No “Toll Impact Study” Results in Required Environmental Assessment

The  latest, 3/24/11 Downtown, Midtown, Martin Luther King Highway Extension Environmental Assessment does not adequately address the cost of  toll's impact on the Portsmouth and greater Tidewater communities.  The assessment is in need of a "Toll Impact Study"  that is made available to the affected communities. Such a study is relevant to Federal Highway Aministration's (FHWA) Environmental Justice requirements and needs to be performed before such potentially damaging charges go into effect.

 

The Federal-aid Highway Act of 1970:“requires consideration of the anticipated effects of proposed transportation projects upon residences, businesses, farms, accessibility of public facilities, tax base, and other community resources.” 

According to the Federal Highway Administration website's "Facts Page," social impacts have to be evaluated as do health and environmental impacts.  “All reasonably foreseeable adverse social, economic, and environmental effects on minority populations and low income populations must be identified and addressed. I do not think this was adequately accomplished in the required Environmental Assessment.

The assessment was originally located here: http://driveert.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Environmental-Assessment-Downtown-TunnelMidtown-TunnelMLK-Extension-Project-March-2011.pdf

Unfortunately, the latter, Elizabeth River Tunnels, link is no longer active. I'm working on locating it.

I believe most significant impact the project will have on Portsmouth and the region will be the tolls.  Each person traveling to work on the opposite side of the Elizabeth River will have to pay an extra $1000 in tolls. Its not uncommon for families to work and go to school in Norfolk.  Two parents working and on child going to school in Norfolk will cost the family an extra $3000 per year.  Some people will have to quit jobs or move.

Toll costs were not addressed in the Environmental Assessment as toll charges were not yet determined. Once announced, there was a huge public outcry, from impacted citizens, against tolls.  According to social justice laws, the community should have been involved in the toll decision. The community consistently condemned the tolls as: unfair placing an undue burden on the backs of a minority and low income community, detrimental to the community’s economic vitality in terms of decreased real estate values and forcing businesses to close for lack of customers, disruptive to the availability of medical, educational, and religious services;  a barrier to obtaining and maintaining employment; and isolationist as it segregates the low income, minority Portsmouth community from the more affluent, eastern, greater Tidewater communities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

Toll related, adverse social impacts that should have been a more completely addressed in the Environmental Assessment include the following FHWA website quotes:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/environmental_justice/facts/

"Destruction or disruption of community cohesion or a community's economic vitality."
(Portsmouth restaurants, retail businesses, and museums will see less tourists from Norfolk and Virginia Beach as EZ pass users will have to pay an extra $3.68 and out of town tourists without EZ Pass $7.36. Both are significant to selecting restaurants. In our competitive market, this puts Portsmouth at a serious disadvantage.) 

"Destruction or disruption of the availability of public and private facilities and services."
(Many Portsmoutheans will have to pay more to access medical services, participate in church and religious functions,  and  attend school and universities  in Norfolk and beyond  to Virginia Beach.  For low income individuals, this may mean missed medi cal appointments, treatment, and access to prescription medications. For parents with a sick child in Kings Daughter’s Hospital, the extra  $7.36 per visit can mount up quickly.)

"Adverse employment effects."
On  2/25/13, I surveyed Craigslist’s job list. There was 1940 job postings in Norfolk and 2434 job postings  in Virginia Beach for a total of 4374 jobs on the east side of the Elizabeth River and only 452 job postings in Portsmouth.  The availability of jobs is on the other side of the river away from Portsmouth. To force people pay an additional $1000 a year per person in tolls to access those jobs is unfair. It places an excessive burden  on the entire Portsmouth community as well as a significant low income population and other protected classes to include the elderly, disabled, and single mothers.  This tremendously important social justice issue was addressed in the Environmental Assessment in terms of the 2 years of tunnel construction jobs.  No mention of how many jobs would be created were provided.

"Increased traffic congestion, isolation, exclusion, or separation of minority or low income individuals within a given community or from the broader community."
The tolls are on all three Elizabeth River Crossings.  They will isolate Portsmouth, a minority city with significant low income population, from the more affluent broader community of  Tidewater to include Norfolk and Virginia Beach.  The tolls separate and segregate.  Because EZ Pass costs twice as much as the regular toll, low income individuals from outside the area who do not have EZ Pass and are not in the system will pay twice as much for the toll as more affluent individuals who can afford EZ Pass. Hence, the tolls will force some low income people to pay more which is disparate impact and a Civil Rights infringement that can lead to litigation. 

According to the Baltimore Sun, discrimination plaintiffs not served in a timely manner at Denny’s Restaurants were awarded between $15,000 to $35,000 each.  (Baltimore Sun,  May 25, 1994, http://articles.baltimoresun.com/keyword/secret-service-agents/recent/4)  Could the Elizabeth River Crossing or EZ Pass face a similar problem?

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A Toll Impact Study needs to be performed and its results published for the affected community and Environmental Justice professionals to review.  The tolls should not go into effect until this is completed.