CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Travel on the West Virginia Turnpike will get pricier next month, since the 88-mile highway’s governing board voted Wednesday to adopt toll increases for passenger cars and large trucks.

The Parkways, Economic Development and Tourism Authority voted unanimously to raise tolls for passenger vehicles from $1.25 to $2 and for large trucks from $4.25 to $6.75.

That means the cost of a trip from Princeton to Charleston and back will be $12 for a passenger car starting Aug. 1, rather than the $7.50 it now costs.

But the authority also approved steep discounts for people who buy West Virginia EZ Pass commuter passes, thanks to a decision that changes the way it will pay off the bond money it owes on arts showplace Tamarack.

By paying a $5 annual fee for the E-Z Pass, passenger cars will pay $1.30 per toll, and large trucks will pay $5.40. Trucks with electronic commuter passes from other states will pay $5.87.

The authority’s vote was preceded by months of public hearings and even legislative debate on the desirability of raising tolls. Residents and lawmakers from the counties along the highway have called the toll discriminatory.

Senate Minority Leader Don Caruth said at the meeting the toll itself puts the counties along the road at a competitive disadvantage with their counterparts elsewhere in West Virginia, and raising the toll makes it worse.

“We’re being treated as second class citizens,” the Mercer County Republican said. “We have been for a long time, but it’s adding insult to injury to vote for a toll increase.”

Members of the authority said they sympathized, but argued they have no choice. The turnpike is facing about $350 million in deferred maintenance costs, according to general manager Greg Barr.

The turnpike needs about $20 million in additional revenue every year to begin meeting those costs, he said. Tolls, which have not increased since 1981, are the only way to generate that money, Barr said.

“I don’t think there’s a member of this board who wants to increase this, but we have a responsibility,” authority member Cam Lewis said.

The authority was able to offer the discounts to drivers who buy E-Z Passes by changing the way it pays off the remaining bond debt on Tamarack. Essentially, the turnpike will set aside about $6.8 million, which represents the remainder of the debt on the Tamarack bonds.

By doing so, it frees up about $1.4 million a year in money that had gone to pay down the debt as well as some interest.

The board voted to apply the $1.4 million to the needed maintenance costs, enabling a more significant discount than originally planned.

Opponents of the toll increase are now weighing their options. Caruth said he expects residents to keep the pressure on the authority, and Delegate Clif Moore, D-McDowell, has vowed to block the Ghent toll plaza with his car the day the increase goes into effect.

“The battle is not over at this point,” Caruth said.

 

The Herald-Dispatch