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Placement of tolls along Interstate 80 still faces roadblocks
By MIKE SCHREIBER
Era Associate Editor
The placement of tolls along Interstate 80 still faces some roadblocks.
As federal legislation co-authored by one local lawmaker makes its way through Congress, the Federal Highway Administration has indicated that Pennsylvania’s high-ranking transportation officials shouldn’t assume the agency will approve placing tolls on the interstate.
Last week, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and state Turnpike Commission entered into a 50-year lease agreement for the highway, part of the requirements of Act 44 — which some members of the Legislature are currently trying to repeal.
On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa.’s Communications Director Travis Windle said legislation authored by Peterson and fellow Rep. Phil English, R-Pa., has been referred to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where it’s currently awaiting further action.
“ ... The real positive indicators we are seeing now is from the U.S. DOT, who ultimately has to approve Pennsylvania’s application before a toll booth can be placed on I-80,” Windle said. “In short, we don’t think Pennsylvania’s application meets the federal criteria.”
The Peterson-English bill would prohibit federal funds from being used toward installing tolls and related construction along the interstate, and establish a federal excise tax — equal to the amount of the interstate tolls — on new tolls placed on federally financed interstate highways.
Peterson will be back in Pennsylvania on Friday to testify at a state House Republican Policy Committee field hearing in Bloomsburg regarding the economic impact of tolling the interstate.
The decision to place 10 tolls along the interstate came out of a compromise reached between Gov. Ed Rendell and Senate Republicans during this year’s budget battles. Lawmakers said the notion of tolling the interstate was seen as the least of the evils being discussed at the Capitol.
As a result of the political firestorm created by the move, Rendell has now turned his attention to selling the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
While Peterson and others in the state believe the plan will be economically devastating to the state — particularly along the border counties to I-80, where municipal officials are lining up in opposition of the plan — PennDOT and the Turnpike Commission are set to make billions on the move.
Under Act 44, the Turnpike Commission will transfer $83.3 billion to PennDOT for transportation projects throughout the state. The commission has also said it will generate an additional $33 billion over the next 50 years for improvements along the interstate as well as other transportation projects, bringing the total investment to $116 billion.
In all, officials said the commission will transfer $750 million to PennDOT in the first year and annual payments will significantly increase each year after that. Tolls would also increase along the turnpike, officials said.
PennDOT officials have said they will use the extra revenue to tackle the state’s numerous bridge and road problems.
However, federal highway officials said it might not get that far.
According to Federal Highway Administration Chief Counsel and Acting Deputy Administrator James Ray, the agency will conduct a thorough analysis of the application to determine whether placing tolls along the interstate is appropriate.
Last month, Peterson said if the tolls were allowed to go through, the toll costs on the interstate and turnpike would be 650 percent more than neighboring Ohio, and 150 percent more expensive than New York state.
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