Toll Roads in West Virginia

The state agency that now runs the West Virginia Turnpike could add toll booths to other roads around the state to help fund them, under a proposal from Gov. Joe Manchin.

As The Associated Press reports, only a handful of highway projects appear likely candidates for such a move. They include "include the uncompleted upgrades to U.S. Route 35, which enters Mason County from Ohio and ends just west of Charleston, and the Mon-Fayette Expressway planned for north-central West Virginia," the article said.

AP also observes that "while the bill would expand the agency's reach beyond the 88-mile turnpike...it also would extend Manchin's ongoing drive to refocus it solely on roads"

The bill "would remove further development and tourism projects from the agency's scope and change its name accordingly, to the state Parkways Authority," the article said.

The Charleston Gazette also previewed the legislation, as did The Register-Herald of Beckley.