Pennsylvania to submit new application to Feds to toll I-80

Two years after their first shot at getting the Feds to approve tolling I-80 at points across the state the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and PennDOT are trying again. They say they should have the formal application including supporting studies ready for the Feds by late this fall.

Some hope the Obama administration will be more sympathetic than the Bush administration.

Bush Federal Highway Administration officials said in Sept 2008 that the 2007 application could not be approved because contrary to federal law on tolling interstates:

- the proceeds of I-80 tolls were not being put back into improvements in the I-80 corridor, and that

- planned payments by the Turnpike to the state bore no relation to the economic value of the Turnpike.

Under state law (Act 44) the Turnpike paid around $900m/year in 2008 and 2009 to the state. That drops to $450m in 2010 without I-80 tolling approved, giving state officials a powerful incentive to support tolling.

I-80 travels through a lightly populated section of the state and the toll arrangements are designed to largely exempt local trips, capturing most revenue from interstate travel.

Turnpike officials point out that tolling I-80, which parallels the Turnpike mainline (I-76/I-70) to its north, more fairly shares the burden of highway costs, and will minimize diversion north to I-80 as Turnpike tolls increase.

Critics say tolling of I-80 will be a burden on local communities along the I-80 route and that the proceeds will be squandered by the state on lossmaking rail transit in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

TOLLROADSnews 2009-09-20