Money From I-95 Tolls Not Coming To D.C. Suburbs

By David Schultz

Virginia currently has permission to build a toll plaza on I-81. But it wants to switch to I-95, one of the most heavily trafficked highways in the country. Virginia is asking the federal government for permission to build a toll plaza on I-95 near the North Carolina border.

Sean Connaughton, Virginia's Secretary of Transportation, says money from the tolls would go toward road improvements.

"We have already identified close to $600 million worth of improvements that need to be made, just from the North Carolina border to Fredericksburg," says Connaughton.

Of course, that excludes everything north of Fredericksburg - i.e. Northern Virginia.

Connaughton says Northern Virginia will receive its own toll revenue from the planned High-Occupancy Toll Lanes on I-95.

"So if that project moves forward we'll be making a lot of improvements in that corridor," he says.

But that's a big "if." The High-Occupancy Toll lane project doesn't have funding yet, and Arlington County is suing to block it.