tolling interstate

A federal bill intended to block tolling of I-80 in Pennsylvania by a congressman in the corridor could stymie many other major toll based initiatives to improve mobility. The bill HR1071 filed last week in the US House of Representatives by congressman Glenn 'GT' Thompson (R-PA) is titled "Keeping America's Freeways Free Act."

Thompson is the member for Pennsylvania District 5 which covers a large tract on and north of PA/I-80. (See map nearby)

Maine Turnpike Authority board has canned a study of tolling additional interstates in Maine. They said there was no point to the study with the state Governor John Baldacci opposed to extra tolls.

The idea for the study came from legislators. The joint transportation committee of the legislature in search of extra money for roads voted Sept 26 twelve to one in favor of allocating $40k for the study to be done by the Turnpike.

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.

The US House of Representatives has passed a vote against tolling I-80 as proposed by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and the state legislature in its recent state HB1590 legislation. The vote in the US Congress was on an amendment to the annual transportation appropriations bill (HB3074) and it states "None of the funds made available under this Act may be used to establish or collect tolls on Interstate 80 in the Commonwealth (state) of Pennsylvania."