Controversial Tolls, Ownership, Shunpiking
As early as 1933, the State Highway Commission (SHC) considered taking over the bridge approaches - but not the bridges themselves - from the corporation. Projected traffic volumes were not reached, leading to bankruptcy of the James River Bridge Corporation. It was bought by bondholders, headed by a local businessman from Smithfield. The new owners raised tolls, proving unpopular with local residents. Chapter 399 of the Acts of Virginia of 1940 authorized the SHC to acquire the James River Bridge System, consisting of the three bridges and approach roads. The SHC bought the system from the corporation for $5.6 million on September 30, 1949.
However, in 1955, the state doubled tolls to $1.80 round trip for cars and $4.00 or more for trucks, in order to pay for repairs, new toll booths, and a new punched card system compatible with the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. The toll plazas, which had numbered three - one for each bridge - were consolidated to two, one at the south end of the main bridge and one at the north end of the Nansemond River Bridge. Thus the Crittenden Bridge became free for local traffic. In addition, passenger vehicles and light trucks only had to pay at the first booth they reached; large trucks and buses had to pay twice. This meant that light vehicles crossing only the main bridge (for instance between Smithfield and Newport News) only had to pay southbound.
J.W. Luter, Jr. of the local Smithfield Packing Company rerouted his trucks via a smaller, cheaper bridge owned by a Norfolk car dealer. Tolls were eventually dropped to 10 cents per axle, and later removed on June 3, 1976; the state paid off the remaining bonds at that time. Simultaneously, the parallel Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel opened, and tolls were removed from that facility, the Coleman Bridge, and the Robert O. Norris Bridge. Many considered this an important step in the development of the area. The former toll building and parking area was used for maintenance workers, police, and tow truck drivers until 2002, when asbestos was discovered. Despite the efforts of preservationists, who argued the building had historic significance, it was torn down in 2004.
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