Expanding toll roads, especially with private-sector participation, may be Pennsylvania's way out of traffic jams, a new state-sponsored study shows.

The 20-month, taxpayer-financed undertaking at the direction of a state House Select Committee on Toll Roads -- "Study of Innovations in the Funding and Delivery of Transportation Infrastructure Using Tolls" -- was released at a news conference in Harrisburg yesterday.

The study does not identify travel corridors, does not recommend tolling free interstates like I-70 and I-80 and does not recommend a source of what would be the public share of investments in future toll roads.

However, it does recommend further study of a public-private approach to building future big roads and developing potential legislative language to govern the delivery and financing of such projects.

Under such arrangements, private developers contribute to the construction of a highway or high-occupancy lanes along such roads that can be used for a fee. In return, the private developer may own the road, operate it or just receive a share of the profits for contributing to construction costs.

"We looked at other states to see how they are using the revenue generated by tolls," state Rep. Richard Geist, R-Altoona, said in a statement. "Tolling has been very successful in these states, and it could work in Pennsylvania to enhance transportation corridors by expanding capacity and minimizing congestion."

Mr. Geist, chairman of the House Transportation Committee, chaired the special committee that included six colleagues, including state Rep. John Maher, R-Upper St. Clair. Most members, along with some staff members and paid consultants, made what were characterized as fact-finding tours to Texas, Florida and Virginia to meet with public and private officials instrumental in unique financing approaches to toll road projects.

Mr. Geist said Pennsylvania's limited-access highways need about $6 billion of restoration but the state has only a fraction of the money to make the improvements.

"The bottom line is that existing public funding is insufficient to meet the growing needs of Pennsylvania's transportation infrastructure," he said. "We need to take a serious look at revenue-generating alternatives like tolling in order to maintain and expand [our] highway system. We're just not going to be able to raise any more revenue at the pump."

At 31.5 cents a gallon, Pennsylvania's gas tax is among the nation's highest.

The study recommended that the General Assembly approve legislation that would enable the state to enter into public-private partnerships that would use toll-generated revenue to fund construction of new roads and bridges.

"Entire transportation corridors could be improved, including mass transit operating within the corridors," Mr. Geist said. "This is an expedient way of getting the private sector to help do what the state can't. What's in it for them? Profit."

The House committee hired a Harrisburg-area firm, Durbin Associates Inc., as prime consultant for the project. Its principal is John T. Durbin, a Republican fund-raiser and contributor. In the administration of former Gov. Tom Ridge, Mr. Durbin served as executive director of the politically appointed Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

Neither of two House Transportation Committee spokesmen could say how much the state paid Durbin Associates.

Mr. Geist said the next step is for the Legislature "to digest the select committee's report and to consider the merits of tolling. This kicks it off."

Eric Bugaile, committee executive director for the Republican majority, was noncommittal about whether a public-private partnership could be created to raise an estimated $2 billion needed to build the 24-mile northern leg of the Mon-Fayette Expressway into Pittsburgh.

"I'm not saying it couldn't," he said.