I-540 toll plan goes to mayors

Legislators defer to county agency

State legislators have agreed that motorists can be asked to pay tolls on a short stretch of Interstate 540 -- already paid for with tax dollars -- that is scheduled to open in western Wake County next year. But that's only if Wake mayors go along with the idea.

Shortly before adjourning last week, the General Assembly made the I-540 section the sole exception to a state law banning tollbooths on existing roads. The measure gave veto power to local officials who make up the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, Wake's transportation planning agency.

Two toll expressways proposed separately in western Wake would be linked by a two-mile stretch of I-540 now under construction between N.C. 54 and N.C. 55. A financial study for the N.C. Turnpike Authority, charged with building toll roads and bridges across the state, recommends merging the two as a single $800 million project that would be nourished with extra toll collections from the I-540 section.

"This little section of I-540 brings $125 million to the table that we would not otherwise have," David W. Joyner, the turnpike agency director, said Tuesday. "Not only does it keep the toll rates down, but it really could be the difference between making the project work or not."

Delays in state funding prompted Wake mayors last year to consider toll financing for the Western Wake Freeway, 12 miles from Research Triangle Park to Holly Springs. Joyner said that toll funding could get the freeway built as soon as 2011, a year before tax-funded construction is scheduled to begin.

Several mayors said Tuesday that they want answers to pressing questions before they decide whether to OK toll collections on the I-540 section linking the Western Wake Freeway and the proposed four-mile Triangle Parkway through RTP. Among them:

* How to fill a projected $215 million gap between toll revenues and the cost of building and maintaining the toll project. With Triangle commuters expected to pay most of the cost at the tollbooth, local leaders are looking to DOT or the General Assembly to come up with the rest.

* How to guarantee that tollbooths will be removed once the bonds that financed the project are paid off. "We need that absolutely in writing ... that those tolls will be lifted," said Jan Faulkner, Morrisville's mayor. "That's huge."

CAMPO's vice chairman, Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker, said the state will need to finish widening N.C. 55 in western Wake to make it a viable alternative route for commuters who don't want to pay a projected $2 toll for the Triangle Parkway and Western Wake Freeway.

Apex Mayor Keith Weatherly said that a briefing from turnpike officials last week left him with a raft of new concerns. He wanted to know more about project finances, long-term maintenance costs and major details including the number of traffic lanes and the locations of interchanges.

"I would like to get the answers to those issues we continue to address before we are asked to make a final vote on it," Weatherly said. CAMPO and turnpike officials have planned discussion on the western Wake projects at an Aug. 16 meeting.

Toll revenues

The turnpike authority is considering six proposed bridge and expressway projects to be funded mostly with toll revenues. The two Wake projects are likely to be built first because most of the design, planning and land acquisition has been completed. The first financial studies for two Piedmont projects -- the Gaston East-West Connector and the Monroe Connector -- are expected later this month.

Rep. Russell Capps, who represents western Wake in the state House, said the turnpike legislation would ease the area's clogged commuter roads.

"Generally, I don't support toll roads, but because we have a shortage of road funds and a real need, I'm willing to experiment with this," Capps said.

Other parts of the state could benefit from a similar funding option, said Sen. Clark Jenkins of Tarboro, who sponsored the I-540 measure. Charlotte could upgrade its congested outer beltway by adding express lanes with tollbooths, and I-95 in Eastern North Carolina could be expanded in a similar way, he said.

State Sen. Neal Hunt of Raleigh said he agreed with considering tolls as an option to pay for badly needed road improvements. Although he acknowledged that collecting tolls on the existing strip of I-540 would boost the proposed turnpikes, he said it wasn't a good idea.

"If you start putting tolls wherever you want to improve the financial viability [of a nearby toll project], I don't think that's fair to taxpayers," Hunt said. "Because they've already paid for it once."

A "tremendous education process" will be needed to satisfy local concerns about the toll projects, said Robert D. Teer Jr. of Durham, one of the Triangle's two representatives on the turnpike board.

"It's all new ground for all of us," Teer said. "A lot of new things are happening, but I think we've got a pretty good path forward."