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Toll Troubles Nearing End

There are a few more lane closures coming your way on the Powhite, but they'll be the last for a while.

The Richmond Metropolitan Authority is fine tuning its open road tolling lanes on the southbound side of the main Powhite Parkway toll plaza. Though they had hoped to have those lanes open by last week, they pushed the date back to Monday to further work on the cameras.

"We've had cameras in place during the testing, but we're noticing the toll violation cameras are not as crisp as we'd like so we're doing some final tweaking and decided instead of trying to rush and get the lanes open, that we'd take a step back," said Linda McElroy , public relations manager.

"We're refocusing and retesting this week to verify they're in the condition we want them to be in then we're all set to go."

The northbound open road toll lanes, which will also allow drivers with E-ZPass to go through at faster speeds, are still on track to open later this month, she said.

Drivers can expect at least two more lane closures around the main Powhite Parkway toll plaza this month, including one tomorrow.

McElroy said that the authority will completely shut down the on-ramp to Chippenham Parkway northbound for 10 minutes while they make some adjustments. The closure will happen after rush hour traffic and there will be at least two alternative routes provided.

Later on this month, the authority will briefly shutdown the northbound lanes to the Powhite Parkway from Chippenham to make some changes. Officials do not yet know when or how long that will take.

And lest anyone has forgotten, your tolls will be going up in about a month. Starting on Monday, Sept. 8, just after Labor Day weekend, all tolls will be going up 20 percent. The mainline tolls at the Powhite Parkway Plaza and the Downtown Expressway will jump 20 cents from 50 cents to 70 cents.

Other tolls will also be going up as well. They include:

w raising the Boulevard Bridge (popularly known as the Nickel Bridge) toll from 25 cents to 35 cents;

w raising the Second Street toll from 25 cents to 35 cents;

w raising the Forest Hill Avenue on and exit toll ramps from 50 cents to 70 cents;

w raising the Douglas Dale Road toll ramp from 15 cents to 20 cents; and

w raising the 11th Street toll ramp from 20 cents to 30 cents.

The increase, which is the first in a decade for an authority that receives no state or federal funding, is needed to pay for the increased maintenance costs, $123 million in prior debt for building the roads and the Virginia Department of Transportation's announcement that as of July 1, it would no longer be spending $500,000 in routine maintenance on the roads, such as snow removal and grass cutting.

Closer to time, the authority will put up numerous signs at the toll booths as well as on electronic message boards, McElroy said.

"We want people to make sure they pay attention to what lanes they need to go into and that if they are an EZ-Pass customer and in an express lane, to make sure (the pass) is mounted because they're not going to know where the read zone is," she said, adding that drivers can no longer simply hold up their pass to their windshield.

"If it doesn't read in time, it's a potential toll violation. We want customers to know that cameras are watching and we do not want them to violate."