The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

December 11, 2008

We’re not alone in paying tolls to travel Interstates

By Mannix Porterfield

West Virginia is not alone when it comes to shelling out tolls to ride parts of Interstate highways.

Often, commuters in this region complain about the fare imposed on the West Virginia Turnpike, saying it is part of the Interstate system and should be free of any such tolls.

But turnpike manager Greg Barr’s research showed at least 15 other states collect a toll on portions of Interstate roadway, including Ohio and Pennsylvania, and another 20 get money in tollbooths along non-Interstate roads.

Another toll setup is in the offing in North Carolina.

“Some states are adding sections of Interstates, putting in high occupancy travel lanes, called ‘hot lanes’ on existing Interstates,” Barr said in Thursday’s meeting of the West Virginia Parkways Authority.

“That gives people a choice. They can pay a toll and get where they want to go faster, or stay in backed-up traffic on regular lanes at various times of the day.”

All things considered, Barr said, “There are no free roads. They’ve got to be paid for one way or another. Gas taxes have funded roads since the Eisenhower days.”

In Parkways business, Barr criticized a legislative auditor’s findings that called for fewer tourist information centers than the five now functioning on the turnpike for saying their operation amounted to misuse of toll money.

Put simply, there is no violation in its pact with the Federal Highway Administration, and secondly, the centers provide another opportunity to market home-grown, quality products in lieu of cheap, foreign imports, while helping travelers learn about tourist attractions in West Virginia, he said.

Board members agreed that the authority needs to prepare a report of its own to respond to the audit, unwrapped Tuesday at a joint meeting of the Committees on Government Operations and Government Organization.

In other matters, the authority:

-- Approved the purchase of a Ford Crown Victoria police interceptor for $22,772 and three Ford Explorers for $66,019, all from Stephens Auto in Danville, and four Chevrolet Impalas for $78,403.80 from Glen Dale Motors.

-- Decided to look further into the market value of some Turnpike property behind Tamarack, and the prospects of merging three maintenance buildings into one facility and selling the other two tracts of land.

-- Learned that a new water line for the Bluestone travel plaza should be completed by West Virginia American Water by the end of the month.

-- Agreed to look at a proposal by Maple Coal Co. to install a 12-inch drainage line near Milepost 66 to carry selenium into a larger creek with the approval of the Department of Environmental Protection.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com

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