Pennsylvania Again Seeks Approval to Begin Tolling I-80
This story appears in the Nov. 9 print edition of Transport Topics.
Pennsylvania has submitted a new request to the federal government seeking permission to toll Interstate 80, saying the move is necessary to pay for infrastructure maintenance and improvements.
“By filing this addendum, we’re taking a vital step toward closing a huge transportation funding gap for our state,” said Joe Brimmeier, CEO of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. “Without tolls on I-80, state lawmakers and the administration would have to plug a $473 million gap in next year’s budget, and that gap will steadily widen, resulting in a $60 billion decrease in infrastructure funding over the remaining 47-year term of the I-80 lease.”
In 2007, after efforts led by Gov. Ed Rendell (D) to privatize the turnpike failed, the state enacted a multiyear transportation budget — Act 44 — that would allow the turnpike commission to toll I-80 in exchange for annual cash payments to the state’s Department of Transportation.
Last year, the Federal Highway Administration rejected Pennsylvania’s first attempt to obtain permission to toll the cross-state highway. FHWA spokeswoman Nancy Singer told Transport Topics that the agency is “reviewing the application as expeditiously as possible.”
Pennsylvania is applying for the first of three pilot projects established by the latest highway bill to convert untolled interstate highways into toll roads, provided the funds are used on the highway.
In its reapplication, the state said that “tolling I-80 will ensure that 311 miles of interstate highway will be self-financed, freeing up . . . moneys currently spent on I-80 capital projects and maintenance from application to other highway needs.”
“Act 44 directed PennDOT and the turnpike commission to enter into a lease giving the turnpike oversight of Interstate 80 as a toll road,” PennDOT Secretary Allen Biehler said in a statement. “We have the lease in place, and with the additional information being provided to the Federal Highway Administration, we hope for a speedy decision.”
Opponents of the toll plan said they did not think Pennsylvania’s effort would satisfy FHWA.
“From what I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like they are likely to comply with the requirements,” said Darrin Roth, director of highway operations for American Trucking Associations.
“They’re trying to put lipstick on a pig,” said Mike Joyce, a lobbyist with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. “Figures lie and liars figure, and they are trying to manipulate the numbers to look as though they are upside down and the only solution out there is to toll I-80. They are just dressing up their previous application.”
Joyce called the request to toll I-80 “a bailout from the federal government to find more revenue.”
Under its plan, tolling I-80 would generate an average of $1.67 billion a year in revenue for the state, but if the tolling application is rejected, the state said those payments will fall to a fixed level of $450 million annually.
“The financial terms make sense for both the turnpike and the commonwealth,” said Brimmeier. “And we’re certain that the FHWA will give the information we provided a fair and thorough evaluation as they’ve done every step of the way.” The highway, which crosses the state’s midsection, is a heavily traveled truck route, the state said.
“I-80 currently carries some of the highest volumes of trucks per day of any road in the state,” the state said in its application. “In 2006, there were nearly 12 million truck trips along I-80, which carried an estimated 216 million tons of freight. Approximately 60% of the freight originates and terminates outside of Pennsylvania.”
