Ridiculous Proposed Toll for I-95 in NC

[mtndigs]

North Carolina has just gotten the go-ahead to put toll booths on I-95 to help pay for our road system. That is all well-and-good except that they plan to have six booths charging $3.00 each !!!! :evil: That would make a grand total of $18 just to pass through our fair state. I can understand $.50 per booth or even up to $1 per booth. But $3.00 per booth is HIGHWAY ROBBERY !! :evil: :evil: Who can we contact to reverse the decision to allow toll-booths or to at least limit the amount charged per mile of use?

[Lakota]

The rule was, if the Interstate was built with Fed money, the State could not charge tolls. Of course the Feds givith & the Feds takith away. I would assume then, the people to contact would be your Congressmen.
Understand though, some States, such as NH & ME I-95 is just a "designation". These roads were built with private & State funds &, supposadly, their funding for upkeep & improvement still comes solely from tolls.

[James Anthony Green]

I've heard about that plan to put toll booths on I-95 during its 182-mile stretch in North Carolina. Just for the record, it would only be a problem for us (a.k.a. my family) if they intended to do the same thing on I-85 in North Carolina.

[lou]

I am for the tolls on I-95 (not 18 dollars) in North Carolina simply because the state should not use the DOT money to fund a highway thats mostly used by out of state travelers where many other projects statewide are in desperate need. Without the tolls on I-95, it will take 30 years to receive funding to rehab the 182 mile interstate to 4 lanes each way. North Carolina has so many transportation projects statewide, the DOT feels that they want to fund transportation projects for the residents of North Carolina and not for out of state travelers. 18 dollars to travel the 182 mile journey, i agree its high but you have to take into consideration that its 182 miles long and they are adding not 1 but 2 LANES! Most bridges have to be rebuilt, maybe even eminent domain. In addition, some ramps were built to have cross traffic by the stop sign where other ramps were built accordingly to interstate standards like near the VA line and near the SC line. I-85 went through the same situation but is mostly used by North Carolina residents (you get your SC, GA plates but not as many). I-85 serves all of North Carolinas major cities while I-95 dosent serve any metropolitian area (Fayetteville does not count). I-95 in the center part of the corridor was built in the 1960's with the 60s version of the interstate system. While in the northern and southern ends of I-95 in NC are built to more modern standards with a wider median. The NJ turnpike is 112 miles long that charges a 6-7 dollar toll to use the entire length of the highway but that was built in 1949-1951 where back then, a loaf of bread was a few pennies, if not a PENNY. I personally think what the DOT should do (which will become the NC turnpilke authority) the following:

1. Toll booths should be at these locations. (VA state line, Benson near I-40, SC line). Toll boths should not be built at the North/South bound lanes together but apart from each other. The tolls charged should be determined by truck, HOV vehicle, RV, Class D car, Motorcycles, etc.
2. Vehicles using the roadway with high occupancy and EZ-Pass tags should be given a discount.
3. Not a big fan of the Chesapeake House in MD but build 2 or 3 of them along the I-95 corridor on the RIGHT side of the road, not the left like Maryland/Delaware does.
4. I-95 should have seperate lane use, such as car and truck lanes.
5. There was talk of local residents not paying tolls for local trips which I disagree. You use the road, you pay for the road like everyone else does. Or take US 301 if you dont like it.
6. The toll booths lanes should be seperated by HOV use, EZ-Pass(high speed lanes like on Del Route 1), Truck Use and the MISC toll booth like the old fashion way except there is no person at the toll booth. Instead you drive through the toll lane where your license plate is photographed and a bill is sent by mail.
7. Beautification along the corridor, unlike the NJ turnpike, it looks ugly
8. Build toll booths at every exit. LEFT lane EZ-Pass; RIGHT lane, a transponder at the top of the toll booth that takes a picture of your license plate and sends you a bill. This would save money of not putting people at the booths or buckets to throw money as well as toll evaders using US 301.
9. The DOT and NC Turnpike Authority should look into ways of avoiding toll evaders using the parallell US 301 corridor.
10. The road should be built 14 foot lanes with 16 foot shoulders on the left and right side with rumble strips and reflectors along the roadway. Trees and other landscaping should be used to seperate each roadway instead of using concrete only.
11. No ticket system should be used like the Turnpike does.
12. Finally, when a car is not using EZ-Pass and must use the MISC toll lane, from the beginning point of passing through the toll booth to the ending point of using the toll both should determine the toll cost.

If 95 is gonna be 18 dollars, they might as well design the road safe as possible, provide roadside assistance, traveler assistance, rest stops and benefits of using the roadway such as gas/restaurant amenties along the highway.

[Boston boy]

I would strongly question a proposed 18 dollar toll figure through North Carolina. I-95 in NC is something like 174 miles in length. That's over 10 cents a mile. Even Massachusetts and New York aren't anywhere near that for tolls.

