(The Center Square) – Prohibition on tolls in North Carolina for Interstate 95 has been proposed by a trio of senators.
The heavily traveled corridor from Maine to Florida has 181 miles from the South Carolina border near Rowland to the Virginia border near Pleasant Hill. Built between 1956 and 1980, the highway has never had tolls within the state’s borders.
Sens. Buck Newton, R-Wilson, Lisa Barnes, R-Nash, and Benton Sawrey, R-Johnston, are running Senate Bill 61 – I-95 Toll Prohibition – amending General Statute 136-89.198. It makes an exception for the law on creating toll roads, saying it may not be collected for on I-95 for 10 years, with Section 2 amended to require approval by the General Assembly starting July 1, 2035.
Enactment would be immediate if the bill becomes law.
The state has just two modern toll roads, each all-electronic and without the need to stop and pay. The Triangle Expressway is adjacent to Raleigh, the Monroe Expressway adjacent to Charlotte.
I-95 tolls are on optional managed lanes in the Miami area but are not to be found on the interstate from there north until into Virginia. Tolls are also in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts are free, then tolls are in New Hampshire and Maine.
The three sponsoring senators are in consecutive counties of the route about midway between the state borders.