State transportation officials say it will cost billions to widen and improve Interstate 95 through North Carolina, and their recent study has found only one viable way to pay for it: tolls.

The N.C. Department of Transportation will head to Smithfield on Feb. 20 for a public forum at Johnston Community College. DOT officials want to know what locals think of the toll idea, and they’re seeking input on the road improvements.

The plan calls for making I-95 six lanes wide through Johnston County and much of the state, while improving interchanges by adding ramps and giving cars more space to merge. All 13 interchanges in Johnston are scheduled for improvements, though officials said it’s too soon to know what exactly will change.

Between St. Pauls – south of Fayetteville – and the I-40 interchange in Benson, the interstate would be widened to eight lanes, since that stretch sees the most traffic. That work could start as soon as 2016 and would be followed by the six-lane segments several years later.

Tolls would start statewide as soon as construction begins. “It would be like layaway,” said Kristine O’Connor, a DOT engineer working on the project.

To cover the $4.4 billion project, tolls would be 15 cents per mile on the widened segment and 9 cents per mile in areas that had not been improved yet. But not all drivers would have to pay the toll.

DOT will bill drivers about $2 for each electronic overhead toll gantry they pass. For many Johnston drivers making their way around the county, that means no tolls at all.

Currently, the only gantry planned for Johnston is at mile marker 88, between the U.S. 701 and Keen Road interchanges in Four Oaks. Going north, the next gantry isn’t until Wilson County past Kenly.

That means drivers who commute from Kenly or Micro to Smithfield would not pay a toll. But commuters heading from Benson to Smithfield would owe the state $4 a day if they used I-95 – unless they get off the highway and drove through Four Oaks on U.S. 301.

DOT engineers aren’t sure what that will do to traffic in Four Oaks, where U.S. 301 is three lanes wide.

“When we get into the next phase, we’ll take a harder look at what those impacts are,” said Craig Young, a DOT consultant.

The DOT expects about 25 to 30 percent of I-95 traffic to move to back roads such as U.S. 301 to avoid the toll.

But the DOT thinks that number would decrease after tolls had been in place a year or so. The DOT’s analysis doesn’t take into account cross-country drivers who could pick other interstates and bypass I-95 without adding much mileage to their trip.

That will likely be a point of contention for restaurant, shop and hotel owners along I-95 as well as Johnston County tourism officials. Fewer cars mean fewer dollars from travelers.

But O’Connor said tolls are “the most feasible way to make these improvements.”

The recently completed study did look at other options. Additional local sales taxes would be unpopular, the study found. Federal highway dollars are already stretched thin.

And I-95 just isn’t a priority for counties along the interstate – they’d rather spend their state funding allotment on roads like I-795, U.S. 70 and Interstate 40, O’Connor said.`

Funds would come from those who use I-95 – most of whom are out-of-state drivers who might not even stop here for gas, O’Connor said. “They use our roads for free, basically,” she said.