NORFOLK, Va. — After a viewer shared photos of an $18.15 express lane charge on I-64 in Norfolk Monday morning, WTKR News 3 reached out to the Virginia Department of Transportation for more information on what might be causing the higher fees.
"Can someone explain this? People are just trying to get to work!!" frustrated driver, Michelle Starnes asked.
The photo was captured by Starnes on I-64 around exit 282 for Northampton Boulevard, which is right near Ikea and Virginia Wesleyan University.
VDOT said the Hampton Roads Express Lanes and their associated tolls are meant to manage traffic congestion and "provide smoother, more reliable travel."
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They go on to say that tolls can fluctuate based on traffic conditions, which they described as "dynamic pricing." Dynamic pricing refers to a term used in business to set prices based on demand for a product. When there's more demand, prices go up.
"Complete frustration. Just about taking more money from people. There's absolutely no reason why it has to be 18 dollars," Starnes said.
"Under this approach, as traffic volumes grow in the Express Lanes, toll prices increase to reduce the number of solo drivers entering and overcrowding these lanes, which helps ensure smoother and more reliable trips in the Express Lanes," VDOT said. "In contrast, lower traffic volumes result in lower tolls, encouraging more solo drivers to use the Express Lanes and freeing up space in the general purpose lanes. Occasionally, toll prices may spike significantly above average, indicating traffic congestion or delays in the Express Lanes, typically due to a crash or incident. In these cases, these temporary higher toll rates are intended to deter additional traffic from entering the Express Lanes and encourage drivers to choose the free general purpose lanes instead."
“If there is an accident, shut it down for you know, the temporary amount of time that the accident is you know, getting cleared. And just basically stop price gouging," Starnes said.
A traffic crash happened in that area on Monday morning, VDOT said, which reduced the express lanes to just one lane. But as more cars went into the express lanes, the "toll algorithm increased the toll price in response to its sensors detecting heavy vehicle density and low speeds in the Express Lanes."
This is why the toll rate spiked temporarily, VDOT says.
In response to our story Wednesday, users have been sending in photos of high tolls they've seen on local express lanes.
This from July was captured on I-64 eastbound near the Indian River Road exit.
