Feds receive request to toll PA/I-80 from Penn Pike -AMPLIFIED

The USDOT has received the request from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to toll I-80. The five page request made in the name of Turnpike CEO Joseph Brimmeier is called an Expression of Interest and is addressed to the Pricing and Tolling Team within the Office of Operations at the Federal Highway Administration, although US secretary of transportation, Mary Peters, will make the ultimate decision.

Official channels refused to release a copy but we have it here for you as a MS Word doc.

The PTC request says I-80 tolling is "well positioned to be implemented as a tolling pilot program." They cite the critical steps already taken towards tolling including extensive public debate, legislative hearings, the state's Act 44, financial plans, and a traffic and revenue study underway.

However the request asks the feds which federal program could accommodate I-80 tolling saying:

"The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) seeks guidance on which FHWA tolling program would be most suitable for the programmatic objectives for Interstate 80 described in this Expression of Interest."

The EOI describes the interstate making the point that it runs through largely rural areas but it is important in providing:

- the most direct route between New York and Chicago
- interconnections to major north-south highways
- the major goods movement corridor between the midwest and the east coast

The request says the route requires major upgrading:

"The route’s heavy volume of traffic, hilly terrain, and challenging climatic conditions – with multiple freeze-and-thaw cycles over the course of the winter months – place great wear and tear on I-80’s pavement surfaces and structures. For a number of years, the Pennsylvania portion of I-80 routinely was rated the 'Worst Interstate' route by the trucking magazine Overdrive in its Annual Highway Report. Despite substantial rehabilitation efforts by PennDOT in recent years, significant portions of I-80 remain in unsatisfactory condition and require substantial upgrades."

Only with toll revenues will Pennsylvania be able to find the resources to get I-80 into a satisfactory condition, the EOI suggests. Competing road needs are also pressing, the EOI says citing twice as many structurally deficient bridges as the national average, and after allowance for inflation declining federal grants.

"The tolling program would generate revenues allowing a dramatic increase in capital investment along I-80, with an additional $1 billion being spent over the next decade, above and beyond PennDOT’s historic baseline funding levels. Significant investment will be made in pavement reconstruction and rehabilitation, structure rehabilitation and replacement, and improved geometric features at selected interchanges. The plan also calls for enhanced maintenance coverage for winter weather events."

Contrary to reports in the Philadelphia Inquirer and AP the Turnpike does not propose any toll booths on I-80. It says tolling would be conducted from "up to ten gantries equipped for electronic tolling" which suggests full highway speed tolling based on transponders and cameras, not cash collection out of toll booths.

The EOI calls the plan an "open tolling system based on the opportunity for toll-free travel in 47 links of the roadway, given that there are 57 interchanges and only ten toll points along the 501km (311 miles) of the highway.

The EOI says $1b would be spent on rehabilitation and reconstruction over the next decade and about $110m to set up electronic tolling (COMMENT - that sounds high to us for just ten toll points.)

Wilbur Smith are studying the feasibility of time of day pricing as part of their Level 2 tolling study, the report says. (COMMENT: This is a stretch to try get the road in under the federal value pricing program. Time of day pricing makes great sense on urban facilities with distinct peak periods and congested times, but this is generally a rural interstate. Only the eastern fifth, the 100km I-81 to the NJ line has serious congestion and NY-NJ commuter traffic.)

Contrary to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer the EOI makes no mention of the Turnpike adding third lanes to the busiest portion I-81 to the NJ line, though toll revenues would make that more feasible so long as they are not being squandered on loser rail lines in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Under a question asking the reason for the proposal the PTC answers (1) fianncing construction and (2) reducing congestion, adding:

"Tolling of I-80 will enable sufficient revenues to be generated to undertake much-needed improvements on I-80 and free up federal and state resources for other Interstate and local highways throughout the state. Converting I-80 to a toll facility will also enhance statewide traffic management by placing the two major east-west highways in Pennsylvania (I-80 and I-76/Pennsylvania Turnpike) under an integrated management and pricing plan."

Tolls will be set at the same rate as on the Turnpike mainline which are expected to be 8c/mile (5c/km) for cars when I-80 tolls are expected to begin in 2010.

The application to the feds says that the Pennsylvania DOT will lease I-80 to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission for 50 years. It is a kind of long term lease and toll concession, but to a public toll entity, and granted without the competitive bids that accompany a private concession. The EOI says the details of the lease are being developed ebtween PTC and PennDOT, though the general outlines are set out in Act 44 which became law last month.

Humorist there

The author of the Turnpike's EOI has a sense of humor.

Having spent the past six or seven months in a knock-down drag-out political fight to defeat Governor Rendell's plan to enlist the private sector in a longterm lease and toll concession on the Turnpike the PTC says:

"PTC will seek opportunities to take advantage of private sector expertise and resources."

It cites a design-build with two bridges and outsourcing of E-ZPass toll collection as evidence of its willingness to get the private sector involved in "up-front costs" though none of these examples provided any.

Axiom-breaking development

This is by far the largest move yet to toll an existing free interstate which was built originally and since maintained with tax based grants. If successful it may encourage other states to toll their interstates to generate the urgently needed funds not presently available for enhancing major highways.

This is an axiom-breaking development - the axiom having been that it is politically impossible to toll an existing free road.

The I-80 move is far from being a done deal yet, as anti-toll elements could still block it with political or legal maneuvers. Much depends on the detail of how the application is couched and how it can wiggle through the substantial remaining legal barriers to tolling a free interstate. Many interstates of course are tolled, but they were tolled before they became interstates.

Law going back to 1956 allowed existing tollroads to be made part of the interstate system and indeed in the early years tollroads constituted almost half the mileage of expressway with the big "I-" designation. That law allowed tax money to be used to buy interstate tollroads by paying off their debt to make them free roads. But tax money was never plentiful enough for that to happen, so that today many of the great interstates remain tollroads including some of the busiest in the country - from the San Francisco Bay Bridge in the west (I-80) all the way to the George Washington Bridge (I-95) in the east with the Indiana Toll Road (I-80/90), the Ohio Turnpike (I-80/90/76), the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76/80/276) and the New Jersey Turnpike (I-95) in between. As a residue of the fantasy of free interstates however the 1956 law, only slightly modified since puts major barriers in the way of tolls on free interstates.

US officials are keen to encourage tolling as an alternative to the dwindling revenues of fuel taxes. For years they have had "pilot programs" for tolling interstates but have had few takers. Now they have a real one.

The proposal to toll I-80 is part of a huge refinancing and "monetization" of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission designed to generate about $900m extra for roads and transit systems. It was presented as an alternative to Governor Rendell's proposal to privatize the Turnpike with a longterm lease/toll concession.

It is not clear yet whether US and state officials will be able to work out arrangements which both serve the state's wish to fund a variety of free roads and subsidize metro rail transit systems while conforming with US law which requires tolls to be plowed back into the tolled road.

TOLLROADSnews 2007-08-21