Tolls ahead?

User fees could pave the way for two long-delayed highway projects in the Triangle

Toll roads seemed obsolete across most of the United States 50 years ago, after Congress began collecting a federal gas tax to pay for a modern network of interstate highways.

The gas tax is losing its purchasing power today as transportation needs accelerate across the nation. In Washington and most state capitals, the idea of raising the gas tax is a political nonstarter.

Dozens of states have turned to tolls as a more palatable source -- politicians like to call them "user fees" -- for money to build bridges, tunnels, urban freeways and more of those interstate highways.

Are toll roads a good idea for North Carolina?

Triangle motorists will likely be the first to learn the answer. Two local projects are at the front of a line of six toll candidates, worth an estimated $2.22 billion to $3.88 billion, across the state. The Triangle projects are:

* The Triangle Parkway, a four-mile extension of N.C. 147 through Research Triangle Park. The parkway, estimated to cost between $94 million and $252 million, was part of the early plans for RTP. But it never rated high enough among road needs to win state and federal construction money.

* The western and southern sections of Interstate 540 in Wake County. The Western Wake Freeway would extend 12.4 miles from Morrisville to Holly Springs and cost an estimated $378 million to $680 million. The Southern Wake Freeway would run 16.5 miles from Holly Springs to Interstate 40 in Garner, with an estimated cost of $350 million.

The N.C. Turnpike Authority, the agency in charge of toll roads, says toll financing would make it possible to open the Triangle freeways 10 to 15 years sooner than the state's most optimistic timetables using traditional tax funding. With toll financing, the Triangle Parkway and Western Wake Freeway could open in 2011, with the Southern Wake Freeway following in 2016.

Q. Why do we need toll roads?

A. Drivers pay a federal tax of 18.4 cents and a state tax of 29.9 cents on each gallon of gas. Gas tax revenue provides about two-thirds of the nation's road-building money. Even with a recent 2.8-cent increase in the state tax, these revenues have not kept pace with transportation costs.

Traffic volumes are increasing about 40 percent faster than the population. In the Triangle, relentless growth means more cars and trucks on our roads every year. Improved fuel economy means less gas sold and less tax money collected for every mile of pavement wear-and-tear.

"As people drive more miles using less gas, they're putting more demand on the system but paying less in taxes to take care of it than they did 20 or 30 years ago," said Edison H. Johnson Jr., who heads Wake County's transportation planning agency.

Road-building costs are rising faster than inflation. The tab for paving one lane of asphalt highway in North Carolina increased from $170,000 per mile in 2002 to $225,000 last year, or 32 percent.

Q. What is the shortfall in North Carolina?

A. The state Board of Transportation predicts that North Carolina will have only $55.5 billion to pay for $84.6 billion in transportation needs over the next 25 years, a gap of nearly $30 billion.

Triangle planners pegged the local shortfall at $8 billion a couple of years ago. That was before the state began slowing the flow of transportation dollars to the region and delaying construction of the Western Wake Freeway and other big projects.

Q. Who decides which roads will have tolls?

A. The N.C. Turnpike Authority, created by the General Assembly in 2002, and its nine-member board will decide. The authority considers only toll projects recommended by local elected officials or planning boards.