by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Would you pay a few extra dollars if it meant you could shave a few minutes during your rush hour drive time? More than a few local transportation planners are banking you would.
Denise Bunnewith, executive director of the First Coast Metropolitan Planning Organization, said voluntary toll lanes could surface in and around Jacksonville in the next decade.
The FCMPO is an independent agency that advocates to the State of Florida much of the necessary long-term road projects needed in parts of Duval, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties.
Bunnewith said tolls would be the most logical way to generate revenue to help pay for those projects and, more importantly, keep traffic moving for years to come.
Highly-traveled Jacksonville thoroughfares including J. Turner Butler Boulevard, 9-A, the Mathews Bridge and Heckscher Drive would be obvious locations for “express toll lanes,” she said.
“We cannot, unfortunately, look at gas tax as the only way to pay for these types of things,” Bunnewith said during a presentation made before the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs Committee Tuesday. “I know it’s not something people want to hear, but it’s something that should be considered.
“Busses would also be allowed to use them.”
Bunnewith and Jim McCollum, BellSouth regional director and an MPO board member, said voluntary tolls might not only be a possibility, but that he was fairly sure they would become a local reality.
“I kid about the consequences, but it’s probably what we’ll do,” McCollum said. “We are looking at a lot of growth and even heavier traffic headed our way. If you want to pay $2 or $3 to get where you need to be a little faster that’s an option you can have.
“I can think of a lot of people who would probably pay today if it meant less time on JTB.”
In consulting with other municipalities farther south, McCollum said the FCMPO learned other options designed to alleviate congestion such as pay-as-you-go turnpikes in Orlando would be considerably more expensive than adding the elective toll lanes on existing roads.
“We’re talking anywhere from $20 - 40 million a mile to build a turnpike,” he said. “I don’t see that happening.”
And though tolls aren’t expected to surface any time soon, Mayor John Peyton’s office recently confirmed that it would not support tolls on any area roads or bridges.
Bunnewith said more discussion would take place before any party would move forward with a formal toll proposal to the state or federal governments.
“I know this is something people dislike, but the tolls would be voluntary,” Bunnewith said. “They are something that should be considered.”