The idea of using trucks-only toll lanes to tackle the problem of interstate highway congestion in Virginia isn't sitting well with the trucking industry.

The American Trucking Associations and its Virginia affiliate, the Virginia Trucking Assn., strongly oppose what they say is an "unsafe and financially unsound proposal" for changes to the heavily traveled Interstate 81 in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.
The proposal calls for the reconstruction and widening of I-81 through a public-private financing plan. The project will feature mandatory tolled truck-only lanes, which the trucking groups object to because they say the trucking industry already pays for their highway usage through dedicated highway taxes. In addition, the project represents a tremendous safety risk, say the associations, forcing trucks to cross several lanes of automobile traffic in order to enter and exit the tolled truck-only lanes.
In a Feb. 17 letter, ATA President William Canary and Virginia Trucking Association Executive Vice President Dale Bennett called on Gov. Mark Warner and the Virginia General Assembly to oppose the truck tolls/public-private partnership financing plan for I-81 reconstruction.
ATA's highway policy and safety experts say previous experience with new toll roads and toll increases indicates there will likely be a large amount of truck traffic diverted from I-81 on to other Virginia roads, as well as to the urbanized and already congested I-95 in eastern Virginia.
According to ATA, if the proposed I-81 truck toll lanes cost as much as 20 cents per mile, urban truck traffic would increase by more than 865,000 trucks per year on U.S. 29 through Charlottesville, by more than 337,000 trucks per year on I-95 near Richmond, and by more than 225,000 on I-95 near Washington, DC.
The same toll would produce huge increases in truck traffic for popular Virginia rural highways. Examples include a 192 percent increase in truck trips for U.S. 15, more than 418,000 more for U.S. 11, and a 273 percent increase in truck trips on U.S. 29 in Charlottesville, according to the ATA's projections.
Some trucks would also likely avoid Virginia altogether, said ATA officials, diverting truck registration fees and diesel fuel taxes needed to maintain the state's highways.

See related story: "Trucker Lanes Proposed For I-81 In Virginia," 1/22/02.