Pennsylvania

Staff in Montgomery County north of Philadelphia have proposed a special toll surcharge to raise capital to help pay for a new interchange and connector road from the Pennsylvania Turnpike into central Norristown. The project is an all-electronic tolled interchange on the east bank of the Schuylkill River and a spur road. The spur - termed locally the Lafayette Street Extension or Corridor project - is 3.1km (1.9 miles) of signalized arterial into Norristown.
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Timothy Carson vice chairman of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission says that they are producing a "very robust plan" including detailed commitments to plow toll revenues on I-80 back into the road in order to persuade the Feds to give the green light to tolling the presently free interstate. 1362 words  read more »

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission CEO Joe Brimmeier and Vice Chairman Timothy Carson today told a state house appropriations committee hearing in Harrisburg that they are "very optimistic" and "we feel strongly" that the Federal Government will approve Turnpike plans to toll I-80.
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The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has released to legislators some of the Citigroup financial numbercrunching used to lobby for Act 44 and the tolling of I-80. But they continue to refuse to release what they have referred to as the basic "Citigroup Analysis" which is the mainstay of their financial model.
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Following the Feds letter of Thursday casting doubt on the legality of tolling PA/I-80 Pennsylvania Gov Edward Rendell said he prefers a longterm lease concession of the Turnpike. The AP quotes Rendell as saying today:
- the lease will raise "significantly more" money for the state, and
- remove what he called the "I-80 problem"

They quote him as stating bluntly: "I would prefer to do leasing of the Turnpike."
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USDOT have told Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) and DOT that their application to toll I-80 does not meet the requirements for even conditional approval. And they have posed four pages of questions they say must be answered by state authorities if they wish to continue with the application. The questions are sharply worded, suggesting the feds consider the state application to be a shoddy piece of work.
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The US House-Senate transport appropriations conference removed an I-80 anti tolling amendment from a budget bill late last night, according to its main sponsor and champion northern PA congressman John Peterson (Repub).

Peterson issued this statement which we quote at length because it echoes many of the themes being heard along I-80:
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A new poll shows opposition among Pennsylvania voters to tolling I-80 is 62% to 28% in favor. This is a considerably greater margin of opposition than to privatizing the Turnpike with a longterm lease/concession (50/37).

When asked if they had to choose between tolling I-80 and leasing the Turnpike to a private company 41% choose the private lease concession, while 36% prefer tolls on I-80 to privatization.
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I very much appreciate your articles on I-80 tolling in Pennsylvania and the fiasco of Act 44. There is no question that the tolling of I-80 was thought to be an easy bailout by the leadership of both parties in Harrisburg for the self inflicted transportation woes of the State. I applaud TOLLROADSnews for exposing the fiasco, especially the self preservation role of the patronage polluted and scandal ridden Turnpike Commission.

However, I have trouble agreeing with the below quote from your most recent I-80 article.  read more »

The Federal Highway Administration's chief counsel James D Ray has sent a discouraging letter to Pennsylvania saying that they have made no decision on the application to toll I-80, but that other candidates for the limited tolling authority or 'slot' in federal law have been promised priority. These are various tolling programs under the Corridors of the Future (CoF) program. 490 words  read more »

Pennsylvania DOT (PennDOT) and the Turnpike Commission announced today in a joint press release they have signed  the 50 year lease agreement for tolling I-80 as provided for by state Act 44. The second sentence of the press release states: "Under Act 44, the commission will transfer $83.3 billion to PennDOT for transportation projects throughout the state (over the 50 years of the lease)."
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The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is moving ahead strongly with plans to toll I-80. They have completed a draft 50 year lease agreement with Pennsylvania DOT which is expected to be signed Monday (Oct 15). Next week the Turnpike also plans to submit their formal application to USDOT for federal authorization to toll under the Interstate System Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program (Sec 1216b of TEA21).
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Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission chief executive Joe Brimmeier said in a speech at the IBTTA annual conference in Vienna Austria that the Federal Highway Administration has approved I-80 for tolling. He said I-80 "has the third spot".

No "we're told" or "we hear" or "we're sure," no ifs and buts, it's done.
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The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has taken down its fighting Public-Public Partnership website devoted to attacking the Governor's privatization plan. In its place there is a new website to put the Commission's line on tolling I-80 and Act 44, the state enabling law for the Turnpike's vastly expanded role.

The new site is http://www.paturnpike.com/i80/

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If you believe the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) then the people of the state are overwhelmingly on their side in opposing the end of the Commission as a public toll authority and their replacement by a private concessionaire. The poll on the Commission's website (http://www.paturnpike.com/ppp/) shows 91.5% No to only 7.8% Yes to the Governor being given the authority to seek bids for the lease/sale of the Turnpike.
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