$101M in free tolls are coming to Hampton Roads. Who will be able to benefit?

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — If you make less than $50,000 a year and live in one of five Hampton Roads cities, you could soon pay nothing each time you travel through either the Downtown or Midtown tunnels.

Monday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, (R-Va.) signed the state’s $279 billion two-year budget, which includes $101 million for toll relief at the Downtown and Midtown tunnels that cross under the Elizabeth River between Norfolk and Portsmouth.

Under the terms of the agreement lawmakers came to, those living in Portsmouth, Norfolk, Newport News, Hampton and Franklin will be eligible to have up to 14 free trips per week, forgiveness of individual toll debt and the ability to receive a no-cost E-Zpass transponder.

In addition, the commissioner of Virginia Department of Transportation is directed to study the cost and feasibility of how to make an HOV toll-free option available in the future.

State Sen. Louise Lucas, (D-Portsmouth), who serves as the chair of the Senate Finance & Appropriations committee, championed the relief.

“As promised I have delivered for this area of the state the multifaceted approach to toll relief,” Lucas said. “This will continue to be my top priority over my entire four-year term.”

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Since 2014, Elizabeth River Crossings, a privately-owned company, has set tolls on both the Downtown and Midtown tunnels in Portsmouth in order to pay for the addition of a new Midtown tunnel tube and construction of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Expressway.

ERC’s contract with the state gives them the ability to access tolls until 2070, with the ability to raise the rates each year.

ERC provides between $3.3 million to $3.5 million annually to pay for the toll relief that provides for 50% off tolls for those living in Hampton Roads making less than $65,000. However, Lucas wants them on gone.

“That’s my ultimate goal, to eliminate them entirely,” Lucas said.

However that cost is currently estimated at roughly $2 billion.

“I think it’s really a good package of support,” Youngkin said of the efforts made Tuesday afternoon.

The relief was specifically set aside for cities in Hampton Roads with “high fiscal stress.” Neither Youngkin nor Lucas had much of an explanation as to why drivers on the Peninsula and Western Tidewater were included and drivers in cities like Chesapeake and Suffolk were not.

“The specific target was to really focus on those folks who live in those areas that use the tunnels predominately and particularly it started with an understanding that the folks in Portsmouth and Norfolk are in the primary users of the tunnels,” Youngkin said. “This is were the negotiation landed.”

The VDOT commissioner still must come up with the exact process to roll out the new relief.

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