DOT Rejects Pennsylvania’s Plan to Toll Interstate 80
The U.S. Department of Transportation has denied Pennsylvania’s request to toll Interstate 80 because the state’s application did not meet federal requirements that revenue be used exclusively for a road being tolled.
Federal law requires toll revenue to be used only to improve the given facility and not be directed toward other state funding needs or transportation projects elsewhere, as was the case in Pennsylvania’s application, DOT said.
The department “based the decision on what is allowable under federal law,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. I-80 runs across the northern section of the state in about a 300-mile stretch.
Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.), a leader in the fight against tolls, praised LaHood for the decision, saying he “followed the letter of the law,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Both the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association and American Trucking Associations also hailed the decision, the Inquirer said.
Following the decision, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell (D) called for a special legislative session to patch a $472 million budget hole, Bloomberg reported.
Rendell’s budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 included $922.5 million for local transit and improvements to highways and bridges, funded in part with money from the proposed tolls.
Without the revenue, Pennsylvania can afford only about $450 million in transportation work, Bloomberg said.
