West Virginia Turnpike toll increase may be rolled back

Put the case for the toll increases The Turnpike carries two interstates for much of its length Gov Joe Manchin OK'ed toll increases but has gone to ground while the battle rages

A meeting of the controlling board of the West Virginia Parkways Authority (WVPA) Feb 2 decided to put a hold on major capital projects in response to legislators' criticism of the January 1 toll increase imposed to finance them. Chairman of the toll Authority board, Joe Martin announced the freeze while a study is undertaken of ways to keep tolls down. Martin is deputy chief of staff to Governor Joe Manchin, and represents the Governor in turnpike matters.

Alan Susman, a member of the board of the Authority predicts they will rollback most of the toll increases implemented Jan 1. He told us in a telephone interview today that the Parkway board is inclined to go along with legislators agitating for a rollback of tolls.

"You have a hundred house members running for re-election later this year and 17 senators and every one of them is clamoring to stop the toll increase. I think you'll see the two (capital) projects go by the board. We'll go back to a small (toll) increase to fund some more maintenance. That's my prediction."

At hearings of transportation committees in the state house over the past two weeks West Virginia Turnpike general manager Greg Barr has faced long sessions of hostile questioning by legislators, Democrat and Republican alike vying to get in the news with the fiercest denunciations of the tolls.

At the same time bills were introduced in the legislature to prohibit bond issues by the Authority, to roll back the toll increases, and disband the Authority turning the Turnpike over to the state DOT.

All this despite the fact that

* local commuters with transponders have seen no increase in the fee for their quarterly unlimited use passes

* the cash tolls that did increase are still quite low and were the first increase since 1981

* the projects to be funded were discussed in the legislature without objection, and one - the Shady Springs Interchange and Connector - was actually mandated for construction

* 80% of the tolls are paid by interstate travelers

Susman defended the board's actions: "We have been discussing this (the capital projects and the toll increase) for two years now. We moved deliberately. We got the best advice, Wilbur Smith Associates on the finances and traffic and Howard Needles (HNTB) on the engineering. We gave public notice of our actions, as required. We were acting under a mandate of the legislature to build one project, and they knew about the other. The legislature even increased our allowed debt limit to do these projects. We acted very responsibly."

The only mistake he said was the timing: "If we'd done it a year from now (after the elections) we wouldn't have had any of this. It would have breezed through."

Unanimous vote Dec 14, including Governor's endorsement

The vote for the toll increases at the board meeting Dec 14 was unanimous. The governor's designee as chairman, Joe Martin supported the projects and the toll increase and he said they had the support of the Governor, Joe Manchin.

Manchin is the first governor to be formally chairman of the Turnpike with a personal nominee who attends as the actual chairman of the authority. Manchin has not spoken on the issue since the tolls furore erupted in the legislature but Susman clearly thinks he has folded.

Manchin's secretary of transportation, Danny Ellis who participated in the board decisions to raise tolls, has since resigned.

Anti-toll bills

Two bills introduced in the WV legislature are:

* HB4344 to roll back toll increases, pay off Turnpike bonds (funds source unspecified) and turn the tollroad over to the state DOT

* HB4343 prohibit the authority from refinancing bonds or issuing any more bonds once current bonds have been repaid, take all tolls off the Turnpike, terminate the Parkways Authority and turn the road over to DOT

The last bill was sponsored by the House Majority Leader Rick Staton (Dem, Wyoming) who told the Charleston Gazette: "I'm sick of dealing with it (the Authority). I think what they did on the tolls is what we've been sensing: a real arrogance on the authority's part."

Staton admits he supported the legislation requiring the Shady Spring Interchange and Connector Road, one of the two major capital projects to be funded by the toll increase. He says he "never heard" from the toll authority of any need to raise tolls. At the same time Staton complains the authority won't build needed connector roads to the Turnpike such as the Coalfields Expressway.

"I think they could come up with some funding for that," Staton told the Charleston Gazette. "All they ever say to us is no."

He wants those connector roads to be built toll-free!

Background

The Turnpike, 142km (88mi) long carries I-77 and I-64 through the southern portion of the state. It is one of the most mountainous interstate highways in the country. The present Authority took over the Turnpike from the former West Virginia Turnpike Commission which had developed the tollroad. The commission formed in 1947 was disbanded by state law in 1988 and its assets ceded to the new authority.

Revenues of $58m

Toll revenues in 2005 were $58.2m and other revenues $6.7m. Maintenance costs were $16.3m, toll collection $9.6m, policing $2.4m, administration $10m,, depreciation $29.8m, and interest expense $7.1m, for a reported loss of of $9.1m. The authority has debts of $116m, $102m of which are longterm bonds.

Tolls were last raised on the Turnpike in 1981.

The January 1 increase was from $1.25 to $2.00 for cars at three mainline plazas and from $4.25 to $7 for tractor-trailers. It left local commuter rates for an unlimited usage pass with a transponder unchanged. 80% of tolls are paid by out-of-state motorists and truckers. Many sections of the Turnpike can be traveled toll free since most ramp tolls were abolished in the 1980s.

The toll increases were designed to raise an extra $24m/yr to support a bond issue to fund $120m of capital improvements including the 8 miles of third laning and a new interchange as well as to fund a higher level of annual maintenance.

The cash toll rate 1981 to 2005 amounted to 2.7c/km (4.3c/mi) for cars and 9c/km (14.5c/mi) for a 5-axle tractor trailer going the full length of the pike. The Jan 1 toll rates threatened with rollback took these to 4.2c/km (6.8c/mi) for cars and 14.5c/km (23.9c/mi).

Mouthful name

The Authority's formal name is this embarrassing mouthful: West Virginia Parkways Economic Development and Tourism Authority (WVPEDTA), though it tends to be known as the Turnpike or the Parkways Authority. There are no state parkways. This fiction of a name represents the accumulation of responsibilities that the legislature has given it as the Turnpike became profitable.

The Authority has this Mission Statement: "To operate and maintain the West Virginia Turnpike safely and efficiently; to promote and enhance the tourism industry; and foster economic and tourism development opportunities which create and retain jobs while enhancing the image of West Virginia."

The economic development and tourism activities tend to be widely denounced as "pork" for favored constituencies, and the authority is not much loved. Its posterchild project has been Tamarack, a splashy center for Appalachian arts and crafts, which many West Virginians love to hate, or at least think it isn't something which toll revenues should be spent on - they aren't any more, but the history of turnpike support for the artsies and crafties is still cited by its detractors.

The Authority's board of commissioners are appointed by the state governor for eight year terms.

The board of seven comprises the Governor as formal chairman, represented by the governor's Designee - presently Joe Martin of the Governor's staff - the secretary of transportation and five others. These include:

* David Dickirson, vice-chairman of the WVPA, who ran an oil drilling business, whose term on the Authority board, term runs to 2011

* Alan Susman, secretary of WVPA, a former senator and CEO of Misty Mountain Produce, term expires in 2008

* Joseph Marsh, a former college administrator, term expires this May

* Hulett Smith, governor of the state 1965-69, term expires in 2010

* Thomas Winner, former banking executive, term expires in 2007

TOLLROADSnews 2006-02-02