A spokesman for North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley told The Associated Press the governor would not approve a plan to place toll booths along Interstate 95 through the state.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation told local media outlets earlier this month it would seek federal permission to charge tolls on I-95 to pay for the highway’s $3 billion overhaul.

The Joint Legislative Transportation Committee had agreed to authorize the highway department to seek the change on the interstate from the Federal Highway Administration.

A report prepared by a consultant hired by NCDOT said the state could pay for the upgrade by charging drivers $18 to travel the entire 182 miles the highway wends through eastern North Carolina, Durham’s WTVD TV reported.

The governor did not block the effort, but will not sign off on it – a requirement for the plan to move forward.

"The governor opposes charging tolls on I-95," Cari Boyce, Easley's communications director, told The AP. "We need to keep an eye to the future and look at what the needs are down the road, but there must be better solutions than putting up toll booths."

NCDOT wants to transform I-95 from a mostly four-lane highway into an eight-lane freeway with higher bridges, wider shoulders and longer ramps. But dipping into available highway funds would delay other projects, said Calvin Leggett, manager of the department’s program development branch.

The plan to use tolls to pay part of the cost called for constructing six toll booths about 30 miles apart, and collecting $3 at each booth. The tolls would raise enough funds over 30 years to widen I-95 to eight lanes.

Supporters said the plan would hit out-of-state drivers hardest while letting many locals make short trips for free, The Fayetteville Observer reported. Opponents said the tolls would discourage tourism and breed more toll booths north and south of the state border.

Gov. Easley’s hometown lies along the proposed toll route.

North Carolina’s DOT was attempting to take advantage of a federal test program that would allow putting tolls on existing interstate highways in a small number of states, The Charlotte Observer reported. Ohio and Texas have also expressed interest in the pilot program.