Mayor says no to tolls in State of City

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) - The Mayor of Portsmouth believes the prospect of tolls threatens the economic vitality of the city.

Mayor Kenneth Wright spoke on the subject during his State of the City address.

While education improvements in Portsmouth made up the vast majority of his speech, first on his list of topics were the proposed tolls on the Midtown and Downtown Tunnels. 

"It is essential that our citizens, and the citizens of our sister cities, have the ability to navigate freely without tolls to any other city in this region," Wright said to loud applause.

Wright said putting tolls on the tunnels threaten regionalism in Hampton Roads.

"It is imperative that regionalism flourish, and not diminish because of the impediment tolls present to all the citizens of Hampton Roads," Wright exclaimed.

Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms was in the audience for the speech.

"I do support the project. It must move forward. If it is with tolls then it will have to be," Sessoms said.

Sessoms, like every other mayor in Hampton Roads, has failed to join Wright in opposing the tolls.

"I can not say, 'no tolls.' I can not do that. I can't say that because this project is so vital," Sessoms added.

Wright told WAVY.com he is troubled by the lack of support.

"He's got to make that decision for himself. I'm looking at this from a regional perspective, because we need this region to flourish," explained Wright.

Wright also mentioned how tolls would affect students going to school.

During his speech, he honored former Tidewater Community College President Deborah DiCroce. For 14 years, she led what has become the 15th largest community college system in America.

"We have to come up with some means with addressing our roads because of the commons we share as a community," Wright added.

Many believe that means raising the state sales tax one cent on the dollar. Doing so could raise $800 million a year statewide to pay for roads.

Last week, WAVY.com reported Governor Bob McDonnell now supports a budget amendment to delay the tolls. McDonnell wants to re-allocate up to $125 million, which would allow the state to pay tolls until January 2014.