Motorists driving up and down northern stretches of Interstate 95 these days will notice billboards urging them to “Say No to Tolls.” The billboard campaign, organized by business and economic development groups in the northeastern part of the state, is part of an effort to convince state transportation officials to drop plans to toll the interstate to help pay for widening and improvements. The groups say that tolling the interstate will hurt businesses along its path and industrial recruiting. “It puts us at a competitive disadvantage economically,” said Allen Purser, president of the Roanoke Valley Chamber of Commerce. He said the proposal is especially difficult to justify when other interstates in other areas of the state are not being tolled. The signs direct the motorists to a website, notollsi95.com, which lays out other arguments against establishing tolls along the highway. Earlier this month, the Department of Transportation announced that it would spend six months and $1.6 million to assess the economic effects of tolling the interstate to pay for $4.4 billion in improvements.
(THE INSIDER)
10/09/12
