Willing to pay to drive
At 3:45 p.m. last Friday, we were on our way from Virginia Beach to the Newport News Amtrak station to make the 4:55 train to Washington, D.C. At the Interstate 564 split, I-64 became a parking lot. We made the train with minutes to spare, which highlights that, incredibly, South Hampton Roads is the largest metropolitan area in the country without passenger rail service.
It's critical that Hampton Roads addresses transportation, including our bridges and tunnels, and it shocks me how hostile the area seems to public/private solutions. Gov. Bob McDonnell's top highway priority is the new U.S. 460 between Suffolk and Petersburg. This is an awesome idea that will create jobs, spur economic activity and make it easier to evacuate in the event of a disaster. If state money isn't available, then the private-public ideas being suggested need to be embraced.
One idea to solve the headaches of thousands of Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel commuters is building a second, parallel toll bridge tunnel. If the government can't afford this, I would like to see private money take this on, using E-ZPass.
During peak hours, motorists could choose to pay the toll and get home an hour sooner or wait in the free lane (which would now move faster with fewer commuters). I don't know if a study would show this to be profitable, but there is no doubt that last Friday, I would have gladly paid a toll to ensure I wasn't standing by the sole Amtrak ticket kiosk converting my online train ticket into a boarding pass, as the conductor shouted 'All aboard!'
