CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Senate Transportation Committee forwarded a bill Tuesday that would keep the tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike after the the current bond debt is paid off in 2019.
Committee members amended the bill (SB 397) to put $55 million of the annual $85 million in toll collections into a special revenue account for road projects in the four turnpike counties.
“The revenues used for the turnpike would be only up to $55 million and anything above that they would collect would be deposited in a special revenue account,” amendment author Sen. Bob Beach (D-Monongalia) told committee members.
The committee approved the amendment despite the concerns of West Virginia Parkways Authority General Manager Greg Barr.
“If that was all we had to pay for toll collection, maintenance and capital improvements, painting bridges and paving the road, that would not be enough money to do all of that,” Barr said.
The bill next heads to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration.
According to current state law, the tolls will come off after the bonds are paid off in May 2019 but many have said the state won’t be able to afford the upkeep of the 88-mile highway through southern West Virginia without the $85 million a year.