Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission officials are to formally sign a landmark lease no later than Monday to convert Interstate 80 into a toll road.

The 50-year agreement is designed to create what they call a unique "public-public partnership" to generate a total of $116 billion.

It's the latest indication that the two agencies are moving full speed ahead with state legislation passed this summer to raise new transportation funds despite opposition from some elected officials, businesses and residents along the 311-mile highway.

Both parties have also set next Friday as the target date for submitting a joint application to the Federal Highway Administration, seeking its approval to designate I-80 as the third and last of three pilot interstate tolling projects permitted under a federal transportation act.

"Our attorneys and their [PennDOT] attorneys have been working on this for several weeks," Turnpike spokesman Bill Capone said yesterday while confirming the pending actions. "They're very close. Our plan is to sign the lease [today] and send it to PennDOT to sign."

If the I-80 tolling plan succeeds, state officials estimate it will raise an average of $950 million a year over the next 12 years when combined with toll increases on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Most of the new money would be used for the maintenance and repair of roads and bridges statewide, not including about $100 million a year that PennDOT would save by no longer being responsible for I-80. About $300 million a year from turnpike toll increases would be earmarked to increase subsidies to 73 transit systems, including the Port Authority.

Over the 50-year life of the partnership, the turnpike expects to generate $116 billion, with $83.3 billion to be turned over to PennDOT for roads, bridges and public transit; $8 billion to be reinvested in I-80 improvements; and up to $24.8 billion to be dedicated to unspecified transportation projects.

U.S. Rep. John E. Peterson, R-Venango, an opponent, said the plan is a big mistake and revenue projections are vastly overstated.

"I don't think they meet the criteria" that federal law has establish for converting a free interstate into a toll road, he said of the PennDOT-Turnpike Commission partnership. "The only way they can use toll money is to show they have no other means to reconstruct a terrible road (I-80) and, right now, it's in the best shape in its history."

Mr. Peterson noted that 70 percent of the traffic on I-80 is from out of state and predicted half of that will abandon the highway for other routes, including big trucks that generate the most toll revenue. Meanwhile, he said, "taxpayers will be the big losers, because they can kiss goodbye to some of the best jobs in Pennsylvania" because high tolls will put businesses at an economic disadvantage.

His communications director, Travis Windle, said PennDOT and the Turnpike Commission "may be putting the cart before the horse."

"They're banking on this sailing through the FHWA, but it's not that easy," he said. "Virginia and Missouri have had proposals for a pilot project for years and they haven't been approved yet. The law says every red cent raised from tolls has to be spent on I-80, but Act 44 says the revenues will be used to fund various other transportation projects across the state."

Act 44 is the funding legislation passed by the House and Senate this summer and signed by Gov. Ed Rendell in order to generate needed new transportation revenues.

Mr. Capone said the Turnpike Commission has a legal obligation to move forward with provisions of Act 44, "and that's what we're doing."

The turnpike has already developed a "power point" slide-show that has been presented to PennDOT employees stationed along the I-80 corridor.

It also plans a public outreach program, including convening a series of community meetings in the I-80 corridor starting next month "so people can learn the facts and be informed of the process," Mr. Capone said. "There's a lot of misinformation out there."

Meanwhile, the turnpike has signed a $3 million, three-year contract with a planning-engineering consultant, McCormick-Taylor Inc., to spearhead its efforts to implement Act 44 and advance the I-80 project.

The turnpike also has amended an existing contract with Wilbur Smith Associates to update traffic information and develop a preliminary recommendation about the number and location of up to 10 tolling plazas. The tentative plan calls for cars to pay 8 cents a mile and 18-wheel tractor-trailers to pay 30 cents a mile, putting border-to-border tolls at $25 and $93 respectively, starting in 2010.

In August, the turnpike made a $62.5 million "advance payment" to PennDOT for public transit use to reflect its obligations under Act 44.

I-80 that runs east-west across Pennsylvania is a four-lane, divided highway with 425 bridges and 58 interchanges. It was opened to traffic in segments between 1960 and 1970. While it passes through 13 mostly rural counties, it connects with five other interstate highways: I-79, I-81, I-180, I-380 and I-476.