WEST MIDDLESEX, Pa. -- An Erie congressman yesterday promised that Interstate 80 would never be a toll road "as long as I have anything to do with it."

To guarantee that, U.S. Rep. Phil English, R-Erie, and a colleague, Rep. John Peterson, R-Venango, tacked onto a proposed federal transportation bill an amendment that would prohibit tolls on the interstate highway that crosses northern Pennsylvania.

But that's not all.

Mr. English and Mr. Peterson intend this week to introduce a bill, called the Free Highway Protection Act of 2007, that would require all tolls be paid to the federal government as excise tax, thereby negating any state benefit from the tolls.

A spokesman for Gov. Ed Rendell said the proposed legislation "makes little sense."

"Instead of looking for additional funding in Washington to help fund our roads, bridges and mass transit, [Mr. English's] plan sends our money intended for those projects back to Washington," said Chuck Ardo, Mr. Rendell's spokesman.

The proposals from the Republican congressmen caused Mr. Rendell to resurrect his proposal to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike to raise revenue for transportation needs. The governor's proposal met with a cold response from state legislators previously and never got off the ground.

"It's the only alternative on the table at the moment," Mr. Ardo said.

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are lining up to help squash the proposals by Mr. English and Mr. Peterson.

Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Forest Hills, said neither English-Peterson proposal has much of a shot of passing.

"I'm not a betting person, but I wouldn't put a lot of money on that legislation coming out of committee," Mr. Doyle said.

The tolling of I-80, which covers 311 miles from the Ohio border to New Jersey, is part of a package of funding to pay for repairs to roads, bridges and mass transit operations statewide. Increased tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike would be included as well.

The funds -- $750 million this year, $850 million next year and about $950 million in the following eight years -- would be used to pay off a 10-year bond issue that would fund improvements to roads and bridges and aid for nearly six dozen struggling transit agencies, including those in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Erie and Harrisburg.

Mr. English and others at yesterday's news conference at a Mercer County hotel just off the interstate said the bulk of the money from tolls on I-80 would go to benefit transit agencies in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia at the expense of rural residents in the northern third of the state.

Some officials said the state transportation bill that was part of the 2007-08 budget was rushed into passage and was not fully discussed or given a public hearing.

"When you make a historical decision like this, you can't do it at the last minute," said state Rep. Michele Brooks, R-Mercer.

Mr. English said he was surprised that his proposal had a "lot of sympathy on a bipartisan basis." He declined when asked to disclose names of the bipartisan supporters.

"I'm not going to put any of my colleagues in the state on the spot," Mr. English said.

Beside Ms. Brooks, also present at yesterday's news conference were state Reps. Dick Stevenson, R-Mercer, and Mark Longietti, D-Farrell, all three of whom voted against the state transportation funding provision.

Mr. Longietti said he objects to tolls on I-80 because it requires residents of one part of the state to shoulder an inordinate amount of the financial burden of transportation costs.

"It should be shared equally with residents of all areas of the state," he said.

Not all state Republicans are in favor of the proposals by Mr. English and Mr. Peterson.

Rep. Jay Moyer, R-Montgomery County, supports Mr. Rendell's transportation funding plan and voted in favor of it two weeks ago. He said the proposal to prohibit tolls on I-80 or to direct the proceeds to Washington is short-sighted and divisive because it forces officials into turf battles.

"I don't agree with the governor on everything," Mr. Moyer said. "I'm a Republican, but we really have to think outside the box, and one of the reasons why we've moved backward instead of forward is there's too much parochial thinking."

An official with a Mercer County economic development agency said the tolls would kill incentives for new businesses to move into his area.

Dave Shipton, who is secretary of the Neshannock Creek Watershed Joint Municipal Authority, a coalition of five municipalities whose mission is to find ways to fund sewage and other infrastructure improvements to attract businesses, said their most important location is the intersection of I-80 and Route 19.

A toll on I-80 would squelch the economic development at the intersection and could lead to other disincentives down the road, Mr. Shipton said.

"[If] they're going to [toll] 80, what's to stop them from doing [Interstate] 79? Then Mercer County gets a double whammy," he said.