CHARLESTON — Other regions of West Virginia some day might get a taste of what commuting has meant for more than half a century to southern motorists — paying a toll to get where you’re headed and back.
Gov. Joe Manchin is asking the Legislature to expand the West Virginia Parkways Authority and revive its bonding capacity with an eye toward installing tolls on roads that are both feasible and accommodate mostly out-of-staters. For those reasons, policy director Jim Pitrolo says, this likely would eliminate the possibility of tolls on the King Coal Highway and Coalfields Expressway.
As once-reliable revenue streams dwindle to a trickle and construction costs keep rising, the administration is looking at other means to find money to build and maintain roads. “There’s a lot of discussion about many different things,” Pitrolo told The Register-Herald in a Thursday interview.
“There’s no reason to re-invent the wheel. We have the authority. We have the staff. We just want to give them back the bonding authority that they had at one time.”
In the uproar over a short-lived toll increase imposed a few years ago on the West Virginia Turnpike — one that was erased by a circuit judge in a lawsuit by trucking firms — the Legislature decided to forbid any new bonds by the road’s board without its approval.
Ultimately, after a series of public hearings in the four counties touching the turnpike — Fayette, Raleigh, Kanawha and Mercer — the authority last summer imposed the first lasting fare increase since 1981.
The bill being prepared by the Manchin administration would eliminate the terms “economic development and tourism” and leave the board simply as “West Virginia Parkways Authority.”
Two new members would be added as the board eventually could be overseeing additional toll roads. “We’re asking for statewide bonding authority, which they had until the Legislature limited the bonding ability,” Pitrolo said. “Each project would have to stand on its own.”
Pitrolo emphasized the governor isn’t looking at either King Coal and Coalfields Expressway.
The response from the Parkways Authority about broadening its scope has been favorable, Pitrolo said. “I think they’re willing to take this on,” he said.
Pitrolo suggested that if the expanded authority is approved, it would in no way detract from the operation of the turnpike. “Not at all,” he said. “The turnpike will remain exactly the way it is.”
One change for the authority could be its ability to contract with the Division of Highways for maintenance of other toll roads, including snow and ice removal.
Manchin’s press secretary, Matt Turner, said a key element in the measure would be that any new tolls couldn’t be implemented unless a road’s majority users live out of state. “We don’t want to put an undue burden on West Virginians traveling to and from their homes,” Turner said. “And the projects would have to be feasible.”
