The bill that would lift the tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike in 2020 and set up a way to transfer the 88 mile long highway to the state Division of Highways is on track to advance out of the House of Delegates this week.
But West Virginia Parkways Authority General Manager Greg Barr says moving to lift the tolls would go against a national trend.
“All the states around us have toll roads and they aren’t taking tolls off. They’re actually looking at ways to build more roads and incorporate some type of user fee into the construction of those roads,” Barr said.
“If you stop and think about it, you only pay if you use it.”
Barr says he found out about the proposed bill about ten minutes before it originated in the House Finance Committee on Friday afternoon. The legislation was quickly approved there and sent to the House floor.
As of now, the bonds for the Turnpike are scheduled to be paid off in 2019. This legislation eliminate the tolls on the Turnpike about a year after the bond debt is paid. No new debt would be allowed.
At that time, a process would start to transfer control of the highway to the state Division of Highways.
Tolls collected during that transition would be split up between the following two funds:
– Parkways Authority Future Trust Fund made up of 25% of toll revenue collected during the transition period which would go to the Parkways Authority for operations. That money would add to a $5 million cash balance the Authority would also keep in the transfer.
– Turnpike Transition Fund which would include any revenue generated from the transfer of assets from the Parkways Authority to the Division of Highways along with 50% of toll revenue in the transition period. It would be used to pay for the maintenance of the Turnpike until the account hits zero. At that point, the state Road Fund would pay for needed work.
All of the assets of the Parkways Authority would be part of the DOH by January 1st, 2035.
Barr says questions the timing of the bill. He says the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Highways is currently studying other possible funding sources for all of West Virginia’s roads. A report is expected to be issued later this year.
“It seems a bill of this nature was a bit premature,” Barr said on Monday’s MetroNews Talkline.
At a time when road money is hard to find, he says drivers from out of state are helping pay for maintenance along the West Virginia Turnpike.
“Over 75% of the revenues on the Turnpike come from out of state users,” he said. “The burden of maintaining that road is mostly on the out of state travelers and not on the backs of West Virginians.”
He estimates the Turnpike would add $59 million each year to the maintenance costs for the DOH.
HB 3163 is on track to get approval from the full House by Wednesday. The bill would then go to the Senate with less than two weeks remaining in the 2013 Regular Legislative Session.