Opinion

OUR OPINION

December 2, 2007

Politics shouldn’t drive proposal for tolls on I-80

THE PROPOSAL TO make Interstate 80 – or for that matter any other interstate in Pennsylvania a toll road – needs more careful and open consideration before the motoring public is taken for an expensive ride.

The preliminary plan submitted this fall to the Federal Highway Administration calls for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to build 10 toll stations along the 311-mile highway and then to charge personal vehicles 8 cents a mile.

Tractor-trailers will pay 30 cents a mile, sticking truckers with a $93 bill to traverse the Keystone State. How are potential employers going to react to that built-in overhead?

The goal – to raise $1.7 billion annually to rebuild the road network statewide – is noteworthy, but the methodology is dubious.

There’s no question additional funds are needed for highway reconstruction; we all know a short jaunt on many roads can be a bumpy and at times harrowing experience.

But plenty of questions remain about this proposal, and the Turnpike Commission’s public hearings only raise more.

For starters, why and how did elected state officials decide I-80 should be the cash-cow highway to be milked? Why weren’t public hearings held to decide what interstate should be tolled? What effect will tolling have on Northeastern Pennsylvania’s existing jobs and its ability to lure more employers?

One also has to wonder what other revenue alternatives were explored, and why were they discarded? How seriously were they debated?

Isn’t this really nothing more than an 11th-hour compromise to fill a funding gap?

The questions are seemingly endless. Reasonable answers remain elusive.

Last week Congressman Paul Kanjorski – an opponent to the proposal – came up with his own solution: Put tolls on all interstates in Pennsylvania. Thankfully, that idea also does not have political appeal, and Kanjorski conceded as much.

We do like the leadership the region’s senior congressman is showing on this issue. He rightfully noted the proposal would put an unfair burden on the rural communities along the state’s major east-west artery.

The politically astute Kanjorski also candidly noted I-80 was targeted because it was the “least politically expensive.”

A transformation like this cannot be based on political expediency.

Turning over I-80 to the Turnpike Commission for 50 years is a fundamental change in how Pennsylvania funds its 40,000 miles of roads. Given that, this proposal – and highway funding in general – require considerably more study and honest dialogue.

Otherwise, we could be heading down a dangerous road.

FAST TRACK?

• Cars and SUVs would pay an 8-cent-a-mile toll.

• Tractor-trailers would pay a 30-cent-a-mile toll.

• Tolling I-80 would generate $1.7 billion a year.

• PennDOT now spends only $80 million to $100 million to maintain I-80.

• Status now: Awaiting “conditional provisional approval” from federal government.

• After that: If approved, Turnpike Commission to submit detailed plan as early as next summer.

• I-80 tolling could start as early as 2010.

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