Daily Press

Address toll relief

Action needed to mitigate cost of tunnel tolls on Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads motorists who frequent the Downtown and Midtown tunnels no doubt noticed the sharp increase in the cost of using those arteries since the start of the new year. Once again, the commonweal­th’s lousy deal is hitting local drivers in their bank accounts.

Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas has listed toll relief as a top priority this session, and she may have an ally in Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who signaled his willingnes­s to discuss the issue. The region can hope those talks bear fruit and help alleviate this odious burden.

In December, Elizabeth River Crossings, which operates the tunnels, announced higher-than-expected increases in the Downtown and Midtown tunnel tolls, with the company citing inflation and lost revenue during the pandemic as reasons for the larger price hike.

An agreement between the company and the Virginia Department of Transporta­tion allows increases of “3.5% per year or at the previous year’s consumer price index rate, whichever is greater.” But ERC deferred a scheduled hike in 2021, as the pandemic was still raging, and spread it out between the years 2022-2024.

As happens every year, the increased costs returned the region’s attention to the 2011 public-private partnershi­p between ERC and the administra­tion of Gov. Bob McDonnell, under which ERC handled constructi­on of the $2.16 billion project in exchange for 58 years of tolling authority.

It should be noted here that ERC didn’t take on the full cost of constructi­on when it began in 2012, though it does enjoy tolling authority through 2070. Virginia taxpayers paid $580 million and the federal government loaned the commonweal­th $440 million to do the work.

McDonnell has defended the deal as the best option available at the time. He had yet to coax the General Assembly into passing a comprehens­ive transporta­tion bill that would dramatical­ly change how Virginia would fund and prioritize needed road and bridge projects; that would come two years later. However, there was plenty of indication that increased tolls on those tunnels would adversely affect Portsmouth and, specifical­ly, drivers who live in Norfolk and work in Portsmouth, or vice versa. It effectivel­y cleaved southern Hampton Roads in half, and the numbers bear that out.

Kenny Wright, then mayor, warned state officials, “You’re going to create an island here in Portsmouth.” Sure enough, the city has lost, and continues to lose, millions in economic activity annually as a result of the tolls.

ERC did itself no favors years ago when some commuters faced five-figure bills because they didn’t have E-ZPass transponde­rs, which meant they were paying higher rates to cross the river. Their debt snowballed; one woman owed $15,000 for a job that paid $11,000 annually.

ERC, bowing to pressure from thenGov. Terry McAuliffe, settled those bills, revamped its billing process and contribute­d toward a toll relief fund for low-income commuters. The maximum income threshold has increased from $30,000 to $65,000, which is helping offset that burdensome cost.

But that’s also like putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. The escalating cost of the tolls, year after year, continues to drag down Portsmouth and hamper economic activity throughout the region.

This might not be a huge issue were it not Hampton Roads, where crossing the water is commonplac­e and where a substantia­l number of people — about 41% — live and work in different cities. This is an interconne­cted region and walling one city off with tolls affects its neighbors and the greater region.

Little wonder, then, that Lucas made it a sticking point when discussing the proposed arena project in Northern Virginia, saying she wouldn’t address that developmen­t without progress on toll relief. Youngkin, to his credit, told WAVY TV that he was open to talk about how to help local motorists.

Getting out of the deal is unlikely, but this is an opportunit­y for state officials to reduce the harm inflicted on our region by helping those paying the cost and boosting Portsmouth’s future prospects in the process.