Published: June 29, 2009 08:59 pm      

Turnpike tension:

PRINCETON — A Mercer County turnpike board member chastised local lawmakers Monday for creating a media frenzy around the impending turnpike toll hike.

“I believe Sen. (Don) Caruth and Sen. (Truman) Chafin created the furor here,” Bill Seaver, one of two Mercer County representatives serving on the Parkways Authority board, said. “They never pointed out anything positive about the (turnpike) interchanges and the development it has created here. While none of us like these tolls, I think sometimes you never hear any of the positives pointed out. When you look at the interchanges in Beckley and Princeton, and you look at the unparalleled development both with the hotels and motels and the jobs they have provided — the benefits are immense. If it hadn’t been for the turnpike, a lot of those things would never have happened.”

Seaver, who joins Mike Vinciguerra of Bluefield on the Parkways Authority board, also is questioning comments made by Delegate Clif Moore, D-McDowell. Moore has threatened to block the Ghent toll plaza with a car on the first day the new tolls are implemented as a protest to the toll hike.

“If traffic gets backed up, and someone gets killed, it won’t be funny,” Seaver said of the alleged toll booth protest. “This is a very serious time, and it calls for serious people — not only in our Legislature, but us as a Parkway Authority — we’ve got to respond in a serious way to it.”

The Parkways Authority board meets Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. at the Charleston Civic Center to consider the long-debated turnpike toll hike. Seaver and Vinciguerra will both have a vote on whether to increase the tolls. Seaver predicted on Monday that the authority board will vote to raise tolls.

“It definitely probably will pass,” Seaver said. “Because if it doesn’t we go into defaulting on these bonds. We are fighting and looking in serious ways to lessen this burden for southern West Virginia. Some of our delegates have been participants in this, and some of our senators haven’t.”

Vinciguerra was non-committal Monday when asked if he would vote in favor Wednesday of increasing turnpike tolls.

“No, I haven’t made a decision,” Vinciguerra, a newly elected member of the Bluefield Board of Directors, said. “It (my decision) will be based on what we come up with on Wednesday and how we will be able to do this. I just need to see the figures. They are supposed to be mailing or e-mailing us some figures today.”

Vinciguerra said the authority board must pass a budget Wednesday that doesn’t allow for a default on its bonds.

“We can’t let them foreclose on our bonds,” Vinciguerra said. “We don’t want to raise the tolls anymore than we have to get the amount of money we need to operate the turnpike.”

The authority is proposing to increase tolls for passenger cars from $1.25 per barrier to $2 and commercial rigs from $4.75 to $6.25. However, several discount proposals are still being finalized by the board, including the existing E-Z Pass transponder plan, which could provide relief to residents of southern West Virginia who purchase one of two discount programs.

Under one proposal, a motorist would pay only $1.50 per barrier as opposed to $2 using an E-Z Pass transponder. Seaver is hoping that figure can be lowered to $1.25.

“We haven’t made a final decision on that amount yet,” Seaver said. “We are due some scenarios on what can work best. This is going to be the West Virginia E-Z Pass. It’s open to everyone. It doesn’t discriminate, and it’s fair.”

Seaver said everyone who uses the turnpike — if only for two or three times a month — should still sign up for the discount program.

Seaver also is hoping the turnpike bond indebtedness can be paid off by 2019. He believe the road can be restored to an acceptable condition at that time, and be returned to the West Virginia Divisions of Highways.

“We are going to work hard for the next 10 years to bring this road back to the way it was maintenance wise, and this road will be turned over to the DOH if this road is in a suitable condition, and hopefully by this time the state will be able to remove the tolls. However, the problem no one seems to want to talk about in our state government is the West Virginia Department of Highways has in excess of $850 million in deferred maintenance. If we gave them the turnpike today, they couldn’t take care of it. So in the meantime, they are going to have to find a solution for that $850 million in deferred maintenance. In this whole process, we’ve had two delegates — Delegate (John) Frazier and Delegate (John) Shott — who have tried to put forth positives on this.”

– Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com