tolling I-80

Marcus J Lemon chief counsel at FHWA through 2008 says he and other federal officials repeatedly told their counterparts at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission they needed more substantial and impartial consulting studies to justify a federal permit 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.

Wyoming is moving to toll I-80, the only interstate which spans the state from east to west. Parsons Brinckerhoff were recently asked by Wyoming DOT (WYDOT) to continue their engineering and toll studies.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) has filed an Addendum to their July 17 application for federal permission to toll I-80. The new papers report on meetings with local planning officials and the public along the route of the interstate. They also contain some interesting presentations and study work. But from what we're hearing here in the Washington DC area it's too late. The answer will be No - see the end of this report.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission now says that more than 70% of cars traveling on I-80 won't pay a toll. The first version of the plan yesterday said that more than a third of passenger car trips would be free. That was apparently a writing mistake at the Commission.

There will be about one toll point on the mainline of I-80 approximately every 56km (35 miles) - 501/9, 311/9.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is looking to levy a toll in nine zones along I-80 and to provide a first free toll pass to car drivers equipped with a transponder. Within each of the nine zones (see yellow stretches on 2-part map at bottom) the Commission is now comparing two to four alternative points in order to select one point in each zone for a total of nine toll points along the 501km (311 miles) of the highway between the Ohio and New Jersey borders.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) in their long-awaited second shot at getting US permission to toll I-80 have come up with an ingenious new argument about how it qualifies for a federal Yes.

Turnpike officials said they couldn't make the deadline of Friday (5/24) set by Gov Ed Rendell for completing their part of the state's submission to FHWA on the application to toll I-80. They blame the state DOT for spending six weeks reviewing a Turnpike draft.

The Governor has now set two deadlines that the Turnpike has missed.

A leading New Jersey legislator Senator Ray Lesniak says he's pushing a plan to boost toll revenues in the state to support what he calls "absolutely necessary" transport improvements. The plan involves two 50% hikes in tolls, one immediately and the other in five years time.

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.

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.

Given the controversy around what was said by Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission CEO Joseph Brimmeier on a deal to toll I-80 at the IBTTA meeting in Vienna we made an appeal Nov 21 to people who had a clear recollection or record to come forward. Here's one we just got supporting Brimmeier's denial:

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.

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."

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.

Congressman John E Peterson (Repub PA) has asked US Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters to suspend consideration of granting a permit to The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) to toll I-80 pending investigation of possible links with the public corruption case being pursued by the FBI and the USDOJ against top Turnpike officials and their supporters in the state legislature.

Jake Corman a prominent member of the Pennsylvania Senate has lodged a complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) citing a report in TOLLROADSnews of comments made by Turnpike CEO Joseph Brimmeier at IBTTA in Vienna.

Pennsylvania Turnpike chief executive Joseph Brimmeier now denies he told a meeting of the IBTTA in Vienna about three weeks back that the feds had approved tolling of I-80 and that the state had the third slot or authority out of three allowed in federal law. Two are already allocated under the Interstate System Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Tolling Pilot Program - I-81 in Virginia and I-70 in Missouri.

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).

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.