Along I-80, a vocal opposition to tolls
Northern Pa. residents say they would subsidize others. A lease option is still being considered.
HARRISBURG - State lawmakers have been getting an earful from people in northern Pennsylvania who do not want to pay for what they have long enjoyed for free.
What has folks riled up all along the I-80 corridor is the expected addition of tolls to the highway, a fight that pits some of the state's most remote regions against its biggest cities.
Opponents are facing a tall order.
They have to either persuade the legislature to repeal the two-month-old law instituting the tolls or persuade Congress or federal regulators to kill the project. But that would eliminate billions of new dollars the deal is expected to generate for the state's crumbling bridges, decaying highways, and perpetually broke mass-transit agencies.
"Interstate 80 has eclipsed, significantly, property-tax reform as the No. 1 issue" among constituents, said State Rep. Garth Everett (R., Lycoming).
But the Democratic chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Allegheny County Rep. Joseph F. Markosek, said he had little sympathy.
"I know they have political pressures on them, but I think it's gotten to the point now where they're politically grandstanding, and they have to put up or shut up," he said. "If they're willing to put up tax proposals, we're certainly willing to listen."
Proponents argue that a painless way to finance transportation needs does not exist. They say the recent Minneapolis bridge collapse illustrates the consequences of doing nothing.
"You can't have it both ways," said Joseph G. Brimmeier, chief executive of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, which would manage the I-80 tolls under an application awaiting federal approval. "You can't have good roads, bridges and highways without somebody paying for them."
I-80 runs more than 300 miles across Pennsylvania. If tolls are imposed in 2011, as planned, crossing the state will cost tractor-trailers an average of about $96, Brimmeier said; the typical car would pay $25.
People living along I-80 say the plan would require them to subsidize transportation needs in other parts of Pennsylvania. The Turnpike Commission's critics don't want to see it expanded, and some people prefer an earlier proposal to lease the turnpike to a private entity.
But the lease idea was so unpopular in the legislature that an alternative was sought - the I-80 tolls.
Gov. Rendell, who had pushed for the turnpike lease, has not given up on it. In light of the growing opposition to I-80 tolls and uncertainty about getting federal approval for them, he is seeking new turnpike lease bidders.
"If there is a significant pool of money that might benefit our transportation funding needs, the governor will then present that information to the legislature" for its consideration, said the governor's spokesman, Chuck Ardo.