Virginia Local Governments Lawyer Up to Fight I-95 Tolling

A group of local governments in southern Virginia announced they have hired an attorney to help them fight the state’s proposal to put a toll on the section of Interstate 95 that runs through the area.

“The environmental justice violations included in Gov. [Bob] McDonnell’s formal application are shocking,” Barry Steinberg, a partner with the Washington-based Kutak Rock law firm, said in a statement from Greensville County.

“The location of the single toll plaza in Sussex County between mile markers 20 and 24 is clearly racially discriminatory,” the statement said.

The plan, spearheaded by McDonnell (R), calls for a single toll booth in each direction in Sussex County, near the state’s border with North Carolina. It would charge $12 per truck and $4 per car to pay for capacity and safety improvements along I-95, the state has said.

Though the municipal and county governments have not taken any formal action, the statement also mentioned issues on the local economy and public safety.

In addition to Greensville and Sussex counties, the municipal governments of Emporia, Petersburg, Jarratt and Stony Creek have contributed to the legal fund used to hire Steinberg.

Eight other counties and 10 other municipalities in Virginia have declared their opposition to the plan, according to Virginia Toll Free I-95, a coalition that includes trucking industry and other business interests opposed to the toll.

Virginia submitted its application to the Federal Highway Administration in August. FHWA has not responded, and the Virginia Department of Transportation did not respond to a request for comment on the development.

States are generally prohibited from tolling existing interstate highways, but Virginia has applied for the federal Interstate System Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program.