March 18, 2008 --RMA to implement toll increase effective Sept. 8

The Richmond Metropolitan Authority (RMA) Board of Directors, during its regularly scheduled board meeting today, voted to increase toll pricing along the RMA Expressway System. The Board’s decision was based upon the recommendation of the Authority’s staff, engineers and traffic revenue consultants, who cited the ever-increasing costs of maintaining the roadway system and implementing future improvements. The Authority’s last toll increase was a decade ago.

Toll rates will increase on Sept. 8 to 70 cents for all two-axle vehicles along the RMA Expressway System, specifically the Powhite Parkway mainline toll plaza and the Downtown Expressway mainline toll plaza. Revenues from the adjusted tolls will go toward future maintenance and capital improvement projects in an effort to better serve its customers. Since 1998, operating and maintenance expenses have increased by 56 percent as a result of rising prices of materials such as concrete, asphalt and steel. It is estimated that continued maintenance and capital improvements to the Expressway System for the next 10 years will reach $80 million.

The RMA receives no federal or state tax dollars. Its funding comes strictly from user fees in the form of tolls. In addition, the RMA’s several bond resolutions prohibit the commingling funds of various projects. For example, tolls collected on the Expressway System cannot and do not subsidize operations of The Diamond or the parking facilities.

Since 1998, the RMA has invested more than $61 million in capital improvements along the Expressway System, including the implementation of electronic toll collection (now called E-ZPass), widening of the Powhite Parkway roadway, application of asphalt overlays on a majority of the RMA’s 45 lane miles, as well as other routine facility maintenance items.

The Richmond Metropolitan Authority (RMA) is a regional, political subdivision which owns and operates toll facilities, parking decks and The Diamond baseball stadium in central Virginia. In addition, the organization operates Main Street Station, a National Historic Landmark owned by the City of Richmond. The RMA was created in 1966 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly.

Feb. 25, 2008 -- Forest Hill Powhite Parkway on-ramp to close Tuesday, March 11 -- Closing begins series of traffic shifts for Open Road Tolling project --

The eastbound Forest Hill Avenue  to northbound Powhite Parkway ramp, will close Tuesday, March 11 in order that construction crews may relocate the retaining wall at the bottom of the ramp. The ramp is scheduled to re-open in six weeks.

Motorists are encouraged to travel west along Forest Hill Avenue to Chippenham Parkway south to access the Powhite Parkway. Motorists heading into the City of Richmond are encouraged to continue east on Forest Hill Avenue, north onto Westover Hills Boulevard to the Boulevard Bridge. Additional alternative routes are posted here.

This ramp closing marks the beginning of a dramatic shift in traffic along the Powhite Parkway over the next six months to accommodate construction related to the opening of the Open Road Toll lanes and Split Plaza project. Motorists are advised to remain alert concerning all traffic shifts. For more information, click here.

Feb. 15, 2008 --

Dec. 27, 2007 -- Powhite Parkway/Split Plaza project continues

The Powhite Parkway/Split Plaza construction project is still underway. This new initiative will introduce three express lanes in each direction along the Parkway, allowing E-ZPass customers to maintain near highway speeds on the toll road. This project is the final phase of the Richmond Metropolitan Authority’s ambitious program, dating back to 2001, which will reduce traffic congestion on the expressway system.

The Split Plaza project will separate the toll road’s northbound and southbound components, located several hundred yards from each other, to make room for six Open Road Toll (ORT) lanes. The design is similar to the roadway layout along Interstate- 895/Pocahontas Parkway. Electronic toll-paying customers will be able to travel at 45 mph through barrier-free toll lanes, thus eliminating the stop-and-go traffic they currently experience. The express lanes make full use of new technologies that electronic tolling has enabled in the last few years. One such technology is state-of-the-art video camera enforcement -- a security measure implemented to combat toll violations in ORT lanes.

The new southbound toll plaza is scheduled to be completed in spring 2008, with its ORT lanes opening approximately six weeks later. The northbound construction will begin in early summer 2008, and conclude this fall.