Pennsylvania Set to Toll I-80
Pennsylvania officials are set to sign lease by Monday to convert Interstate 80 into a toll road, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Friday.
State Transportation Department and Turnpike Commission officials will sign a 50-year agreement is designed to create a “public-public partnership” that would generate $116 billion over the term, the paper said.
The two agencies are moving forward with the plan after legislation passed this summer would raise funds — despite opposition to the plan from some elected officials, businesses and residents along the 311-mile highway, the Post-Gazette reported.
The two set next Friday as the target date for submitting a joint application to the Federal Highway Administration that would seeking that agency’s approval to designate I-80 as the third of three pilot interstate tolling projects permitted under a federal transportation law, the paper said.
If the I-80 tolling plan moves forward, state officials estimate it will raise about $950 million per year for the next 12 years, when combined with toll hikes on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the Post-Gazette reported.
