Monday, April 10, 2006
Editorial: I-81 study railroads the case for tolls
VDOT gave select politicians what they wanted, a study that favors tolling I-81. Now the people can say that is not what they want.
From the RoundTable blog
Read the latest entries
The Virginia Department of Transportation will hold public hearings this week on improvements along the Interstate 81 corridor. Transportation officials hope the outcome will allow them to narrow the options and turn Western Virginia's main freeway into a toll road.
The public should stop them. VDOT has failed to demonstrate that the best way to improve safety and alleviate truck-heavy congestion is to turn I-81 over to a private company.
Toll roads have their place and sometimes are the only way to build spurs into new areas. But politicians who search for the cheapest rather than the best solution shouldn't be allowed to turn over this major artery of travel and commerce to a private company to exact tolls.
Unless the pubic demands better from its political leaders, they will allow such tunnel vision to darken the corridor's potential.
From the outset, VDOT narrowed its focus because politicians were lured by STAR Solutions' proposal to kick in the cash to build more lanes in exchange for a steady stream of tolls. Although the deal remains under negotiation, Virginia has petitioned the federal government to lift restrictions that ban tolls. Further evidence that this is the course politicians favor is found in VDOT's purposeful neglect to fully explore diverting freight off highways and onto railways.
A thorough analysis would recognize Virginia's and the nation's transportation and energy futures depend on developing intermodal transportation networks. The public expected the draft Environmental Impact Statement to encompass all options before discarding any, such as no-build, that clearly would not alleviate congestion or make the road any safer.
Instead, VDOT homed in on a predetermined outcome, hurriedly dismissed the role of shifting freight onto rail and restricted its review to Norfolk Southern's lines within Virginia's borders.
In doing so, it neglected the broader array of options necessary to build intermodal transportation systems to support current and future needs.
Thus the agency sentenced I-81 drivers to pay to use the same fuel-gobbling, truck-laden corridor, only spread out over more lanes, which in turn will mar the famously scenic views.
Worse, if VDOT gains permission to pursue its projected course, drivers could opt to use parallel roads, such as U.S. Route 11. The study estimates 50 percent of drivers might avoid tolls this way, but then it dismisses as trivial the significant safety and congestion consequences for those secondary routes.
A large public turnout can divert VDOT from its preferred path and onto one that better incorporates the state's comprehensive transportation needs. Too much is at stake to sit this out.
The first hearing is 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Roanoke Wyndham Hotel. Those unable to attend can still weigh in by e-mailing comments to 81info@VDOT.Virginia.gov.
