Pa. I-80 Toll Plan Moves Forward
Pennsylvania officials have forwarded documents to Federal Highway Administration in a first step toward converting Interstate 80 to a toll road, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Wednesday.
The tentative plan calls for cars to pay 8 cents a mile and 18-wheel tractor-trailers to pay 30 cents a mile, putting border-to-border tolls at $25 and $93 respectively, starting in 2010, the paper said.
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Turnpike Commission officials signed a 50-year lease agreement Tuesday and asked FHWA for expedited approval to make the highway the nation’s third pilot interstate tolling project permitted under federal transportation law, the Post-Gazette said.
Gov. Ed Rendell (D) wrote a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, saying that I-80 is 40 years old and that the state no longer has sufficient resources to keep the key corridor between the Northeast and Midwest “safe and serviceable” for passenger and commercial vehicles, the paper said.
If the FHWA approves the request, the 311 miles of I-80 would be added to 5,244 miles of tolled highways and bridges already in operation across the nation, the Post-Gazette reported.
