No backup plan if I-80 tolls rejected

Mar 10, 2010 — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Tom Barnes

Mar. 10, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- HARRISBURG -- State transportation officials stressed Tuesday there is no "plan B" for funding road and bridge improvements if federal officials fail to approve tolls on Interstate 80.

That was the discouraging report state Transportation Secretary Allen Biehler and two legislators gave representatives from PenTrans, a group of public officials and engineering firms involved in transportation systems and projects.

If the I-80 tolls are approved by June, there will be $922 million available in fiscal 2010-11 to continue repairs on hundreds of miles of potholed roads, hundreds of deficient bridges and struggling mass transit systems in Allegheny County, Philadelphia and its suburbs and smaller areas, said Mr. Biehler.

But if the tolls aren't approved, that funding will drop to $450 million starting July 1, which would curtail road/bridge improvements, make it hard for transit authorities to buy new cars and perhaps cause service cuts and fare increases, Mr. Biehler warned.

People often ask if the state has a backup plan to generate transportation funding if the I-80 tolls aren't approved by the Federal Highway Administration, said Rep. Joe Markosek, D-Monroeville, head of the state House Transportation Committee.

"There is no plan B," Mr. Markosek said. "Act 44 of 2007, which included the I-80 tolls, was plan B."

Mr. Biehler said he's been expecting, for several months, a decision by the feds on the tolls, but now thinks he'll get a yes or no by the end of March.

The officials said most people have forgotten about a previous proposal, a report issued in November 2006 by a state transportation improvement panel, which spent more than a year looking into how to pay for transportation improvements. It recommended that the state spend $1.7 billion a year for improving roads, bridges and transit.

It would have generated money by raising the state's 31-cent-a-gallon gasoline taxes and taking other politically toxic steps that legislators weren't willing to swallow.

So the Legislature enacted Act 44 in July 2007, calling for yearly increases in tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which have begun taking effect, and imposing first-time tolls on I-80, an idea that has been waiting approval for two years from federal officials.

Under the first three years of Act 44 (July 2007 to June 2010), the Turnpike Commission borrowed $2.5 billion to spend for improvements to ailing roads, bridges and bus/trolley systems around the state.

If the I-80 tolls are approved this spring, it would take until late 2011 before the toll gantries are actually in place at nine locations along the 311-mile highway, Mr. Biehler said. But the Turnpike Commission (which Mr. Biehler also chairs) could borrow the $922 million it needs for 2010-11 based on the certainty that new toll revenue is in the pipeline.

Federal transportation officials are under conflicting pressure over tolls on I-80. Residents and legislators from big cities where mass transit is vital, such as Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, want the tolls.

But politicians, businesses and residents of the I-80 corridor from Ohio to New Jersey strongly oppose any tolls, claiming they would hurt economic development in the state's northern tier and divert heavy truck traffic onto local roads, damaging them.

With many legislators running for re-election this year, there's little appetite for raising gasoline taxes, increasing license and registration fees or other revenue-raising ideas to bring in funds if the feds reject tolling, said Mr. Markosek and state Rep. Rick Geist, R-Altoona.

"Even people who agree that we need to improve transportation tell me, 'We just can't pay any more taxes,' " Mr. Markosek said.

Bureau Chief Tom Barnes: tbarnes@post-gazette.com or 717-787-4254.

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