Virginia moves forward on new I-95 tolls

WASHINGTON – Tolls haven’t crept up to I-95 near D.C. yet. But vacationers heading south may have to pay in the future.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, speaking with Mark Segraves on WTOP’s “Ask the Governor,” says both he and the governor of North Carolina have asked the federal government for the ability to toll on I-95.

McDonnell said all of the funds Virginia gets from the tolls would be used to fund infrastructure improvements on the interstate highway.

“There’s some safety problems and we want to be able to fix those with those toll revenues – interchange upgrades, widening, different things like that,” he tells Segraves.

He says the tolls would probably be near the border between Virginia and North Carolina. Even though McDonnell’s plan has been given preliminary approval from the federal government, however, the tolls aren’t likely to appear for awhile.

“If we get final approval, we’re still talking about a year and a half to two years,” he says. “We’re finding out now it’s going to take 18 months to do an environmental impact statement for the toll booths.”

Listen to the entire show here.

WTOP’s John Aaron contributed to this report. Follow WTOP on Twitter.

(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

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