YORK COUNTY, Va. (WVEC) — It costs $2, or $.85 with an E-Z pass to take the Coleman Bridge into Gloucester, and that’s something that takes a toll on wallets of people in Gloucester.
Robert Karsay, a Gloucester resident feels the impact of the toll.
"It's probably $300 a year total just on the bridge itself, if not more,” said Karsay.
Karsay has made the commute for work at Walter Reed Hospital for 19 years now, and he said the drives have added up.
"It might be closer to ten thousand dollars minimum,” said Karsay.
The toll charges are something Congressman Rob Wittman hopes to change.
"Reducing the toll, the state could look at the money that we can potentially get from the Navy, to offset what they're getting dollars in the toll,” said Congressman Wittman.
Wittman asked the Navy for a study last year to see how frequently they use the Coleman Memorial Bridge.
Letter for Coleman Bridge study by 13News Now on Scribd
According to that study, from 2011 to early 2018, 89 percent of all bridge openings were for the Navy, while just 11 percent were for commercial vessels.
Coleman Bridge Report by 13News Now on Scribd
"Predominantly the bridge openings are due to the Navy going to Yorktown Naval Weapons station to unload the ships there,” said Wittman.
Wittman wrote a letter to the U.S. Transportation Command asking for the Coleman Bridge to be designated in the Virginia Strategic Highway Network.
"Which means it's critical for those facilities to be maintained for national security purposes,” said Wittman.
Wittman said taking this first step would get more eyes on the bridge and who uses it; therefore, moving the focus on who should be paying for the bridge to open and close.
"The state is taking the full cost of maintaining the mechanisms to open that span, there needs to be at least some element of shared responsibility with the Navy for that,” said Wittman.
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