the number of people who choose to use the road daily, Farmer said.
Many commuters now drive alternate routes, such as Virginia Beach Boulevard, to avoid the tolls, he said. Others pay a dime to exit before the toll plaza and take to city streets to save 15 cents.
The toll plaza has always acted as a meter for traffic. Because the toll plaza is restricted to eight lanes in the peak direction, vehicles were slowly distributed along the road.
Remove that pacing effect at the same time volume increases, Farmer said, and too many vehicles will be arriving at crowded exits at once.
Existing traffic lights and city roadways won't be able to handle the increased flow, Farmer predicted.
That means the ramps will fill, traffic will back up onto the expressway, and drivers will have to pull onto the shoulders to await their chance to make an exit.
Frank Dunn, a senior state highway planner, isn't so sure.
``Only time will tell,'' what will happen when the tolls come off, he said.
Dunn doesn't think that many new drivers will be lured to the expressway because it is free.
``Twenty-five cents in this day and age is such a small piece of money,'' Dunn said. ``I don't believe people would avoid a road to save a quarter.''
Another problem could be safety. When toll booths were eliminated on I-95 in Richmond, accidents there skyrocketed.
More than 640 drivers wrecked their cars on the stretch of highway in the first nine months after the tolls came off - up 44 percent from the same period when tolls were in place.
One of the reasons given by state troopers was the surprising location of traffic jams under the new system.
When there were tolls to pay, traffic slowed predictably at the plazas. When the plaza's came down, the traffic was unimpeded - but clogging at popular exits often backed traffic up onto the highway.
``It's like a demolition derby with nowhere to go,'' Master Trooper Bud English told the Richmond Times-Dispatch nine months after the tolls had been removed. ``People are topping hills and running around corners at 55, and traffic is stopped.''
State police will try to head off problems on the Expressway, at least during the transition.
For the first two weeks, troopers will be stationed at the plaza area around the clock to discourage speeding. The speed limit there will be 40 mph, with hefty fines for violators.
One thing is certain, transportation officials say: Local highway funding will be hampered without that steady stream of dimes and quarters.
The Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway has paid for itself through those tolls. Throughout its 28-year history, all maintenance for the road has been covered by toll funds.
That revenue vanishes with the tolls. Without it, the expressway now will compete with every road in the state and region for federal and state highway money.
The pot is dwindling. The state Department of Transportation's Suffolk District - which consists of nine counties, 150 miles of interstate roads and 748 miles of primary state roads - received $16,840,000 in primary funds in 1994-95. Next year, the region is expected to receive $15,059,000 million.
National Highway System funding for 1994-95 was $237 million, money that every road in the state competed for.
In December 1967, the month the toll road opened, 546,765 vehicles per month used it, for a net profit of $87,635. Compare those numbers to March's statistics - 5,238,280 vehicles and $965,276 in revenue - and you can see how much those quarters and dimes added up.
But the expressway is in good physical shape. The roughly $7 million a year the tolls generated has been spent to improve the road. Interchanges have been improved - sometimes twice - since the road was built.
There are some concerns that the Rosemont and Witch Duck Road interchanges are in need of renovations. For example, the city of Virginia Beach would like to improve the Witch Duck Road southbound interchange, which now requires vehicles to make a left turn on Witch Duck Road across oncoming traffic.
But because the area around the interchange is developed, any improvements would inconvenience commuters and be expensive.
No one asked the Hampton Roads Planning Commission to study potential traffic problems before the politicians pulled the plug on the tolls, Farmer said Friday.
But he had a word of advice, despite the new fiscal restraints.
``All we can recommend now,'' Farmer said, ``is that somebody get busy on the off-ramps.'' by CNB