Pennsylvania lawmakers and Gov. Ed Rendell approved high-stakes, legalized highway gambling this summer with passage of legislation known as Act 44.

The politicos rolled the dice when they decided to fund transportation by raising Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls by 25 percent starting in 2009 and converting Interstate 80 across the state into a toll road starting in 2011.

Act 44 promoters gave the impression that Pennsylvania residents had hit the transportation jackpot. They estimated the two measures will generate up to $116 billion over the next 50 years in extra revenue to be spent on roads, bridges and public transit.

That averages out to $2.3 billion a year. By comparison, it's also $1.3 billion a year more revenue than the state expects to gain once all 14 of its slots parlors are up and running.

To raise that kind of money, somebody has to lose. Big time.

Whatever drivers have to pay in the future to travel the Pennsylvania Turnpike, now 8 cents a mile for cars and 30 cents a mile for the typical 18-wheeler, they're also targeted to pay for using I-80.

Over the next 20 years alone, the $1.25 one-way toll for passenger vehicles between New Stanton and Monroeville is to double to $2.50 in steps, while the $19.75 toll between I-79/Warrendale and the New Jersey border will jump to about $40. Five-axle Class 7 trucks will be charged tolls of about $13 and $214, respectively, for the 18-mile and 330-mile trips.

While the need for additional transportation funding has been well documented, Act 44 is a complicated piece of legislation with a number of uncertain issues.

Examples:

There's no guarantee the Federal Highway Administration will quickly -- or ever -- approve the joint application from PennDOT and the Turnpike Commission to toll I-80 as the third and final pilot program permitted under federal transportation legislation.

Virginia applied for the first spot in 2003, asking to build separate, tolled truck lanes over 300 miles of I-81. Missouri applied for the second spot in 2005, asking to widen I-70 across the state from two lanes to four lanes in each direction. The FHWA has yet to OK either of the proposals, let alone one designed to raise hundreds of millions of dollars a year more than necessary to maintain I-80.

Furthermore, opposition to tolling is gaining momentum along the I-80 corridor, from businesses and civic groups to elected officials, including U.S. Reps. Phil English, R-Erie, and John Peterson, R-Venango, who are trying to block the move in Congress.

If the plan to toll I-80 fails, the Act 44 funding package will fall apart and Pennsylvania taxpayers will be stuck with the consequences.

Some cars and trucks will shift to parallel east-week routes they can travel for free rather than paying higher turnpike tolls that will be implemented no matter what happens. Their options will include I-68 just south of the border as well as I-80; that's a 311-mile trip across the state compared to 360 miles on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

And while the financial model for Act 44 assumes turnpike revenue will grow at an annual rate of 2.5 percent, revenue for its 2007 fiscal year that ended May 31 increased less than 1 percent, reflecting minimal traffic growth at a time when tolls remained the same.

As the Legislature instructed, the turnpike is gambling on credit. It has already begun borrowing to provide PennDOT with $750 million this year, $850 million next year and $900 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year before money starts rolling in from the 25 percent turnpike toll increase. The turnpike is to give PennDOT another $922 million in the 2010-11 fiscal year before money starts coming in from I-80, if the FHWA allows it.

Overall, the turnpike is authorized to issue bonds for a whopping $9.6 billion over the next 16 years to keep feeding PennDOT, money that is to be repaid through 2057, plus billions in interest.

I'm not suggesting the plan is a bad deal for the majority of the public, but there's considerable risk.

If Act 44's house of cards collapses, the state -- that's you! -- will be stuck with the largest transportation debt in history with only one way to pay for it: Taxes.

We may be talking about a 25-cents-a-gallon gas tax increase or its equivalent, along with doubling driver license and motor vehicle registration fees, in the not-too-distant future.

Now do I have your ear?

You may want to save today's Getting Around Column and pull it out several years from now, as a reminder that Act 44 is a crap shoot.