Portsmouth City Council is asking the General Assembly for help to remove or reduce the tolls for the two tunnels that connect the city to Norfolk. Officials are still working on how that might happen.
“I’m considering any options,” Mayor Shannon Glover said.
The City Council passed a resolution in July that urged legislators to remove or reduce the tolls, which were put in place in 2014, and that initiative topped the city’s draft of legislative priorities.
When Glover introduced the initiative, he noted the state had a surplus of about $2 billion and was expecting about $4 billion from the American Rescue Plan Act. After initial conversations with lawmakers, he said it wasn’t likely the state would buy back the entirety of its contract with Elizabeth River Crossings, the private entity that oversees the tolls. That would be about $2 billion.
Glover thinks it may be possible for the state to buy a portion. He and lawmakers also discussed refinancing the deal or using state-administered gasoline taxes to offset the cost.
“Regardless of what the strategy will be, we cannot continue to have these increasing, escalating toll fees and costs put on the backs of our citizens and our businesses. That’s just not going to be a sustainable solution long term,” Glover said.
Each day, more than 120,000 drivers use the Midtown and Downtown tunnels.
Crossing either tunnel costs $1.85 or $2.33 per trip for passenger vehicles and motorcycles with an E-ZPass transponder, depending on the time, or $5.54 or $6.02 for those without. Trucks pay $5.54 or $9.29 with an E-Zpass or $9.23 or $12.98 based on off-peak and peak travel times. For passenger vehicles, the cost of using the tunnel has more than doubled since tolls were introduced.
Elizabeth River Crossings’ contract with the state allows it to operate the Downtown and Midtown tunnels through 2070 and increase tolls annually up to 3.5%. In December of 2020, the operator suspended a planned toll increase, citing effects of the pandemic.
The tolls in Portsmouth drew much attention after a 2017 Virginian-Pilot report found some commuters owed thousands in fees because they could not afford the toll. Glover said he believed those cases of extreme toll debt have been resolved, largely due to relief programs and action by state officials. He noted, however, that tolls will continually increase, causing the cost of crossing the tunnel to become a greater burden on commuters.
City leaders are quick to point to the tolls as a burden not just on commuters, but Portsmouth’s bottom line. They cite the tolls as a reason other Hampton Roads residents don’t visit the city and spend money at its businesses. A 2018 study by James Koch, an economist and former president of Old Dominion University, estimated the tolls reduced taxable sales in the city by $8.8 million. Taxes on those sales amount to about $500,000.
The tolls have the greatest effect on Portsmouth, but Glover said the issue is regional. Along with Portsmouth’s state delegation, he said his city has the support of leaders in other localities and the Hampton Roads Accountability Commission.
Josh Reyes, 757-247-4692, joreyes@dailypress.com
