Pa. I-80 Tolling Plan Moving Forward
Despite opposition, Pennsylvania hopes to have tolls in place on Interstate 80 within three years, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Tuesday.
The plan to toll I-80 could mean up to 10 toll booths between New Jersey and Ohio and an initial cost of about $25 for motorists to drive the entire 311-mile highway,
Details of the plan emerged in an application submitted by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, the Inquirer said.
The state filed an “expression of interest” Friday with the Federal Highway Administration, which must authorize tolls because the highway was built largely with federal funding as part of the U.S. interstate highway system, the paper said.
I-80 tolls are a key element in the Pennsylvania’s new transportation funding law, the Inquirer reported. The turnpike commission would operate and maintain I-80 under a 50-year lease from PennDOT.
The state’s efforts toll I-80 ran into opposition last month from U.S. Reps. John Peterson and Phil English, both Pennsylvania Republicans, the paper said.
But Gov. Ed Rendell (D) said last week that federal efforts to block the tolls would fail and that the state would try to minimize tolls’ impacts on local residents, the Inquirer reported.
Rendell had said in late June he was considering dropping a plan to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private operator, while backing the plan to toll I-80.
