By ANTHONY DEHART WPTF News

RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) – State Transportation Secretary Joey Hopkins was the guest on this week’s edition of Carolina Newsmakers with Don Curtis.

Hopkins said toll roads, once a controversial idea, are becoming more acceptable in North Carolina. “Interestingly enough, we’ve had a lot of communities come to us and ask, ‘Hey, what would it look like if we asked you to toll this?’” Hopkins said.

Hopkins mentioned that the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization asked his office to evaluate the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge project as a potential candidate for tolls.

“They wanted to see how it would score,” he said. “They haven’t decided to toll it, and I don’t know that they would, but they’ve asked us to look at it.”

In Wake County, Hopkins said introducing tolls helped local leaders expedite the completion of the western side of 540.

Hopkins emphasized that while his office can help local municipalities make decisions, it is not interested in pushing tolls in places where they are not wanted.

“As the Department of Transportation, we’re not trying to push toll roads down any local government’s or public’s throat,” he said.