Hampton Roads lawmakers oppose tolls on 2 bridge-tunnels

RICHMOND

Most Hampton Roads lawmakers didn't take too kindly to the proposal from a Northern Virginia colleague to put tolls on two Hampton Roads bridge-tunnels.

Del. Glenn Oder, R-Newport News, vice chairman of the House transportation panel, said he warned Del. Joe May, R-Leesburg, that he would find little support for the idea in Hampton Roads. Now he is circulating a letter among the local delegation urging opposition to it.

But May, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, is not backing down. He says the 52-year-old Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel is at risk of a catastrophic failure and needs a reliable funding stream.

"This is not the way to pay for transportation improvements in Hampton Roads," Oder said Thursday. He said any plan for tolls must be part of a comprehensive transportation package that includes adding more capacity to the region's traffic-choked water crossings. Such a package might include private-sector investment, he added, and imposing tolls now might undermine that prospect.

Most other local lawmakers interviewed Thursday agreed with Oder.

May's plan is "too ambiguous," said Del. Paula Miller, D-Norfolk. "People want to see exactly what their dollars are going to buy. This bill doesn't even hint at that."

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/01/hampton-roads-lawmakers-oppose-tolls-2-bridgetunnels

Think they're gonna improve things by cutting or refusing to allow new taxes. He obviously doesn't have to negotiate that tunnel very often.

next thing you know they'll want to bring the ferries back to get across Hampton Roads.

They are against the government but want those government freebies.

but may be discussed again next year

Since conservatives are so into the private sector, why not sell these bridges and tunnel to some private entity. The state can cut the budget and the private sector can charge market based fees to keep them up. Time for conservatives to stick to their philosophy.

...they'll sell them to some too big to fail outfit; give them a Laizze-Faire free kitchen pass. They'll promptly set about gouging everyone at the toll booth; figure out how to sell some types of sub-par stock options on our bridges and tunnels; give their CEO's million dollar bonus'; then go broke, prompting the ppl of VA to have to bail them out (because conservatives don't believe in welfare unless, of course, it's corporate welfare). But it doesn't matter because the lord is coming soon and they won't need these roads.