Impact of New Tolls on Existing Roadway Facilities: Hampton Roads, Virginia, Experience

Abstract

The Midtown and Downtown Tunnels have been two of the most congested facilities in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. Traffic queues nearly 4 mi long were daily occurrences at both facilities during peak travel periods. To relieve this congestion, construction began in 2012 of an additional two-lane tube at the Midtown Tunnel, along with rehabilitation of the Downtown Tunnel and the original Midtown Tunnel, and the addition of an extension to the Martin Luther King Freeway. To finance the project, whose completion is expected in 2018, toll collection began at the Midtown and Downtown Tunnels on February 1, 2014. The Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO) studied the impact of tolling on the regional transportation system by comparing the traffic and transit conditions before and after toll collection was implemented at the Midtown and Downtown Tunnels. This research will assist local decision makers as they determine whether tolls should be included as a funding source for candidate major highway projects. Further, the research will provide other planning agencies with information about the regional travel impacts of tolling, given that tolls were implemented on existing facilities before capacity improvements were completed. This study included an analysis of changes in traffic volumes, queues, delays, and transit conditions and highlighted a survey funded by the HRTPO to assess the public’s views of the project. Among the findings was that peak period delays decreased by 32% at four river-crossing corridors after tolls were implemented.