New toll pricing to take effect September 1
View the official press release document here.
May 9, 2023, Richmond, Va., — The Richmond Metropolitan Transportation Authority
(RMTA) Board of Directors, during its scheduled board meeting today, voted to adjust the toll
pricing along the RMTA Expressway System. The Board’s decision was based upon the
recommendation of the Authority’s staff, engineers, and traffic and revenue consultants, who cited
the age of the Expressway System, escalating capital and maintenance expenses, commuter
traffic decline during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and necessary technological
enhancements to improve safety and the overall customer experience. The Authority’s last toll
increase was 15 years ago in 2008.
Toll rates will increase on September 1 from $0.70 for all customers to $0.90 for E-ZPass
and $1.00 for cash two-axle vehicles along the RMTA Expressway System, which includes the
Powhite Parkway mainline toll plaza and the Downtown Expressway. Revenues from the adjusted
tolls will go toward future maintenance and capital improvement projects to better serve RMTA’s
customers. Since 2008, operating and maintenance expenses have increased by 23.3 percent as
a result of rising prices of materials such as concrete, asphalt and steel. It is estimated that
continued maintenance and capital improvements to the Expressway System for the next 6 years
will reach $96.3 million.
The RMTA receives no federal or state tax dollars. Its funding comes strictly from user
fees in the form of tolls.
Since fiscal year 2008, the RMTA has invested more than $143 million in capital
improvements along the Expressway System, including the application of high-early strength latex
modified concrete bridge deck overlays on 35 of 36 of RMTA’s bridges in FY 2014 – FY 2018,
construction of the Downtown Expressway (DTE) westbound Open Road Tolling (ORT) lanes and
implementation of the DTE ORT toll collection system in FY 2012, implementation of the updated
traditional lanes (cash and E-ZPass) toll collection system FY 2012 and FY 2022-2023,
implementation of application of asphalt overlays on a majority of the RMTA’s 51 lane miles in FY
2015 – FY 2018, application of full bridge protective coatings on a majority of RMTA’s 36 bridges
in FY 2015 – FY 2019 and FY 2022 – 2024, as well as other routine facility maintenance items.
The Richmond Metropolitan Transportation Authority (RMTA) is a regional, political
subdivision which owns and operates toll facilities in central Virginia. The RMTA was created in
1966 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly.
# # #
NEWS RELEASE Media Contact: Leslie Mehta, Chief of Staff and Counsel to the CEO
For Immediate Release Leslie.Mehta@rmtaonline.org
May 9, 2023