Customer traffic should not decline at businesses near Interstate 95 should a proposal to charge tolls on the highway come to fruition, managers and employees at motels and restaurants at the highway’s Gold Rock exit said.

But not everyone is so sure.

Traveling any distance along U.S. 301 is not a viable option with the stop-and-go traffic, several of the hotel and restaurant staffers said. Depending on where tollbooths are located, a toll on the interstate actually might help their business, they also said.

Raul Garcia, general manager of the exit’s Denny’s restaurant, said he doesn’t see tolls slowing business, and that a toll probably would help generate needed money to fix up the highway. If a tollbooth is located near the exit, drivers might slow down and be more likely to patronize that Denny’s.

“Drivers wouldn’t have any other choice but to travel the interstate,” he said.

The head of the county’s tourism office is trying to determine whether tolls might affect the number of visitors coming to the area.

Tourism Director Martha Lamm attended a meeting July 29 with state officials where the proposal was discussed. Coming away from the meeting, she couldn’t determine whether a toll road would reduce the number of visitors coming through the county.

“I don’t have a feel for that. I’ve never been in a toll situation in North Carolina,” she said.

There are too many unanswered questions, she said, such as where tollbooths might be located and how high the toll would be, to come to any conclusions.

But for tourism’s sake, it is critical that money is found to bring I-95 up to par.

“We’ve got to improve our interstates,” Lamm said. “The roads need to be maintained and upgraded. Now, whether a toll road is the way to finance this, that is the question.”

About $4 billion is needed to repair and renovate the highway, and the state does not have the funds, said Nicole Meister, a spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Transportation. The needed work includes raising bridges and widening and paving the road.

A few years ago, the state asked the federal government for permission to charge tolls and was given the go-ahead, she said. But legislators in North Carolina would have to change state law for that to happen.

New express toll lanes could be built without legislative approval.

State transportation planners and engineers will discuss details of the I-95 Corridor Planning and Finance Study at a public meeting from 4 to 7 p.m. Aug. 17 at the Imperial Centre. They started charting ways to address the needs of the 182-mile corridor from Virginia to South Carolina last year.

The two-year, comprehensive study, which is expected to be completed by fall 2011, will help determine and prioritize what needs to be done to improve I-95 and target ways to pay for the improvements.

State legislators previously have discussed toll and nontoll options.

Past DOT studies have concluded that charging tolls would allow individual projects to be built more quickly than nontoll alternatives.

According to a state website about the tolling proposal, driving95.com, tolls are among the options under consideration. The study considers tolling at the South Carolina and Virginia lines and points between and will take into consideration through-state traffic and local driving.

Businesses along U.S. 64 within miles of the interstate also are monitoring the tolling proposal.

Rob Watson, the general manager of the DoubleTree Hotel in Rocky Mount, isn’t a fan of tolls.

“I would think it would just be a hassle with tollbooths on a major interstate highway,” he said.

While a toll would not result in a significant decrease in business at his hotel, he said, a substantial charge might make some people decide to avoid the interstate and that could affect U.S. 64.

“The cost of the toll could have an impact,” he said. “I’m sure people would look at alternative routes or possibly change vacation plans or go different directions to avoid a (high) toll.”