DALLAS -- West Virginia will lose $85 million of transportation revenue per year if road fees are removed from the state's sole toll road when the final outstanding bonds mature in 2019, according to officials at the West Virginia Parkways Authority.
Removing the tolls from the West Virginia Turnpike with the retirement of the debt on May 15, 2019, as required by current state law, would eliminate the revenues that the WVPA uses to maintain the 88 miles of Interstate 77 between Charleston and Princeton, W.Va., said WVPA general manager Greg Barr.
The turnpike, which receives no funding from the state or federal government, operates 426 miles of roadway, 18 interchanges, and 116 bridges entirely from the toll revenues, Barr said at Tuesday's hearing of the West Virginia Legislature's interim Select Committee on Infrastructure.
"I do have concerns about the future funding," he told the committee members. "Tolls bring in $85 million a year. Over 30 years, that's $2.5 billion."
Out-of-state motorists account for $65 million of the turnpike's annual revenues, Barr said.
The $85 million of toll revenues provide $40 million per year for the upkeep of the four-lane highway, $34.2 million for capital projects, and $10.8 million of debt service.
The turnpike's maintenance costs will go up by $20 million per year in 2022 with the start of a multiyear program to replace four to five bridge decks each year, Barr said. The current capital program calls for two new bridge decks per year.
Most of the bridges are 40 years old or older, he said.
"We're trying to take care of the worst ones first," Barr added.
The West Virginia Department of Highways estimated earlier this year that taking over the turnpike in 2019 would add $59 million per year of additional maintenance costs to its budget.
West Virginia is making a mistake by taking the tolls off the road when the state's rainy day fund is almost depleted and revenues from the coal severance tax are declining, Barr said.
"It seems this doesn't make sense to cut off a stream of revenue like that. It's a billion dollar asset at no cost to the taxpayer, just to users," he said. "If we're going to let the turnpike fade away, and the tolls taken off, I would hope attention is paid to how to maintain it."
The West Virginia Blue Ribbon Commission on Highways said in May 2015 that an additional $750 million per year is needed to preserve and improve the state's existing highway system, along with another $380 million per year to provide for needed expansions.
Tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike were last raised in 2009, the first increase in 20 years. Cars pay a total of $6 to travel the entire length of the toll road.
The authority's $47 million of outstanding debt is rated Aa3 by Moody's Investors Service and AA-minus by S&P Global Ratings.
In Texas, lawmakers who are considering an early payoff of toll road debt learned last week that it would cost the state $36.7 billion to convert toll roads to free highways.
James Bass, the executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation, told members of the state Senate Transportation Committee last week that the review included 53 toll roads, not including international bridges along Mexican border.
Committee chairman Robert Nichols, a Republican state senator from east Texas, said 11% of the state budget is devoted to transportation, down from almost a third in 1960.
"If the [highway] department is adequately funded, there is not a need for toll roads," Nichols said. "The state would've never gotten into toll roads had transportation been adequately funded."
