THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 29, 1995 TAG: 9503290427
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAC DANIEL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Gov. George F. Allen has asked the General Assembly to abolish the Route 44 tolls on June 1 - a month earlier than scheduled.
The governor's proposal Tuesday would amend a bill sponsored by Sen. Clarence A. ``Clancy'' Holland, D-Virginia Beach, to remove the tolls July 1. The General Assembly will consider the request at its veto session April 5.
If the earlier date is approved, the GOP will win back some credit for lifting the tolls - an initiative that the governor suggested after Democrats killed a Republican bill to remove them last year.
Del. Frank W. Wagner, the Republican whose original bill would have removed the tolls by Jan. 1 of this year, was enthused that the initiative was back in GOP hands.
Wagner's original bill was killed in the Senate last year after Democrats flooded it with amendments at Holland's request.
``Had Clancy not done what he'd done a year ago, they'd have already been gone,'' Wagner said in a telephone interview from South Carolina. ``I'll take 30 days any time I can get it.''
Allen said he approved of the ``general purpose'' of the bill lifting the tolls by July 1, but he refused to sign it.
His reason? Safety.
Waiting until July 1 would not allow time for the removal of toll booths before the Fourth of July weekend, when the expressway is likely to be packed with holiday traffic, Allen and state Secretary of Transportation Robert E. Martinez said.
With a June 1 date, most of the toll booths could be removed in time for the holiday, Martinez said Tuesday. Those that remain would be off to the sides and not staffed.
July 1 was the earliest the legislature could remove the tolls. The governor, however, has the power to move the date up, with the permission of the General Assembly.
There was little doubt among Democrats that Allen was stealing some ceremonial thunder from them - namely from Holland. He sponsored the original bill to remove the tolls on July 1 and his seat is expected to be the focus of a heavy GOP attack in the next election.
Holland, the senior senator from Virginia Beach, once opposed removing the tolls and fought steadfastly for them, saying the $10 million in annual toll revenue was needed to keep the road and its interchanges in working order.
But when Allen asked that the tolls be removed by Oct. 1, Holland did the governor one better by sponsoring a bill to remove the tolls three months earlier and saving motorists an estimated $2.3 million in quarters, dimes and nickels.
``If they're coming down anyway, why wait?'' Holland said last month. ``Besides,'' he added, ``I wasn't going to be upstaged by the governor in my own district.''
Now Holland must decide whether to fall behind Allen's amendment or to work against it to keep the tolls open until July.
Holland could not be reached for comment. by CNB