No Toll on I-80

Act 44, the legislation that authorized the conversion of Interstate 80 to a toll road, was approved by a vote of 124 to 79 in the Pennsylvania House, with 96 of the affirmative votes coming from Democrats, and only 28 coming from Republicans. It did not have bipartisan support.
Act 44 was created in haste and secrecy. Just one month passed from the time the legislation was introduced until it was signed into law. There was not a single public hearing or any other opportunity for public input on this major change in our transportation infrastructure.
Before approving Act 44, Governor Ed Rendell campaigned for the privatization of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, claiming the Turnpike Commission had a reputation for nepotism in hiring. Act 44 puts the Turnpike Commission in charge of operating Interstate 80 as a toll road.
The manufactured housing industry would be devastated by the tolling of Interstate 80, and estimates tolls will add $3,000 to the cost of each house manufactured. This cost will be passed on to the customer, making it more difficult for Pennsylvania manufacturers to remain competitive.
Tolling Interstate 80 will divert heavy traffic from the interstate highway to secondary roadways, accelerating wear, increasing local maintenance costs and decreasing safety.
Tolling Interstate 80 will not increase the roadway’s capacity, improve its quality or enable drivers to travel at a greater speed.
Interstate 80 is part of the Federal Highway System, financed with federal funds and intended to be a free system of transportation that would facilitate interstate commerce.
Those limited sections of the Interstate system that are tolled existed as toll roads before the birth of the Interstate system and were absorbed and permitted to continue collecting tolls.
Proponents of tolling Interstate 80 claim many of its users do not pay their fair share, that they are truckers just passing through. The truth is truckers already pay a significant amount to travel on our nation’s roadways. A single local independent trucking company reports that in 2006, the 50 trucks in his fleet paid $218,000 in fuel tax, $77,500 for license plates, $27,500 for combined use tax, plus additional taxes on tires. Tolling Interstate 80 will add $7,000 per week, or $364,000 per year, to his expenses. This more than doubles his cost of doing business.