View NC tolls for I-95 in a larger map

U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers opposes the I-95 tolls plan, Franco Ordoñez reports. The Dunn Republican charges that residents in her district would be disproportionately affected since a major portion of the highway runs through the region. She sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation Wednesday calling for an economic impact study on local business and residents.

Last month, North Carolina won preliminary approval from the Federal Highway Administration to collect tolls on Interstate 95 to pay for a $4.4 billion widening project.

“While I recognize the need to maintain I-95, paying for the construction through a highway tax could be devastating to residents and small businesses along the I-95 corridor,” Ellmers wrote. ... [MORE]

View NC tolls for I-95 in a larger map

North Carolina won permission from the Federal Highway Administration Friday to collect tolls on Interstate 95, the state Department of Transportation said.

DOT is floating a $4.4 billion plan to overhaul all 182 miles of I-95, widening the four-lane expressway to six lanes -- and eight lanes on the busiest 50 miles. To pay for it, DOT wants to collect tolls from its drivers. (see Sunday's story with map, photos and lots of reader comments).

The proposed electronic tolling network is designed to allow lots of North Carolina travelers to continue making short local trips on I-95 without paying tolls. It would make it difficult, but not impossible, for truckers and vacationers who travel longer distances to use I-95 without paying the toll.

As a result, truckers (25 percent of all I-95 traffic) and out-of-state cars and trucks (55 percent) could actually end up paying more than their share of the tolls.

Check the attached Google map to see how this would affect you and your trips on I-95. Blue icons mark locations for 9 sets of electronic toll sensors on I-95.  Pink icons mark the nearest exits, before and after the sensors, where drivers going on or off I-95 also would pay tolls. ... [MORE]

View NC tolls for I-95 in a larger map

NCDOT wants to collect tolls on I-95 to pay for a $4.4 billion widening and overhaul project, border to border (see Sunday's story with map, photos and lots of reader comments).

The proposed electronic tolling network is designed to allow lots of North Carolina travelers to continue making short local trips on I-95 without paying tolls. It would make it difficult, but not impossible, for truckers and vacationers who travel longer distances to use I-95 without paying the toll.

As a result, truckers (25 percent of all I-95 traffic) and out-of-state cars and trucks (55 percent) could actually end up paying more than their share of the tolls.

Check the attached Google map to see how this would affect you and your trips on I-95. ... [MORE]

NCDOT says it wants to get moving on long-sought improvements to Interstate 95, starting in 2016 with a project to add lanes along 60 busy miles between Lumberton in Robeson County and Interstate 40 in Johnston County.

The state expects to join Virginia in winning federal approval to pay for improvements to I-95 by collecting tolls from its drivers. A long-range plan to add lanes, rebuild interchanges and replace bridges is estimated to cost $4.4 billion.

The Federal Highway Administration recently approved an environmental assessment of NCDOT's plans for upgrading I-95 from Virginia to South Carolina. Public hearings are scheduled from Feb. 7 to Feb. 27. Details and documents are online at www.driving95.com.

View Delaware Turnpike: I-95 Newark Toll Plaza in a larger map

To reiterate a recent warning: Thanksgiving holiday traffic on Interstate 95 is thoroughly clogged, with backups for miles, because of a Delaware Turnpike construction project.

I-95 is probably the worst highway on the Eastern Seaboard, and this is definitely the worst bottleneck.

It's so bad that Delaware, which collects $4 from every car at its Newark Toll Plaza, is urging travelers to find other routes to the northeast states.

How to avoid trouble? The Washington Post's Dr. Gridlock has lots of detour suggestions.

View Delaware Turnpike: I-95 Newark Toll Plaza in a larger map

Some Tar Heel travelers will experience their worst Thanksgiving traffic jams far north of North Carolina -- on Interstate 95.

The Delaware DOT is sending alerts up and down the Atlantic Seaboard, to warn of awful backups during Thanksgiving week. The culprit is a $32 million project to rebuild the I-95 Newark Toll Plaza in northern Delaware: "The predicted impacts are expected to be greater than in recent years and could stretch for miles and take hours to clear."

If you're traveling to the northeast, you're advised to find another route around the Delaware Turnpike.  Or else schedule your trip through there during the wee hours, when traffic is not so heavy.

In other words, after you make it through the I-95 horrors of northern Virginia, the worst may still lie ahead.

DOT Secretary Gene Conti favors collecting tolls at several points up and down Interstate 95 as it passes through North Carolina to raise money for a long-delayed multi-billion-dollar overhaul of I-95.

State Sen. Larry Shaw of Fayetteville likes the idea of collecting tolls on I-95, too -- but not in his district.  Shaw prefers to see I-95 tolls only at the Virginia and South Carolina borders.

The busy stretch between Fayetteville and I-40 at Benson is likely to be first in line for widening I-95, repaving it and rebuilding the interchanges. 

In an e-mail to me today, Shaw said:

As you may know, I have been a proponent of tolls for over ten years.  I believe tolls are a necessary source of revenue for maintaining and repairing our state’s infrastructure. I understand there are suggestions to place tolls on I-95 in the 25 mile stretch between Fayetteville and Benson, NC.  I believe tolls should be placed at the state’s borders to capture interstate drivers instead of the local populace.

DOT is developing a plan to phase in the needed I-95 improvements, and probably to phase in a system of toll collections to pay for it.  Details are online at www.driving95.com. 

Virginia's governor is making plans to erect a tollbooth on Interstate 95 near the North Carolina border, and North Carolina officials are talking seriously as well about collecting tolls to pay for a multi-billion-dollar overhaul of I-95 as it passes through eastern North Carolina (see Sunday's story with reader comments.)

Tolls only at the border are somehow more palatable to voters and in-state drivers, and that's what Senate leader Marc Basnight favors: tolls, but only at the Virginia border. 

But in interview remarks that didn't make Sunday's story, Gene Conti, the state DOT secretary, says Virginia's border-only approach would not raise enough revenue to pay for the I-95 fix.  North Carolina probably will have to have several toll collection points along the 182 miles of I-95, Conti said. ... [MORE]

Tell me about problems you've had on Interstate 95 -- when and where it's especially congested, bumpy, dangerous, slow.  And what we should do to make it better.

I'm reporting this week on prospects for improving I-95 from border to border in eastern North Carolina, and the likelihood that drivers will pay tolls to help cover the expense.  I'd like to get the perspective of business travelers, commuters, truckers, vacationers and others who drive I-95.

Please e-mail me (bruce.siceloff@newsobserver.com).  Don't forget to include your phone and other contact info, so I can get back to you. 

NCDOT is spending the next year or so studying Interstate 95, from border to border -- what it needs and how to pay for it. State officials say tolls are a likely revenue source.

Meanwhile, Virginia's governor is talking up the idea of collecting tolls on I-95 at its border with North Carolina.  

North Carolina and other states can't make the most of limited transportation funds because they don't know how much money will be coming from Washington over the next several years, Gene Conti told reporters today.

Conti, North Carolina's transportation secretary, spoke as the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials issued a report calling on Congress for money to expand capacity on the nation's transit and rail systems and highways.

AASHTO wants Congress to pledge $375 billion for highways, $100 billion for transit, $50 billion for inter-city passenger rail and $42 billion for freight railroad improvements over the next six years.

“We’ve suffered for the last 18 months with a series of short-term [funding] extensions," Conti said. ... [MORE]