HARRISBURG -- U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Venango County, and other politicians and business people from the Interstate 80 corridor called on the state Legislature today to repeal Act 44 of 2007, which calls for putting first-time tolls on the busy four-lane, east-west highway.
"Act 44 is the most irresponsible piece of legislation I've ever seen passed by state government,'' said Mr. Peterson, who was a state legislator before being elected to Congress. "There were no hearings and no discussion on a measure that would hurt the economy and the people who live along the I-80 corridor.''
Besides putting tolls on I-80 -- a move that still needs federal approval -- Act 44 also calls for increasing the tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. They are to go up by 25 percent in January 2009 and then by about 3 percent each January thereafter.
The critics of the I-80 tolls, who included Sens. John Eichelberger, R-Blair County, and John Gordner, R-Columbia County, and Reps. Scott Hutchinson, R-Venango County, and Russ Fairchild, R-Union County, didn't say anything about repealing the higher tolls planned for the turnpike.
If the I-80 tolls were repealed, Act 44 would only raise about $450 million a year to repair ailing state roads and bridges and fund mass transit. With the I-80 tolls -- which still must be approved by the Federal Highway Administration -- Act 44 would generate $946 million a year for at least the next 10 years.
Gov. Ed Rendell signed Act 44 last year, but his preferred method of funding repairs to roads, bridges and mass transit is to lease the turnpike for 75 years to a private consortium that would pay the state a one-time $12.8 billion fee. The Legislature still must act on that but won't get to it until the fall.
The legislators who want to repeal the I-80 tolls didn't list an alternative for raising transportation funds. They did, however, criticize Mr. Rendell's decision in 2005 to shift $420 million in federal funds for roads over to mass transit agencies to keep them from shutting down. Some critics also said that all of the state's gasoline tax revenue should be used for fixing roads and bridges rather than for other things it's now being spent on, such as paying much of the cost of state police.
It isn't known whether the Legislature, which has many important issues to deal with this month, including a new state budget, will even consider the move to repeal Act 44.
First Published: June 9, 2008, 4:15 p.m.