The state's proposal to impose tolls on Interstate 80 to raise revenue for other road and bridge improvements is "in big trouble," Rep. Rick Geist, R-Altoona, predicted yesterday.

"If it does go through, it'll take years" before the highway begins generating significant funds for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, as well as enough money to pay back loans already being floated by the Turnpike Commission on PennDOT's behalf, he said at a Harrisburg news conference.

Mr. Geist, minority chairman of the House Transportation Committee, was reacting to last week's notification from the Federal Highway Administration that the state's preliminary application to convert the 311-mile highway into a toll road must offer substantially more information before it can be considered for possible approval in the future.

Turnpike Chief Executive Joe Brimmeier has said the FHWA's reaction to the application was neither unexpected nor surprising, given its magnitude and complexity.

But Mr. Geist characterized the FHWA's stance as "a major roadblock" which ought to move state lawmakers to look at alternatives, including legislation he has long favored to enable creation of public-private transportation partnerships, including a long-term lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Gov. Ed Rendell also has proposed leasing the turnpike for an up-front fee and, in essence, living off of investment profits.

Instead, the General Assembly passed Act 44 as a public-public partnership that directs the Turnpike Commission to toll I-80 and raise turnpike tolls by 25 percent in 2009, and 3 percent a year thereafter, to provide up to $116 billion to PennDOT for roads, bridges and public transit over the next 50 years. Mr. Rendell signed the bill in July as part of a state budget settlement.

"The [FHWA] notification validates the serious concerns and reservations that I and others have had all along regarding the application and the tolling plan it seeks to authorize," Mr. Geist said.

Mr. Geist estimated the state could be offered as much as $30 billion for a 75-year lease of the 530-mile Pennsylvania Turnpike system.

With a 10 percent return on the investment, he said the state could realize $3 billion a year, or three times as much as the Act 44 plan at its peak. With that kind of money, "In five years, you're going to clean up 6,000 structurally deficient bridges," he said, referring to a problem that has plagued PennDOT.

When asked whether global investment firms that have forged similar deals for other U.S. toll facilities might gouge users, Mr. Geist responded, "They're not going to put prices so high that they drive business away."

Besides operating more efficiently than the public sector, he said companies do creative things to draw customers and make money, such as building special "slip ramps" to places not currently served and imposing "congestion pricing" that charges premiums for rush-hour travel in urban areas.

"I've spent nights reviewing contracts" for privatizing toll facilities, Mr. Geist said. "They have tight provisions, like clearing dead deer off the road within four hours. I've seen them on our roads for two weeks."