PA/I-80

A previously unpublished Memorandum written by the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) chief counsel at the time, Marcus J Lemon, explains rather clearly the thinking behind the US Government rejection last September of the second Pennsylvania application to toll I-80.

Allen Biehler, chairman of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and secretary of transportation says the state will reapply to the feds to get permission to toll I-80. Biehler said this at a meeting of the state House Democratic Policy Committee May 26 according to an account circulated by legislative staffers.

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.