Almost daily we see in the media a fresh prediction that tolling I-80 is or is not about to happen. Apparently, the Federal Highway Administration is on the verge of making a decision. Pennsylvanians for Transportation Solutions and many others have consistently supported the tolling proposal. But opponents are spreading misinformation about it.
For example, there’s the falsehood that I-80 toll dollars would take money from rural areas to fund mass transit in the cities.
The Turnpike Commission makes it clear that while I-80 toll dollars will not fund mass transit, they will benefit everyone.
Here’s how the Turnpike Commission explains the workings of the tolling plan: I-80 tolls will first be used to rebuild, maintain and operate I-80, pay debt service on bond issues against I-80 tolls, and to make the turnpike’s rental payment to PennDOT — money that will be invested in highway needs statewide.
The rental agreement between PennDOT and the turnpike mandates that the annual payment be deposited into the motor license fund — which can only be used for highway and bridge projects — not mass transit. Funds for mass transit will be generated from increased tolls on the existing turnpike system — not from I-80 tolls.
Federal law under which Pennsylvania seeks to toll I-80 prohibits the money from being used for transit.
Opponents claim tolls shouldn’t be used for other roads and bridges — a curious position at best, because the extension of such logic could work against rural areas. Most of the revenue from gasoline taxes and vehicle registrations comes from urban areas — Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Allentown, in particular, but this money is spent statewide. If rural lawmakers relied just on the money generated in their own jurisdictions, they would not be able to afford many roads at all.
Would rural Pennsylvania be better off if we all adopted the principle that money generated in a county should be used only in that county? The math suggests otherwise.
Because of the state’s Act 44, increased tolls paid by turnpike drivers have pumped $2.2 billion into transportation needs statewide, including in all the counties along I-80. Yet drivers on I-80 don’t contribute a cent to this new funding stream.
Since Act 44 was passed in 2007, turnpike drivers — mostly in urban areas — have been supplementing mass transit systems in places such as Erie, Sharon, State College and Williamsport. Consider: More than 35 percent of all turnpike revenue comes from the Philadelphia area.
As a result of Act 44, turnpike tolls rise each year by an estimated 3 percent. While this is a modest annual increase in line with inflation, if I-80 is not tolled, it creates an imbalance that could steer even more long-haul commercial traffic from the turnpike to I-80. That would siphon off user fees while increasing maintenance costs on I-80 — a double whammy.
The potential loss of user fees would erode the turnpike’s ability to continue supplementing Pennsylvania’s entire transportation network.
This is why tolling I-80 is so critical — the revenue allows for maintaining I-80, helps to evenly distribute traffic on the two parallel interstates, and will allow the commission to continue to fund not only urban and rural roads but mobility and access programs for all Pennsylvanians.
Peter Javsicas is executive director of Pennsylvanians for Transportation Solutions Inc.
