Posted on 08/01/2019 11:02:35 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Collecting tolls in Hampton Roads is a $180-million-a-year business — nearly twice the size of the region’s fishing and farming sectors combined — and is set to grow.
Much of that money goes to finance a private venture’s $1.5 billion expansion of the road and tunnel network connecting Norfolk and Portsmouth. A somewhat smaller amount goes to the public body that’s spending nearly $800 million to dig a parallel tunnel for the 55-year-old, 23-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.
A much smaller part goes to keep the Coleman Bridge over the York River in shape, and to pay off the cost of its 1996 widening.
And the tiniest chunk goes to steer traffic on and off of Norfolk’s new express lanes to ease congestion on Interstate 64.
That last piece of Hampton Roads’ toll business won’t stay that small, though. The Virginia Department of Transportation and the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization are mulling over how far to extend Norfolk’s High Occupancy Toll lanes.
And the Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission, which uses the region’s sales and fuel tax surcharges to speed up construction of local road projects, is looking to HOT lanes to pay for about 10% of its $3.5 billion commitment to fix the area’s worst bottleneck, the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel.
Getting HOT-ter
The commission’s latest six-year plan projects collections of about $3.5 million to $4.5 million a year, beginning in fiscal 2023. That revenue, along with the toll collections for years to come, will cover payments on some $345 million in IOUs for the project, commission forecasts show.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailypress.com ...
PING.
Who decided the Chesapeake Bay Bridge wasn't good enough and why? (Besides the tunnel diggers, I mean.)
ML/NJ
Tax, tax, tax.
There is a huge naval base in that region, so most river crossing go underwater, so as to avoid an enemy blocking the naval route out to the ocean by destroying a bridge.
That’s why there are two tunnels that are part of the CBB. I still don’t see the need for a new tunnel.
ML/NJ
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