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May 21, 2008

Gov.: Turnpike deal would kill 80 tolls

By Andrew M. Seder aseder@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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If the state Legislature accepts a $12.8 billion offer by a partnership of Spanish and American companies to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike for the next 75 years, the governor said the plan to convert Interstate 80 into a toll road would die.

During a conference call Monday, Gov. Ed Rendell, said he supports the plan but wasn’t sure how it will be met by lawmakers. “If I had a cure for cancer I’m not sure I’d get 50 percent of the vote right away,” he said.

Rendell got a feeling for what the offer made by Barcelona-based Abertis Infraestructuras, Abertis investor Criteria CaixaCorp of Spain and Citi Infrastructure Investors faces when one influential state lawmaker commented on the plan.

“To be quite candid, the number is less than overwhelming,” Majority Whip Keith McCall, D-Carbon County, told The Associated Press. “It’s certainly not dead on arrival, but it’s something we do need to discuss with the entire caucus.”

Rendell said the Legislature has until June 20 to make a decision, though the bidding group has indicated it would be willing to extend that deadline.

“We’d like to see it done this fall,” said Citi Infrastructure Investments partner Michael B.G. Froman.

Playing in the deal’s favor is the bi-partisan opposition from many state and national lawmakers against the conversion of I-80 into a toll road. Among opponents to the plan are U.S. Reps. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, and Chris Carney, D-Dimock Township; state Sens. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, and John Gordner, R-Berwick; and state Rep. Karen Boback, R-Harveys Lake.

U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Venango County, whose district encompasses parts of 17 central Pennsylvania counties, including five that I-80 runs through, praised the turnpike-leasing plan. In a release, the outspoken critic of the proposal to make I-80 a toll road called the deal “nothing short of a win-win for all of Pennsylvania.”

Rendell said the lease, though lengthy, is not a sale and would allow the state to keep some control. The deal spells out a plan that includes increasing tolls on the 469-mile turnpike system by 25 percent in January, and in future years by either 2.5 percent or the consumer price index, whichever is greater. The index hasn’t been as low as 2.5 percent since 2003. In 2007, it was 2.85 percent, and so far this year it’s about 4 percent.

The deal is expected to generate an average of $1.1 billion a year the first 10 years to supplement budgets for roads, bridges and mass transit, according to Rendell. The revenue would then increase about 2.5 percent each year. If approved, the plan to make I-80 a toll road would be scrapped, Rendell said.

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