Tom Warne Report, 20 April 2012
The Virginian-Pilot – April 14, 2012
Work is to begin on Virginia’s controversial $2.1 billion construction project to add tolls to the Midtown and Downtown tunnels now that funding is secure, according to an announcement by the state’s private partner. The announcement came after the U.S. Department of Transportation approved a $422 million federal loan and an additional $675 million in bonds were issued. Secured financing means the Elizabeth River Crossing is cleared to hire contractors and begin work on the E-ZPass toll system.
Opponents who intend to stop the plans and the $1.84 rush-hour tolls say they still plan to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the 1995 Public-Private Partnership Act. They also say the Virginia Department of Transportation does not have the authority to negotiate the Midtown agreement.
“It doesn’t change anything,” said Patrick McSweeney, the lawyer working for the group, which includes around 200 potential plaintiffs. “The basis of the suit is either valid or not. It has nothing to do with whether (the state and its private partner) want to go forward with the risk they want to take.”
The project will add a second tube to the Midtown Tunnel, doubling its capacity, and make improvements to the Downtown Tunnel. It will also extend the Martin Luther King Freeway in Portsmouth to I-264, all of which will create 500 jobs directly and 1500 jobs indirectly, according to ERC public affairs manager Mary Humphries said.