A course of action for Pennsylvania’s looming transportation
problem won’t be made until the fall.
That’s likely when a convergence of three major proposals –
placing tolls along Interstate 80, leasing the Pennsylvania
Turnpike and another plan offered by Senate President Pro Tempore
Joe Scarnati, R-Brockway, which repeals the authority to toll the
interstate – will be debated and acted upon.
“Everything is in limbo at this point,” Scarnati said Tuesday.
“There are three very different proposals out there.”
Some transportation relief came Monday in the form of an
additional ,350 million in state funding to aid in the repair of
411 structurally deficient bridges – including 19 in the
four-county region. The Legislature has also signed off on millions
in bond issues to deal with the problem.
However, McKean County and the surrounding region still have
scores of ailing roads and bridges to deal with, some of which that
have been waiting on funding for several years. The funding also
doesn’t filter down to locally owned structures, which are also in
dire need of repair.
“We can’t let this issue become a crisis,” Scarnati said.
Hence, the three proposals currently on the table.
According to Scarnati, the federal government has yet to get and
review an updated proposal by the Commonwealth to place tolls along
Interstate 80.
“I know that PennDOT and the Turnpike Commission have been
working on sending in a revised proposal to meet the criteria the
federal highway transportation people have asked for,” Scarnati
said. “That whole issue is still up in the air and it’s up to the
federal government to approve it or not.”
In a memorandum released in December, the Federal Highway
Administration asked the state’s transportation agencies for
additional detailed information, including where the funds from the
tolls would go and why they are needed to rebuild an interstate and
relieve traffic pressure.
“It’s difficult to have some insight to what is taking place
there (in Highway Administration),” Scarnati said. “This whole
transportation situation will be exacerbated in the fall, when the
federal transportation trust fund will go bankrupt in October. That
helps pay for federal highways.
“This Congress looks like it’s going out without doing anything
on these issues.”
The issue of placing tolls along the interstate has been a bone
of contention from Washington to Harrisburg.
One federal lawmaker, U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., has taken
up the cause to block the tolling plan, having introduced
legislation in Congress to do so. Peterson has also called the
Turnpike Commission scandal-ridden.
Meanwhile, Scarnati has said on numerous occasions that he
adamantly opposes any type of gas tax on the state’s residents,
adding previously that placing tolls along the interstate was the
least of the evils having been discussed. Scarnati said previously
that blocking tolls on the interstate was playing into Gov. Ed
Rendell’s hands to do what he’s wanted to all along, sell the
turnpike.
That very idea occurred earlier this year, when the Rendell
administration announced the Spanish company, Abertis
Infraestructuras, had submitted a bid of ,12.8 billion to lease the
turnpike for 75 years.
Rendell has reportedly said that leasing the turnpike could
generate upwards of ,1.1 billion annually for transportation needs
statewide. If that did come to pass, that would far outweigh the
return on the Act 44 proposal passed last year that calls for ,950
million to be generated, including the placement of tolls on
I-80.
The company has been pushing for a decision on the proposed
lease agreement and will launch a multi-million dollar public
relations blitz in the coming months, including through radio
advertisements and mailings.
It appears the proposal will face a fight in the Legislature and
will be one of the major issues for debate when the legislative
body returns to the capitol in September.
“The bidder has put some time parameters on the bid, that being
sometime as soon as we get back (in session),” Scarnati said. “The
bidder won’t keep the offer on the table a whole lot longer.”
That leaves Scarnati’s plan, which calls for not tolling
Interstate 80 or selling the turnpike.
“It takes a business-like approach to taking care of the
turnpike,” Scarnati said, adding his proposal sits in the Senate’s
transportation committee.
Scarnati’s proposal would also enact legislation authorizing the
state to enter into public-private partnerships for the purpose of
constructing and managing new capacity highway and transportation
improvement projects and lower the expected growth in tolls
anticipated by Act 44 on the mainline of the turnpike by 20
percent.
The proposal also calls for transferring the responsibility of
funding the Pennsylvania State Police out of the Motor License fund
over a two-year period and evaluating the operating expenses of the
turnpike through an independent auditor and using the proceeds from
any cost-savings to supplement statewide transportation funding,
among others.
“I’m willing to protect my (senatorial district) area and make
sure there is as much free travel for people as possible,” Scarnati
said. “This has been important for me from the beginning. We have
to get this solved. Congress isn’t riding in on a white horse and
there is no magic fix to this.
“There are great concerns as to where we are heading and how to
manage our infrastructure needs.”
