§17-16A-18.  Corridor L toll fees authorized; commuter pass.

(a) The Parkways Authority is hereby authorized to operate the currently existing toll collection facility located at the interchange of U. S. Route 19 (Corridor L) and to fix, revise, charge and collect tolls for the use of such toll collection facility in accordance with the provisions of section thirteen of this article. Any proposed increase of any rate or toll for use of the toll collection facility located at Corridor L shall be subject to the public notice and meeting requirements of section thirteen-a of this article. (1) The Parkways Authority shall maintain, advertise, implement and otherwise make generally available to all qualified members of the public, resident or nonresident, a system of commuter passes, in a form to be determined by the authority. Applications for these commuter passes are to be made available by the Parkways Authority to Division of Motor Vehicles offices in the state;

(2) The system of commuter passes implemented in accordance with the provisions of subdivision (1), subsection (a) of this section, shall be available only for use when operating or traveling in a Class A motor vehicle as herein defined. Any person who knowingly or intentionally utilizes any commuter pass issued in accordance with this section while operating a vehicle other than a Class A motor vehicle, as herein defined, at the U. S. Route 19 (Corridor L) turnpike toll facility, or any other toll facility at or upon which such pass may later be usable, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, for every such offense, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of section seventeen, article sixteen-a of this chapter; and the Parkways Authority shall hereafter be authorized and empowered to cancel any such commuter pass or passes improperly used in accordance with this section;

(3) For the purpose of this section, a “Class A vehicle” shall be defined as a motor vehicle of passenger type and truck with a gross weight of ten thousand pounds or less and registered or eligible for registration as a Class A vehicle in accordance with section one, article ten, chapter seventeen-a of this code as the same is currently constituted; and

(4) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this code to the contrary, the Parkways Authority may not promulgate emergency rules in accordance with section fifteen, article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to increase or decrease tolls, “single program” fees or the commuter pass fee established herein.

(b) Nothing in this section is to be construed to apply to, regulate or in any manner affect the operation of the three main line toll barriers and toll collection facilities currently located on the West Virginia Turnpike and operated by the Parkways Authority as Barrier A, Barrier B and Barrier C (I-64, I-77).