i-80

Whether the Feds will go along with the state plan to toll PA/I-80 is one of the hottest political issues in the state right now with dire predictions being made about the retrenchments that will be needed at state agencies if the US Secretary Transportation says no. At stake is an annual half a billion dollars the Pennsylvania Turnpike is due to pay the state with I-80 tolled that will be lost from another No.

Conversion of I-80 at the Delaware River to open road tolling (ORT) is being delayed a bit. Announced last year for the end of May (Memorial Day) the schedule has slipped to the end of November (Thanksgiving).

Lunchtime today was the deadline for engineering firms wanting work at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission on the I-80 Toll Conversion Project. The RFP (Reference # 6-006)is for four open end contracts for engineering design services to enable the tolling of I-80. A 4-page document it is signed by Allen Biehler, chairman.

"Pennsylvania Independent" reports that the Obama administration will say "No" to the Pennsylvania Turnpike application to toll I-80.

Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell says "all" transit agencies in the state will benefit from tolls on I-80. Capitolwire out of Harrisburg PA reports that Rendell made the statement at a conference of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania late last year.

An obscure company whose main expertise is jails is key financial advisor to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in their application to the Feds for permission to toll I-80.

Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (DRJTBC) recently launched a website to support the introduction of open road tolling on their I-80 Delaware River Water Gap Bridge.

A previously unpublished Memorandum written by the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) chief counsel at the time, Marcus J Lemon, explains rather clearly the thinking behind the US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.

A move to block any new state application to toll PA/I-80 failed this week in the Pennsylvania state house. It voted 106 to 87 not to accept the measure  as an addition to a teenage driver safety bill. Opponents of the move said the effort was unconstitutional in that it changed the intent of the bill. House transportation committee chair Joseph Markosek led opposition to the move.

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)

Affiliated Computer Systems (ACS) has won the open road tolling (ORT) contract for the I-78 and I-80 bridges over the Delaware River between New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Following the Federal No to tolling I-80 on Thursday (2008-09-11) Governor Ed Rendell immediately called for enabling legislation to proceed with the agreed lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to the Abertis/Citi team which has a $12.8 billion offer in effect until Sept 30. Rendell says "It's the only plan." He says without it the state is back into financial crisis.

The Federal Highway Administration has rejected the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's plan to toll I-80, saying the state's application does not meet the legal requirements for the use of revenues. Toll revenues can be used to pay annual lease payments under federal law, FHWA said, but the amounts must be based on an objective valuation of the asset being leased.

Opponents of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) are calling for the contending presidential candidates to come out against the handover of I-80. Evidence of this comes in a commentary by Nathan Benefield of the Commonwealth Foundation thinktank and Ryan Shafik of the Lincoln Institute for Public Opinion Research.

In a bid to bolster support for tolling I-80 the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is releasing details of a $2.5 billion ten year capital spending plan. This is about four times the current level of spending on the 500km (311 mile) interstate which traverses the state east-west.

Pennsylvania Turnpike CEO Joseph Brimmeier is provoking fierce attacks on the Turnpike Commission. His hometown newspaper the Pittsburgh Tribune Review's editorial this morning is an example. Under the headline "Turnpike termerity: stop the games" they denounced the Turnpike demand that US Congressman John Peterson from northern Pennsylvania provide ID and proof of residency before they would consider his request for details of the Commission's spending on lobbyists.

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.

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.

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.

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)."