WASHINGTON -- Two congressmen are ratcheting up the political battle over proposed tolls on Interstate 80.

U.S. Reps. Phil English, R-Erie, and John Peterson, R-Venango, will travel Monday morning to a Super 8 Motel near Exit 29 of I-80 in the small town of Harrisville. They plan to announce new legislation that would block the state Legislature's proposal to turn the 311-mile interstate into a toll road.

Some state legislators also will attend the news conference, in Venango County, one of the northern tier counties where residents and traffic would be most affected by the proposed tolling.

The two congressmen have become the leading opponents of the tolling plan since Tuesday, when they caught Democrats by surprise by adding an amendment to the annual federal transportation spending bill. It would prohibit federal funds from being used to establish or install the I-80 tolls, which might be placed every 30 miles or so along the road.

Their new bill will go further to ban the proposed tolls, but Julia Wanzco, a spokeswoman for Mr. English, declined to discuss specifics yesterday. "All details will be revealed on Monday," she said.

The two congressmen blamed Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell for the tolling plan, but it wasn't his idea, said his aide, Chuck Ardo.

"If these gentlemen would have read the papers, they would know that tolling I-80 was not the governor's proposal, but rather a bipartisan compromise worked out to address the commonwealth's transportation funding crisis," he said.

Mr. Rendell preferred his own transportation plan, which he unveiled in February. It would have leased the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private operator and imposed a new tax on oil company profits. But that plan never got much support, as critics feared the oil tax would lead to higher gasoline prices.

Mr. Ardo said that the two congressmen had supported previous legislation to toll interstate highways, so "it comes as somewhat of a surprise that they have suddenly realized they oppose it."

The approved transportation bill, House Bill 1590, was developed by state senators in late June, with much of the input coming from Sen. Vince Fumo, D-Philadelphia. It was passed by the full Senate and House two weeks ago and signed by Mr. Rendell.

It would provide $750 million this year for improvements to roads, bridges and mass transit, with $850 million next year and an average of $950 million a year in each of the ensuing eight years.

House Bill 1590 counts on two sources of funding -- Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls, which will increase by 25 percent in 2009, and the first-time tolls on I-80, starting in 2010. The money generated from those two sources would pay off a 10-year bond issue that would finance improvements to ailing roads and bridges and shore up deficit-ridden mass transit agencies.

Mr. Peterson and Mr. English say it's not fair for people in the northern, rural areas of the state to pay tolls to support mass transit in urban areas like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. But some rural state legislators, including Sen. Roger Madigan, R-Bradford, say those areas will benefit from the funds that improve roads and bridges.

A Fumo spokesman, Gary Tuma, said yesterday he wants to see exactly what the congressmen's new plan entails before commenting in depth, but supported the idea of tolling I-80.

"It captures a lot of money from out-of-state drivers, especially truckers who use that highway as one of the primary east-west corridors through the state," he said. Putting tolls on I-80 "is a way of paying for roads, bridges and mass transit without a tax increase."

Some legislators fear that if I-80 isn't tolled, east-west traffic, especially trucks, will avoid higher turnpike tolls by using I-80.

Mr. Tuma said he hopes that other members of the state's congressional delegation "would persuade the rest of the Congress that [the Peterson/English plan] isn't a wise thing to do."