Electronic tolling bill moves down the road in Senate

If there are any new toll roads in West Virginia’s future the state Department of Transportation would like to have electronic tolling as a possible option.

A bill that would set up a framework for such a system has already passed the House of Delegates this legislative session and is beginning to move through the Senate. It was approved by the Senate Transportation Committee Tuesday.

West Virginia Parkways Authority Chairman Jason Pizatella told the committee electronic tolling is become more and more popular.

“It makes travel on roads safer. It makes it more efficient because you don’t have these toll plazas where everyone is slowing down to stop,” Pizatella told committee members.

The governor’s bill would not impact the current toll plazas or the toll workers on the West Virginia Turnpike according to Pizatella.

“This is just a framework that the DOH has been asking for since the Mon-Fayette Expressway opened in 2009. We’ve been working on it ever since,” Pizatella said.

There are1.5 miles of the Mon-Fayette Expressway in Monongalia County near Morgantown and 80 miles of the highway in Pennsylvania, where it’s a toll road. West Virginia had no structure in place where it could receive some toll money for the road after it opened.

Pizatella reassured the committee there are no plans for new toll roads in West Virginia.

“As far as a practical application as we stand here today? It would not apply,” he said. “This is just something the administration has asked for the future.”

The bill next goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee.