The new year will bring a weekday toll increase to the Pocahontas Parkway, effective Thursday, Jan. 3.

Two-axle vehicles such as cars, SUVs and pickup trucks passing through the Pocahontas 895 main plaza will pay an extra quarter for weekday travel, although tolls will remain the same for two-axle vehicles passing through the Main Plaza on weekends.

On weekends, the main toll plaza rate for two-axle vehicles will be continue to be $2.75, which is the current rate. During the week, two toll prices will be charged at the main plaza – a commuting rate of $3.25 from 6 and 9 a.m. and again from 3 to 6 p.m. – and a rate of $3 at all other times Monday through Friday.

Tolls also will go up a quarter, to $1.50, for customers traveling between Interstate 295 and Pocahontas 895’s two ramps – the Laburnum Avenue exit and the Airport Connector exit -- who do not pass through the Main Toll Plaza.

Tractor-trailers and other large vehicles passing through the Main Toll Plaza will pay $1.00 for each axle over two, at all times. For example, a 3-axle vehicle paying at the Main Plaza will pay $4.25 and a 4-axle vehicle will pay $5.25, at all times. This large-vehicle rate is an increase of 25 cents over the 2012 price.

The scheduled increase will fall short of the maximum permitted by an agreement with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), said a spokesperson for Transurban, the company that manages Pocahontas 895. Funds for operation and maintenance of the road – including support road operations such as a micro-surfacing program to preserve and extend pavement life, security cameras along the roadway and in the Main Plaza area, and sensors on the bridge to detect wind, temperature and precipitation – come solely from user fees in the form of tolls, and not from federal or state taxes.

For details, including full details of toll price increases, visit http://www.pocahontas895.com