Elizabeth River Tunnels announced this week tolls on the Downtown and Midtown tunnel will go up in the new year.
Drivers will pay anywhere from 3.5% to 5.6% more per trip through the tunnels between Portsmouth and Norfolk than they did in 2024. That amounts to between 8 and 32 cents more per toll.
Exactly how much depends on the time of day, since rates go up during peak traffic, as well as by vehicle weight and whether you’re paying with an E-ZPass.
Toll rates at the two tunnels have gone up annually since they opened in 2014. It’s part of the deal the state struck with the company that built the new tunnels.
The initial rates were artificially suppressed by the state during the first two years of tunnel operation. Virginia spent $83 million in state funds to keep rates for passenger vehicles down: 75 cents for a car using an E-ZPass during off-peak hours and $1 during drive time.
But since then, the state funding has dried up and tolls have more than tripled. An E-ZPass user in 2025 will pay $3.23 during rush hour to cross the bridge one way.
