The Virginian-Pilot 
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, June 2, 1995                   TAG: 9506020534
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY SHAWN M. TERRY, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   48 lines

TOLL ``COLLECTORS' '' PITCHES COME UP SHORT MANY PRIME EXPRESSWAY COLLECTIBLES WILL BE SAVED WHILE OTHERS WILL FUNCTION ELSEWHERE.

Local residents hoping to salvage souvenirs from the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway tolls shouldn't get their hopes up: Much of the prime memorabilia has been spoken for already.

Several months ago, for example, Capt. R.F. Shaffer, operations manager of the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry in Surry, put in a request with the state Transportation Department to reuse two of the expressway toll booths.

``Our toll booths are 1940 vintage,'' Shaffer said. ``Instead of fabricating new ones, it'll save the state some money.''

One of the recycled booths will be used in Surry County. The other will be installed across the river in James City County. ``We will hire a contractor to pick up and install them,'' Shaffer said.

The rest of the booths, as well as the toll plaza canopy, will be sold for scrap.

The Route 44 tolls, which opened Dec. 1, 1967, became history shortly after midnight Thursday.

Those serious about claiming a piece of the past got their bids in early.

Bob Duzey, a general manager for the Spaghetti Warehouse in Norfolk, where old signs are a prominent part of the decor, was among many who submitted requests.

He has his eyes on a sign - ``Exact Change Cars Only 25(CT)'' - for the main dining room.

``We definitely have some wall space,'' Duzey said. ``We want it as a kind of a showpiece.''

Loran Walker, vice president of Central Atlantic Contractors, the company dismantling the tolls, said callers flooded the Transportation Department phone lines Thursday with requests for souvenirs.

But almost all of them will wind up disappointed.

Most of the old toll signs, said another Central Atlantic official, have already been lifted or spoken for by souvenir seekers, state delegates and toll collectors.

``A lot of the stuff will be taken down and hauled away,'' Walker said.

KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH NORFOLK EXPRESSWAY TOLL by CNB