The Federal Highway Administration has told the state's top transportation officials not to assume it will approve tolling Interstate 80 across Pennsylvania.

In a letter dated Oct. 17, James D. Ray, FHWA chief counsel and acting deputy administrator, wrote state Transportation Secretary Allen Biehler and Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Chief Executive Office Joe Brimmeier:

"As should be clear, FHWA has not granted Pennsylvania the authority to toll I-80. In fact, now that we have received a formal application, we will conduct a thorough analysis of the application's merits based on the statutory criteria and determine if the selection of I-80 in Pennsylvania for one of three nationwide tolling pilot authorities is appropriate.

"The approval of any application under this program is a discretionary decision. We will take into account a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, actual or expected competition from other interstate facilities."

PennDOT has signed a lease agreement turning I-80 over to the turnpike commission, which aims to start collecting tolls by 2011 to help raise a total of $116 billion over 50 years in conjunction with toll increases on the exiting Pennsylvania Turnpike system.

The transportation funding plan was devised this past summer, approved by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Ed Rendell to provide extra money for roads, bridges and public transit, including $30 million a year for municipalities to use for local streets and $5 million a year for counties to use for bridges.

Mr. Ray indicated the state is already out of the picture to toll I-80 under a separate pilot program called "Corridors of the Future."

Pennsylvania failed to submit an application under that program and, on Sept. 10, the FHWA conditionally selected six different interstates for national priority programs.

Under other provisions of federal transportation law that permit three pilot projects, the first two spots have already been tentatively taken by Virginia and Missouri.

Virginia applied in 2003, asking to build separate, tolled truck lanes over about 300 miles of Interstate 81. Missouri applied in 2005, asking to rebuild and widen Interstate 70 across the state.Mr. Ray told Mr. Biehler and Mr. Brimmeier:

"It is not clear at this time what, if any, tolling authorities will be requested in connection with these projects or other major interstate projects in coming months.

"While we cannot commit to any specific timeline for a final decision at this time, I can assure you we will work diligently in assessing these issues."

-- Joe Grata