Turnpike Tolls to Go Up - WBOY-TV

CHARLESTON -- Travelers on the West Virginia Turnpike soon will have to pay more to drive on the road.

Today, members of the West Virginia Parkways Authority voted unanimously to increase toll rates for automobiles from $1.25 per tollbooth to $2 per tollbooth on the 88-mile stretch of road that runs from Charleston to Princeton. The cost for tractor-trailers will go up from $4.25 to $6.75 per tollbooth.

Under the new rates, the cost for automobiles driving the entire length of the road will cost $6 each way instead of $3.75.

In addition, the Authority decided to use reserve funds to pay off $6 million in bonds for Tamarack, an artisan center near Beckley. The decision will result in savings of $1.4 million per year. That savings will be directed toward discount programs used by EZ Pass participants. The EZ Pass is used by commuters and people who frequently travel the turnpike.

The rate for automobiles using the EZ Pass will be $1.30. The rate for West Virginia commercial EZ Pass users will be a 20 percent discount. For all other commercial traffic, the discount will be 13 percent.

The Authority said it needed to increase toll rates to help pay for construction and maintenance on the aging roadway. However, residents and businesses in Southern West Virginia say the higher toll has an unfair burden on them and is discriminatory.

The new rates will go into effect August 1. Rates on the turnpike have not been increased since 1981, although increases have been attempted in the past.

In November 2005, the Authority voted to increase tolls by 60 percent to pay for road maintenance and a new interchange near Beckley. The new tolls went into effect in January 2006, but they were rescinded back to the previous rate in February 2006 after a circuit court judge, acting on a lawsuit brought by truckers, issued an injunction

Stay tuned for more on this story.

So my only question is are these commision people appointed or elected? Seems rather silly to let them raise fees like this without being accountable to the people of southern west virginia.

Shame on people who make comments when they don't know anything about the situation. There hasn't been a toll increase in 28 years. What else has stayed the same price for that long? Drive whatever roads you want, but we have the right to safe highways in WV. And, what is the big raise for the Turnpike Commission? Double nothing will still give them nothing. They are all businessmen who volunteer their time for free. I think they did everything they could to keep the toll increase low. If you sign up for a WV Easy Pass, the rate increase will be 5 cents. Outrageous!

To Jason Slash: We in West Virginia might, in your opinion, be "somewhat unintelligent," but at least this West Virginian knows how to correctly spell "infrastructure." Proper punctuation is also nice. Maybe with the money you save by not driving on our roads you can get yourself an education.

The Turnpike Commission picked a bad time to raise their prices. With the whole country failing, we need to entice more people to come through West Virginia. This price increase will turn them away. Lexington and south on I-75 will be the new way to go! (FREE)

All the more reason to take the alternate route through Kentucky to get to Tennessee. I go 2-4 times a year. That's $24-$48 they won't be getting from me!

wv should be ashamed of theirself. they are obese and somewhat unintelligent and now they are jacking up the price to drive on their crappy turnpike. they were one of the only states with a surplus and instead of using it for infrustructure they jack up the price to drive on the turnpike. i don't drive on the damn thing and i will avoid traveling in west virginia b/c i'd rather circle all the way around than pay their tolls.

Once again liberal thinking in action. If we as users haven't got the money for increased tolls, the amount collected will go down, leading them to push for another increase. Tolls and taxes are a finite source of income!

Looks like southern W.V. gets it stuck to them again. What happened to the millions that was reported to have come down each year from the Fed. Gov. Probably to all the roads from Charleston and above since they don't pay for the roads there. Looks like I will join a lot of others from Raleigh and Mercer county that go to Christiansburg and Roanoke instead of Charleston to shop and eat and fill up with gas. Hate to take money from W.V. and give to Va. but enough is enough. Take the tolls off for good so we can keep the money in W.V. Why should I pay $8.00 round trip to Charleston when I can go south with no tolls?

What a joke! I guess the members of the Turnpike Commision will have to give themselves a pay raise.After all,they worked so hard to raise the cash.

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