It looks like the N.C. Department of Transportation has trotted out its “let’s toll I-95” plan again. Last time DOT leaders did this, about two years ago, they got serious pushback from North Carolina citizens who live, work and do business along the road. What I find discomforting is that many people actually think that tolling Interstate 95 would not hurt business along the road. They are wrong.

Almost all of my working life has been along I-95. I understand the economic impact on businesses in counties along the road and those next to it. The interstate is the lifeline that has helped many smaller towns and cities avoid falling into economic despair during this downturn. Do not tell me that charging $40 for a round trip will not have a serious effect on use of the road and businesses along it. Just using it one time per week would be more than $2,000 annually in tolls.

Think about how it will change the routes of truckers who use it to deliver goods and how it will affect the choices of travelers who stay in our hotels and dine in our restaurants. Are state lawmakers willing to reimburse towns and counties for the loss of sales tax revenue? Would they be willing to give economic help to the motels, restaurants and outlets that will get hurt badly from tolls on I-95?

Let’s note that even with $40 from a round trip, only $28 of that will actually reach the cost of upgrading the road, since there is a 30 percent cost of administering the toll. If we used our money wisely, we would use that 30 percent to buy pavement and rebuild bridges. Let’s also note that for years N.C. governors and lawmakers took hundreds of millions of transportation trust fund money to pay for other favored spending that could and should have gone to upgrade I-95.

The argument that only Yankees use I-95 makes no sense either. Yankees are really tourists, and they would be considered important sources of revenue in other parts of the state.

Interstate 95 has served this state well over the years, providing jobs, tax revenue and an economic lifeline to a poorer part of North Carolina, and now it needs help to begin upgrades. For years, this road has been neglected for more politically favored routes. State leaders owe it to this road and to I-95’s taxpaying citizens and businesses to upgrade the road without hitting them with economic pain.

Bob Dixon

Smithfield