Pa. renews push for I-80 tolls

Pennsylvania's latest effort to place tolls on I-80 argues that the plan to use the money for statewide transportation projects should pass federal muster.

In papers filed late Thursday, state officials defended a complex financial arrangement to lease I-80 to the Turnpike Commission and use the tolls as a "lease payment" to the Department of Transportation for use on road projects elsewhere.

The filing emphasized that much of the money collected from I-80 would be used to improve that road.

It is part of the latest effort by the state to get permission from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for tolls on I-80, which runs for 311 miles across northern Pennsylvania. The state is counting on the estimated $466 million the tolls would raise annually to help pay for highway, bridge, and transit projects.

Since I-80 was built largely with federal funds, the state needs federal permission before it can put tolls on the highway.

Last year, the FHWA rejected the state's application, saying the payments generated by I-80 tolls "appear to have been predetermined by the Pennsylvania General Assembly based on considerations largely unrelated to the true costs of a leasehold interest in I-80."

To counter that, in Thursday's filing the state submitted a financial analysis comparing the value of I-80 to other toll roads that have been leased to private operators. That analysis, by Provident Capital Advisors of Baton Rouge, La., concluded that the lease value set by the state was a "valid operating cost of I-80 and should be an eligible use of toll revenues" under federal guidelines.

Turnpike Commission Chief Executive Joseph Brimmeier said yesterday that he expected FHWA approval, and noted that "everyone has become even more aware of what will happen if we don't" toll I-80.

Without tolls on I-80, transportation funding from the Turnpike Commission will be halved to $450 million a year beginning in July. Among the biggest losers would be SEPTA.

Residents, businesses, and politicians in northern Pennsylvania have opposed tolls on I-80, contending they would cripple their economy. They have vowed to continue their fight against the tolls even as state officials resume efforts to get approval for them.

U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, a Republican who represents north-central Pennsylvania, called the latest state filing "a Halloween nightmare," and promised to fight the tolling proposal in Washington.

Thompson said I-80 tolls would amount to a "double tax," since fuel taxes are already used to pay for I-80 upkeep.

"The law does not allow this to happen," Thompson said. "This would be just one more nail in our economic activity."

State Sen. John Rafferty (R., Montgomery), the new chairman of the Transportation Committee, said tolls on I-80 are vital for supporting highway projects around the state. He said Southeastern Pennsylvania residents have been paying tolls on the turnpike for decades.

With tolls on I-80, he said, shippers might be more inclined to use the turnpike and the Port of Philadelphia.