HARRISBURG -- In recent months, three plans have been devised to generate the billions of dollars needed to repair Pennsylvania's deteriorating roads, bridges and mass transit systems.

All three -- putting tolls on Interstate 80, leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private company and raising the gasoline tax by up to 25 cents -- clearly have major drawbacks, said Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson.

He disclosed yesterday that he's working on a plan of his own, which he'll unveil in a few weeks. He wouldn't give details but said it "won't involve tolling I-80."

He was responding to the furor caused by Act 44, which the Legislature approved in July. It would generate about $1 billion a year for 50 years by raising tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, starting in 2009, and imposing first-time tolls on I-80, starting in 2011.

Mr. Scarnati voted for Act 44, but admitted "I held my nose when I voted for it," because he knew that tolls on I-80 would be unpopular with people in his area of north-central Pennsylvania.

He contended that tolling I-80 "was the least offensive of the three revenue options."

A public backlash, led by U.S. Reps. John Peterson, R-Venango, and Phil English, R-Erie, has erupted. Also, federal highway officials have issued a long list of questions that the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission must answer before they permit I-80 to be tolled, which could delay necessary approval for months.

Mr. Scarnati said it's easy to oppose I-80 tolls, but there must be an alternative fund-raising plan. The state has hundreds of miles of roads in poor shape, thousands of bridges that must be rebuilt and several dozen mass transit systems, including the Allegheny County Port Authority and SEPTA in Philadelphia, that face serious deficits.

"A bridge in Cambria County just fell in recently," he said. "The Clark Street Bridge in my town of Brockway is structurally deficient. There should be weight limits on it. And everyone knows about the bridge in Minneapolis that fell down this summer."

Leasing the turnpike is the revenue-raising option that Gov. Ed Rendell favors. He wants to sign a long-term lease -- up to 99 years -- with an American or foreign company that would pay the state perhaps $20 billion up front and then collect the tolls, decide on the size of the work force and handle road maintenance for the length of the lease.

Mr. Scarnati calls that option "selling the turnpike," but Rendell officials object, saying it was to be a lease because the state would continue to own the roadway. Mr. Scarnati replied that if the state loses control of such a major asset for as long as 99 years, it's the same thing as a sale. The Rendell administration said the lease would limit how much tolls can be raised, but Mr. Scarnati was skeptical.

"We could send well over $100 billion to a foreign company [that runs the turnpike] over the life span of this contract," he said.

The third option is to raise the state's gasoline tax by up to 25 cents a gallon. But with the price of gasoline already about $3 a gallon, legislators fear that voters would revolt if the state gas tax, already at 31 cents a gallon, went up. There also could be higher fees for renewals of driver's licenses and vehicle registrations.

"There is no appetite in the Senate for raising taxes," he said.

A related idea, suggested by Mr. Rendell, was to impose a gross profits tax on oil companies. Mr. Scarnati said oil companies would just pass that along to consumers in the form of higher gasoline prices.

Another option is to simply do nothing, and watch roads and bridges continue to crumble. "Doing nothing is no longer an option," he said.

He said his plan will involve "generating funds by using the turnpike, but it's not a traditional lease or sale."

Mr. Scarnati wouldn't provide details, but said his plan wouldn't permit selling or leasing the turnpike to a foreign company. "A foreign company should not have control over one of our major assets, such as the turnpike," he said. He hopes to give more details by the end of January.