GLOUCESTER, Va. (WVEC) - No relief in sight. Driving across the Coleman Bridge will continue to cost you for the next 14 years.
Earlier this week, VDOT gave a presentation about the price tag of the bridge. Gloucester Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Ashley Chriscoe said the bridge was supposed to be paid off by 2021 and the tolls would disappear.
But on Tuesday night, VDOT officials gave the board bad news.
Chriscoe said, "You thought you were seeing an end in sight, and it keeps getting pushed out further."
VDOT leaders said the toll revenues for the bridge didn't meet projections, which means drivers will keep paying to cross the Coleman.
"It is disappointing because we are bearing the brunt as one locality for the bridge," he said.
VDOT officials said the toll generates about $6 million a year and $2.4 million of that goes to the collection of tolls.
Board members hope that can change. They sent a call to action letter to VDOT saying, "On behalf of the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors, who represent the citizens of Gloucester, who pay approximately 80% of the cost of the bridge via tolls, I would like to formally request that VDOT pursue all available measures to reduce the $2.4 million per year fixed cost of toll collections, in efforts to accelerate pay down of the toll facility revolving fund as absolutely quickly as possible."