[lou]

-------What the state of NC is proposing is all in the air, things can change. This is all preliminary. Everyone on the post can agree that I-95 needs to be improved on many stretches along the East Coast. North Carolina is taking the biggest step out of any other southern state to make some big changes. The gas tax is high enough in NC so the next resort is tolling the 182 mile route through NC. 18 dollars is too much and i do not know honestly what the toll should be. The US population is growing, people are mobile more than ever and the troubling airline industry is prompting more people to drive to places rather than flying. I-95 is mostly used by out of state drivers(trucks are the biggest contributor for the early construction on I-95 a lot sooner before class D cars). This is an unofficial record but i believe its 20% trucks use I-95 which sometimes, it can reach up to 25-30%!
--------Not just I-95 is having this problem but so is I-81. Virginia is looking to add tolls to the overburdened I-81 because of the heavy truck traffic which I-81 is 325 miles long. However, the tolls would only affect trucks. I disagree with this because anybody of any vehicle that uses a road should pay the toll although trucks should pay more because of additional axles and wear & tear they contribute to the roadway. The state of virginia is also up in the air with the proposed toll amounts. According to teh Winchester Star, one politician wants to propose the truck toll between 55 to 68 dollars to travel I-81 in VA. Also in the proposal, the class D vehicle toll would be about 16 dollars which is 2 dollars less and 133 miles LESS than the I-95 18 dollar toll and 182 mile mainline in NC. *Note, the state of NC has not specify a toll for trucks yet (as of 11/10/03--as far as i know at this time)
--------- All state goverments between Massachusetts to Florida along I-95 should declare I-95 an executive order to find solutions to rehab the highway so it can handle the constant growth of vehicular traffic. The state of New Jersey as early as the mid 1940s already saw the thru traffic was already bottlenecking on primary intrastate routes such as US 1 and US 130 through the state. This is why the NJ turnpike was built to handle the out of state thru traffic. This has lead to the broader state-to-state high speed route expansion, that being I-95, built from ME to FL providing the continious high speed travel with no traffic lights, entrance/exit ramps and seperate grade crossings(I know I-95 is from Exit 6 and north on the Turnpike). The bottom line is that we need solutions to I-95 because if something isnt done, it will one day be a bottleneck with mixed traffic and vehicles from Boston to Miami.

[I-95]

The tolls need to be built. One most of the people who uses it are from out of state and they will use it if they like it or not. Two if there were tolls it would help with other saftey concerns, sleeping, speeding, drugs, etc. I-95 is a old road and NC has paid for it with over 75% of it out its own pocket not the Feds. They only give a small %. Tractor Trailers or anyone doing commerical work should have to pay the heavyest bourdon. Most of the accidents on 95 are there cause. They have destoried countless numbers of our bridges, saftey rails, and other objects. Money that the tax payers of NC have to pay for, not the rest of the country. I think there needs to be a bill pasted for I-95 tolls and admenents A. like for CDL .23$ per 10 lbs of the load, and they driver and the company is responsible for this toll fee. B. Out-of-state license plates pay $3.00 per toll and in-state license plates pay $1.50 per toll. One thing the NC goverment needs to think on is that they will use and keep on using it to go to Florida and it will not hurt any business along I-95. 95 is packed out and there are alot of safety concerns, and NC Highway Patrol needs to constantly patrol this road.

[Lakota]

Well I-95 guest: I wish I had time to really respond to you. I'm headed out for a week & in kind of a hurry. However I do look forward to checking this site when I return. I'm sure you are going to get some very interesting remarks. Hope you are wearing your helmet.

[lou]

As much as out of state travelers(let alone 18 wheelers) tear up I-95 and should pay for the road more than anything, charging a different toll between in-state and out-of-state plates is wrong and also anybody who uses the road, pays the same class toll with the vehicle they are driving. I disagree that the NC state troopers are not doing enough, there sure as hell patrolling I-95 more efficently than other NC highways. There rest stops are much safer than other states, SC being the worst. I-95 needs a facelift, it has to be brought up to demand for this ever-growing congestion. What the NCDOT " SHOULD " do is dualize the highway with truck and car lanes instead of pave the whole 182 miles as a 8 lane highway, which i believe is going to cause more high-speed collisions and lane jumping. I will say this to my grave that if the 182 mile I-95 in the Tar Heel State must be tolled without no other viable alternative, it is coming out of the pocket of drivers who use the road and absolutely NOT even take one red cent away from the TIP fund (Transportation Improvement Plan) BECAUSE North Carolina HAS A TON OF projects that are in desperate need of construction to stablize the traffic & congestion, keep in mind that the TIP fund is running out of money. It is one thing if they are resurfacing the roadway to its original alignment, adding guardrails, improve signing, etc.. doing minor projects to maintain the safety of the existing highway but if they are going to ADD LANES and do a major facelift, no more money should be given to I-95 from the TIP fund and all projects, small or big, SHOULD be ALL financed by tolls where I-95 is authorized by the NC turnpike authority.

[wandrr79]

Tolls on any setion of I-95, are totally ridiculous. The Interstate Highway System was created to move traffic quickly and easily. Putting barriers in this system goes against the intended purpose of the road.