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West Virginia Turnpike
The whats & whys; this’ll be fun
The West Virginia Turnpike is ran by the West Virginia Parkways Authority, with a Turnpike Commission.
Disclaimer
First off, I don’t care about the 75 cents at the northern booth and $2.75 ($4.00 since 2019, $4.25 starting on 1/01/2022 according to the road sign) at the southern toll booth. I think everyone should be able to do 75 cents in a country that prides itself on a good economy.
Plus, my perfectionist mindset which expects the government, to include West Virginia Parkways Authority to be at the technology of everything else in said country, just gets reinforced with the toll booths. Not only to waste people’s time, but to force a specific tax and not give everyone a fair way to pay it, is ideocracy at best.
The Turnpike
The turnpike reaches 88 miles of a 4-lane highway, that started in 1952 and took two years to build. It has a built-in road upgrade to keep the highway rising with the area’s elevation. Some call it a masterpiece. I agree that is was very tedious and a good idea back in 1952!
Finances
Naturally, there has been a progression of finances as the years have gone.
According to West Virginia Parkways Authority, there is an average of 95,000 toll booth transactions per day (95,000 vehicles). How many per year? 34,200,000 if we just calculate 360 days.
According to the West Virginia Parkways Authority:
- $84.5 Million in revenue from just toll booths in 2015
According to West Virginia Parkways Authority:
- A total of $49.8 Million in expenses in 2015 (for everything, to include the tunnel and law enforcement support — yes, a commission can hire law enforcement, in this case the Turnpike Commission)
https://transportation.wv.gov/Turnpike/about/Documents/FINANCIAL%20AND%20TOLL%20INFORMATION.pdf
What happens with the additional money? politician pockets, I don’t know.
Why did the tolls go up this year and why are they going up next year when they should have had close to $300 Million in excess funds?
