Turnpike Still Under Seige from Legislature

The Senate Finance Committee wants the Legislature to approve any future toll rate hikes on the West Virginia Turnpike.

Lawmakers began stripping the turnpike's parent agency of its self-governing powers last year, after it tried to raise toll rates. A lawsuit later scuttled those increases, but did not prevent the Legislature from requiring its approval for any future road financing bonds sought by the agency.

(Supporters of the Parkways, Economic Development and Tourism Authority note that the agency approved toll hikes only after the 2005 Legislature mandated that it build the so-called Shady Spring interchange near Beckley. That mandate was repealed amid the backlash over the tolls.)

Lawmakers have proposed further limits for the agency, including taking away the turnpike and giving it to the Division of Highways. Those measures may not pass this session, however.

As for the Senate Finance bill, a recent study requested by Gov. Joe Manchin recommends that the agency seek toll hikes to raise needed revenues.

But that study also warns that by interfering with the agency's oversight of the turnpike, lawmakers threaten the credit ratings of its state-backed bonds.

I reviewed the study when it was released earlier this year. MetroNews, the (Beckley) Register-Herald and The Charleston Gazette meanwhile each has a story on the Senate Finance measure.