N.C. Toll Plazas Could Be Down Road For I-95 Travelers

WRAL-TV - (Raleigh, NC) ^

[NCjim]

State transportation officials said they need to start charging drivers who use Interstate 95, one of the most heavily traveled interstates on the East Coast.

Officials want to install six toll plazas along the interstate in North Carolina. Officials propose to charge $3 at each plaza, which means it could cost $18 to travel in North Carolina on I-95 from the Virginia border to South Carolina.

[aomagrat]

Bypass I-95 in NC by taking I-85/I-77.

[oceanview]

I see more and more people from NY and NJ moving to NC. so NC is becoming more like NY and NJ every day.

[NautiNurse]

$18 each way--Ouch!--the only ones who can afford that on a regular basis are the drug runners.

[oceanview]

they should do what florida did with the turnpike. build a new toll road right next to I95 and let people choose to use it (no trucks allowed) and pay for the privilege. i always use the florida turnpike instead of 95 in that section.

[dwilli]

I always thought that the only way tolls could be applied
on the interstate system was if an already completed
highway was incorporated into the interstate. That was the reason the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike was allowed to toll for several years and the bridges in NYC were made toll covered.

[oceanview]

I believe Clinton signed a law allowing tolls on all interstates.

[ml/nj]

I'm confused.

I thought the reason there were no tolls was because these roads were built with Interstate Highway funds.

Let the North Carolinians charge people who use 301 or 17!

ML/NJ

[Shanty Shaker]

Sok with me as long as they don't take federal money to maintain the road and they buy the road from the federal goverment too.

[SamAdams76]

Unfortunately, there will soon be no toll-free alternatives. We can thank the "smartpass" technology that is now in place throughout the Northeast - drivers put transponders on their cars that allow them to zip through tollbooths, receiving monthly bills on their road usage as an alternative to paying cash at the tollbooth.

As with all things taxed, it will be done incrementally. One small step at a time. Stretchs of I-95 followed by stretches of I-81 and I-77. Eventually, most of us will wake up to the fact that wherever we go, we are being nickel and dimed tollwise. But by then, it will be too late to do anything about it. Once the government imposes a tax, it is almost never rolled back.

[republicangel]

since we voted the big road tax down here in virginia, they have been mentioning tolls here, too on I-95

[Wingrider]

If they get away with this EVERY interstate in the country will become a tollroad!

[caltrop]

Maryland and Delaware already collect tolls on I-95.

[billbears]

I see more and more people from NY and NJ moving to NC

We called them halfbacks up in the mountains. They've moved to Florida a few years ago and only got halfway back

[FReepaholic]

>>...The secretary said it is time to get people who drive the interstate to pay the way....<<

Er, Mr. Secretary, they already do. It's called TAXES!

[billbears]

Now that's not a half bad idea. Was never the intent of the national government to go building roads at the level that has been done. But along with that toll and buying back of the road, taxes should be cut as there is no need for road funds.

[peteram]

The folks living along US 301 ought to fight this. Once the tolls go in, their traffic is going to increase dramatically.

[Guillermo]

Trucks are allowed on the Fla Turnpike (aka Ronald Reagan Parkway).

[NCjim]

You got that right. I still have relatives in Asheville and they say the New Yorkers who moved to Florida are now moving to Western North Carolina. Just what we needed - more flat-landers! :-(

[peteram]

Once the government imposes a tax, it is almost never rolled back.

How true! Years ago the Florida turnpike was paid off and they were considering lifting the tolls. Then someone in Tallahassee thought that since the thing was such a money-maker, why not keep the tolls and apply the revenue to other highways in the state. So they did.