While the state says Interstate 95 tolling is not definite, local officials believe it is.

State Department of Transportation officials were at The Centre on the campus of Halifax Community College today to meet with residents and officials to talk about future plans for Interstate 95 improvements.
“It’s not set in stone,” said Kristine O’Conner, project planning engineer with the department.
O’Connor did say tolling is one of the funding options to improve the interstate but before funding is considered, a two-year study on the conditions of the highway must be considered first.
Following the traffic study, the funding study would be done and then the state would do a tolling study.
O’Connor said statements made locally the state isn’t considering tolling any other highways is untrue. She said the state is considering tolling the Interstate 540 Expressway.
The funding question is crucial to the improvements because there are $45 billion in highway needs and $9 billion in available funding. Putting that money to the interstate, “Could negatively affect every road,” in the state, she said.
O’Connor said the state wants to make sure it has taken reasonable time to study the issue. “We want to hear from the people who drive it every day. We want to make sure we hear what the people say.”
Some 36,000 to 54,000 vehicles travel I-95 every day, one official said. Fatal crashes on the highway between 1990 and 2009 have increased.
Northampton County Economic Development Director Gary Brown said the county has not taken a position on the issue. He said he was taking down all information so he could present it to the board of commissioners. “We realize the potential issues involving the funding. We’re going to weigh all the options and concerns before we weigh in on any opinion.”
Robert Lewis, a DOT division engineer, said the department, “Struggles to maintain what we have.”
He said the interstate, which has essentially remained the same since the 50s and 60s, needs to have more lanes. “It needs to be able to handle more vehicles.”
The difference between I-540 and I-440 and I-95 in the Roanoke Valley is its traffic increases Thursday through Sunday.
Senator Ed Jones said he opposed tolling on Interstate 95. “It would hurt the northeastern part of the state if we have to.”
If tolling is inevitable then something needs to be done for the local commuter traffic on the highway, Jones said, whether it is an easy pass or speed pass. “We can’t have people working in Virginia spending their money on tolls.”
The senator also believes if tolling happens, the money should be appropriated only for I-95. He said law enforcement and other emergency responders must be considered.
The legislature has not discussed the matter, Jones said.
To support it, Jones said, “It would have to have a lot of benefit.”
Jones said the state must also look at how tolling would affect Highway 301, a two lane road which he believes is incapable of handling diverted traffic. “You’re likely to have more serious accidents and fatalities. Times are getting hard so people are not going to take the interstate. They’re going to try to get around it.”
Halifax County Economic Development Director Cathy Scott said a coalition of the North Carolina counties along I-95 has not come up with its position paper yet. “It’s important to the business community, what it does for Kapstone and Lowe’s to get products to customers.”
Frank Avent, chair of the county economic development commission, said he believes the state only has one option. “A toll, B toll, C toll.”