ATLANTA, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Georgia officials voted to extend tolls, originally promised to expire next year, on Georgia 400 until 2020 to fund "vastly needed projects."
The State Road and Tollway Authority, which is led by Gov. Sonny Perdue, voted Friday to extend the tolls until September 2020. Perdue suggested there may be a temporary suspension in 2011, to satisfy a 20-year-old promise, with a new toll to begin shortly after, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday.
The tolls were to expire in 2011, when the bonds used to pay the bridge are scheduled to be paid off in full.
"There are vastly needed projects we need to do sooner rather than later," Perdue said of the reason for extending the toll.
Tad Leithead, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission, stood with the governor during the news conference following the vote.
"From a general perspective in this difficult funding environment to take down the one toll we have seems like a step in the wrong direction," Leithead said.
