The Federal Highway Administration returned Pennsylvania’s request to toll Interstate 80 with many questions. Toll opponents call this a major roadblock to the plan, but toll advocates say it’s routine.
On Dec. 12, the FHWA returned the joint application of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, saying it didn’t contain all information needed for the first phase of provisional acceptance.
The request was filed under the federal Interstate System Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Pilot Program, which allows three toll projects on existing interstates that meet certain criteria. Two of the three projects already have been approved, for I-81 in Virginia and I-70 in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
Tolling I-80 is key to Pennsylvania’s transportation funding plan, Act 44. This authorizes the Turnpike Commission to borrow up to $12 billion, with the assumption that the federal government will grant Pennsylvania the authority to toll I-80.
FHWA’s letter shows that state officials need to repeal Act 44 and return to the drawing board, says U.S. Rep. John E. Peterson, R-Pa., an opponent of the toll plan. “If the Turnpike Commission and PennDOT are complete and truthful in their response to the FHWA, there’s little chance of them securing tolling approval,” Peterson says.
State Rep. Rick Geist, Republican chairman of the House Transportation Committee, says the request validated his concerns. “It is crystal clear that this application lacks basic information that the federal government needs to render a decision on this issue,” says Geist, whose district includes Altoona.
When the application was submitted, a commission spokesman said conditional approval was expected in 2007 so that environmental and engineering studies could proceed. In October, PennDOT and the Turnpike Commission even signed a 50-year lease agreement for I-80.
