Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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November 27, 2008

Manchin administration on W.Va. Turnpike: Toll hike will be essential

By MANNIX PORTERFIELD

BECKLEY — Higher tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike are inevitable from the Manchin administration’s vantage point, but so far, no move is afoot to put the question before the governing board of the Princeton-to-Charleston highway.

In its last meeting this month, the board was advised by Chairman Joe Martin, who represents Gov. Joe Manchin, that growing financial pressure is making a toll adjustment necessary.

“At some point, in the near future, a toll increase will be necessary,” Martin said. Manchin’s communications director, Lara Ramsburg, said Wednesday the administration is still eyeing ways to deal with Tamarack, the artisans showplace near the Beckley exit, in line with the governor’s plan to telescope the West Virginia Parkways Authority’s mission into a single objective — take care of the road.

Martin had pointed to the growing dollars in deferred maintenance, and road improvements that are on the shelf simply because there is no money to pay for them.

“While we all need to understand the situation with the Turnpike, there’s not a plan before anybody right now to vote on,” Ramsburg said.

Although Manchin is the official chairman of the authority, any plan to hike the fare on the 88-mile toll road would come from the authority, she said.

“He certainly would have an opinion, but at this point, nothing has been given to him in any way to say this is what needs to be proposed,” Ramsburg said.

“We know they’re looking closely at it. We still need to determine the future of things like Tamarack.”

Just this week, Turnpike Manager Greg Barr pointed out that transactions at the tollbooths have maintained a steady 5 percent decline for the past year.

“Everybody needs to understand the financial situation of the Turnpike in terms of deferred maintenance and the fact that safety needs to be the No. 1 goal,” Ramsburg said.

“Until there is an actual proposal, it’s premature to say exactly when.”

Tolls went up two years ago in a sudden and unannounced move by the authority, triggering howls of protest across southern West Virginia.

A class action lawsuit by trucking outfits led a circuit judge in Kanawha County to restore the tolls to the 1981 level, the last year of an increase.

By legislative act, any proposed toll increase must be put before a series of public hearings in counties that touch the road — Raleigh, Fayette, Mercer and Kanawha.

An independent study performed by Public Resources Advisory Group called for a 40 percent boost this year, and a similar increase in 2013, if the authority hopes to avoid deferring some $300 million in maintenance by 2016.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com

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