State to study Triad toll road
GREENSBORO - A state panel will examine whether it's feasible to build a toll road between Winston-Salem and the Piedmont Triad International Airport.
The N.C. Turnpike Authority, meeting in Greensboro on Wednesday, voted 6-1 to study a proposed airport connector that would run between a planned beltway in Winston-Salem and PTI. The four- or six-lane road would relieve congestion on Interstate 40.
The road still must undergo years of studies examining issues such as its route , environmental concerns, the amount of people who would use the road and whether tolls could adequately pay for the project.
The earliest the road could open is 2013 or 2014, said Lyndo Tippett, secretary of the N.C. Department of Transportation and chairman of the Turnpike Authority. Tolls to drive the entire length of the proposed 11-mile road would likely range between $2 and $3 if the road is built, he said.
The money raised at tolls would be used to repay the cost of building the road. Existing roads cannot be tolled, and toll roads must parallel a free route, according to state law.
I-40 would be parallel to the airport connector, giving drivers an option to paying a toll.
"The only one using this roadway is those who make a choice," said Brent McKinney, executive director for the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation.
McKinney said an early traffic study that did not include tolls determined about 50,000 vehicles would use an airport connector. The study said about 30,000 more vehicles would use the road if Sandy Ridge Road is extended.
McKinney said comparable roads cost between $165 million and $220 million to build.
Local officials attended Wednesday's meeting and asked that the authority study building the airport connector as a toll road. The Turnpike Authority's quick decision surprised some who spoke.
Several Turnpike Authority board members said local officials made a good case for the road. McKinney said the authority's quick decision "shows the strength for the project."
"They didn't need to ponder it," he said.
The Turnpike Authority met in Greensboro at the request of PART. Its board voted last year to ask the state to study a possible toll road in the region and said the airport connector would be a good candidate.
PART has spearheaded support for the road because it is not a top priority for any of the Triad's cities but is a "regionally significant project," said Sandy Carmany, PART's chairwoman and a Greensboro City Council member.
Carmany said it's unlikely the road will be built without tolls and that the Triad has no choice but to toll the road, since no other funding is available from the state.
"No one is jumping with joy at the prospect of paying tolls," she said.
Backers of the road said it is needed for economic development. With the construction of a Dell plant in Winston-Salem and a FedEx cargo hub at PTI, the road is needed to keep drawing companies to the Triad, they said.
"We don't want job possibilities going to our neighboring states," said Gayle N. Anderson, president and CEO of the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce.
State law allows the Turnpike Authority to study six roads for tolls and to build three. In February, the authority agreed to study four projects: the Cape Fear Skyway, Triangle Parkway, the Gaston East-West Connector and the Monroe Connector.
A bill working its way through the legislature would allow the Turnpike Authority to expand to nine the number of toll roads it can study and build.
Early discussions on the road drew concerns from people who live within a potential path of the road in Guilford County north of West Market Street and east of N.C. 68.
Contact Amy Dominello at 883-4422, Ext. 248, or adominello@news-record.com
Comments (5)
Toll roads are a BAD idea. Please take it from a Yankee who is quite familiar with the Northern "tax-you-to-death town", "toll-bridge city, and "toll-roadville", these government officials will tell you that they NEED the money to build the road----but, of course the tolls will only be "temporary" until the road is paid for. IT'S NEVER TEMPORARY. Where there's one toll-road, there will be more. Don't do it, North Carolina.
Posted on June 16, 2005 9:05 AM
From one of our business reporters, Dick Barron:
As a war-weary commuter, I find a toll road to be one of the best ideas I?ve heard in years. Many are the times I have nearly been run off the road by somebody obviously in a desperate hurry to make a flight.
In general, I think getting that extra level of traffic off I-40 could really ease congestion and help airport passengers to get there quicker.
Posted on June 16, 2005 11:29 AM
E-mailed to me by Peter J. Adams of Greensboro:
For what its worth, I am disturbed at the thought of N.C. considering toll roads. I am from NY and have traveled I-95 enough times to know that tolls never go away. All they do is add congestion and impede traffic. I would rather see a bond or raise taxes than to have a toll road. In my opinion this would also cause prospective employers not to consider this area for their business.
Posted on June 17, 2005 9:56 AM
E-mailed to me by Diane Godwin of Greensboro:
"I am originally from the state of Connecticut. The last visit I made I was shocked that all the toll roads were gone. My aunt said when the roads were paid for the state just kept collecting. It is a very expensive system because the collectors were getting high salaries and state retirement. The system was costing more to run than the amount of money they were collecting. The voters were fed up (or came to their senses) and voted in a Governor that ran on a ticket of getting rid of the toll roads and when elected he did as promised. I hope you will contact someone at The Hartford Courant newspaper in Hartford Conn. It will make a very informative article.
Once you let the government add a tax (a toll is nothing but a sneaky way to tax the user) they do not want to let go. The Federal Excise tax you pay every time you purchase tires for vehicles was imposed for World War II. It was never removed, we pay it today. We pay Federal tax, State tax, County tax and gasoline tax all to help pay for our roads. I think it is an insult to the tax payers to add a toll on top of that. Fed-Ex and Dell moved here knowing we are a small city and do not have all the infrastructure for them to operate. Why do we have to throw more money at them while our children attend school in trailers. (My children had gym in a 20 year old trailer, my son's 5th grade classroom trailer smelled like a barn with horses in it. I never saw a new one.)"
Diane also e-mailed me this after I asked her if it was OK that I post her comments on the blog:
"I feel almost all the articles in the News and Record have been in favor of the toll roads. Please go to New Jersey and see how they look and operate. Do a real article. They are ugly, have trash around them, filthy, (the state never keeps anything clean, just look at all the trash on the sides of the roads.) there are long slow lines to pay, the machines jam all the time holding up long lines of cars. The wealthy can afford to buy a monthly card, while everyone else is constantly scrambling for change and trying to figure out how to get around without using a toll road. The taxpayers should work to keep this archaic system out of North Carolina. I lived in Massachusetts and Connecticut where they had toll roads and never met a person there in favor of the toll road system."
Posted on June 20, 2005 3:53 PM
In response to what Diane had to say, I'd like to say two things:
1. The articles I've written have not taken a position on tolls, just tried to lay out the facts that the N.C. Turnpike Authority would be looking at building the airport connector as a toll road.
2. I'm a New York native, so I know a thing or two about expensive tolls and the traffic jams created by them. But I've also seen how EZPass can help, by reducing tolls AND letting you zoom through traffic. So I've got mixed feelings on it.
Any other thoughts on tolls out there?
Posted on June 20, 2005 3:53 PM