The $2.1-billion Midtown Tunnel project in Virginia is the latest flashpoint in the ongoing debate over the imposition of tolls on existing transportation infrastructure.

On March 13, the Portsmouth, Va., City Council unanimously endorsed a citizen-driven lawsuit challenging the use of tolls to help fund construction of the new tube parallel to the 50-year-old, 4,300-ft-long Midtown Tunnel, which carries more than one million vehicles a month between the city and Norfolk.