A coalition of highway users including American Trucking Associations applauded the U.S. Department of Transportation’s decision last week to reject tolls on Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania, though a truckers group in that state warned that officials may seek to privatize the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Americans for a Strong National Highway Network, which sent a letter to the Federal Highway Administration late last month urging rejection of the plan, applauded the ruling by FHWA, handed down last on Thursday. FHWA is part of DOT.
The group said it was “encouraged that the federal government rejected Pennsylvania’s application to toll I-80, one of our nation’s central arteries and greatest transportation assets. Tolling this important [highway] would have devastated local economies and created a dangerous precedent,” it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the president of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association warned that Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) may “pitch privatization of the Pennsylvania Turnpike as the only available option to generate revenues to repair our infrastructure.”
While the group “remains committed to viable, long-term solutions that best serve the interests of Pennsylvania's citizens and business community, we are adamant that forfeiting control of the turnpike to a for-profit motivated entity is definitely not the answer,” PMTA President Jim Runk said in a statement.
