Va. Wants Federal Approval to Toll I-95 Near N.C. Border
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has asked federal officials to allow tolls on Interstate 95 near the North Carolina border to pay for repairs he said are needed on the interstate, the Associated Press reported.
American Trucking Associations and the Virginia Trucking Association both strongly oppose the proposal and will be taking appropriate steps to address it, ATA said Tuesday.
The tolls of $1 or $2 for each axle would generate $30 million to $60 million annually, McDonnell wrote in a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, AP reported. McDonnell was elected last November.
Virginia would be the only state south of Maryland to charge tolls I-95, the main north-south corridor that runs from Maine to Florida.
McDonnell said the road sees more accidents than almost any other major highway or road in the state, AP reported.
“`Interstate Route 95 is one of the nation's largest and most important transportation corridors, linking commercial and economic centers and tourist destinations up and down the East Coast,'” he wrote in the letter, which was dated April 30 but released Monday.
`Currently, however, significant portions of [I-95] have deficient pavements and structures,” the letter said.
From the North Carolina border to Fredericksburg, Va., more than $600 million in needed safety improvements have been identified, Virginia Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton told AP in an interview.
