THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, March 31, 1995                 TAG: 9503310001
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   44 lines

TOLL BOOTHS AND VOTING BOOTHS: FREE 44 WELL BEFORE JULY 4

If Frank Wagner and Clancy Holland had given as much thought to knocking down the toll booths on Route 44 as they have to knocking each other, the roadway and the republic would be safer places.

Delegate Wagner, a Republican from Virginia Beach, has for some time now fought to lift the tolls on the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway. Senator Holland, a Democrat from Virginia Beach, has fought to keep the tolls on almost as long. Why ``almost''?

Because after Senator Holland helped defeat Delegate Wagner's legislation to eliminate the tolls as of this past Jan. 1, Governor Allen, Republican now of Rich-mond, managed to get them abolished as of this Oct. 1. Senator Holland then got his colleagues in the Democrat-controlled Assembly to abolish the tolls as soon as they legally could, which is as of July 1.

But Saturday, July 1 begins the long July Fourth holiday weekend, not the greatest time to be dismantling toll equipment, discombulating drivers and angering tourists on the main thoroughfare between the rest of America and the Beach. Governor Allen has asked that the Assembly move the toll-removal date to June 1.

That leaves one last holiday infusion of quarters from Memorial Day travelers before the tolls come off.

Democrats say the governor's request has more to do with saving seats for Republican legislators come November's state House and Senate elections by reclaiming the credit for removing the tolls, and maybe even removing Clancy Holland from the Senate. Probably.

Republicans say tax-and-spend Democrats are trying to horn in at the last minute on a tax cut they themselves delayed. Provably: ``I wasn't,'' Senator Holland told a reporter last month, ``going to be upstaged by the governor in my own dis-trict.''

Will who gets the tolls off when make a dime's worth of difference in voting booths? It might. It will, if dismantling toll booths wrecks holiday traffic. Nevermind the political sides. Stay on the safe side of July Fourth. by CNB