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Site SearchRaleigh, N.C. — The state Turnpike Authority is seeking $18 million from state lawmakers to kick-start toll road construction in the Triangle.
The state could put the Western Wake Expressway out to bid by June and begin construction in August 2008 if the General Assembly provides the seed money to get the project going, officials said.
Senate Bill 1054 calls for the state to provide the Turnpike Authority with $18 million a year to help pay off bonds issued to finance construction of the toll road. The annual appropriation would continue for 39 years or until the toll road pays for itself.
The highway, which would extend Interstate 540 from Morrisville to Holly Springs, could become the first toll roads in North Carolina, and some lawmakers are reluctant to set the precedent.
"I'm not sure we've got the support of the General Assembly to get it done, but we really need to do this," said state Sen. Neal Hunt, R-Wake, a member of the Senate Transportation Committee. "Absent this, we could become stagnated in our economic growth because of traffic congestion."
Area drivers still aren't sold on the idea of toll roads, even if it would mean fewer traffic tie-ups.
"I don't like tolls one bit ... because it's money out of my pocket," one man said.
"It's kind of the price we pay to have the convenience of the road," another man said.
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It would shorten my commute time by a sigificant about. The amount would be proportional to the toll amount (higher toll, the shorter the commute would have to be).
Also, does anyone know how much the toll was(is / going to be) on the section between 40 and 55? I read somewhere $2.00 EACH way! I googled the area and determined that stretch of the road was approx 4 mi.
That is around $0.50 a mile. I bet even people in their Excursions do not pay that much in gas per mile.
I doubt I would save any time on such a short segment of road to be worth that amount, therefore I would not drive it.
If the western wake expressway is going to be the same amount per mile, I would not drive that either.
April 21, 2007 1:24 p.m.
Today, myself and another gentleman were the first to give public comments of opposition in a NCTA Board of Directors meeting starting the public fight against tolls on 540. ( as started in an N&O article today http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/565467.html ) Please join us and let the NCTA know you do not want tolls on 540. Thanks.
April 18, 2007 7:49 p.m.
April 17, 2007 4:26 p.m.
April 9, 2007 2:05 p.m.
I am not saying that I like the idea of a toll road or think that the NC budget process is sound, but the whining and "second class citizen" talk is a bit much. That stretch of 540 is slated to be finished in like 2022 without tolls. I wonder how many of the current second class citizens will still be living here and working in RTP at that point.
April 9, 2007 12:54 p.m.