Published: Tuesday, July 31, 2007
English: Western Pa. will not bail out Philly
There is a two-prong federal effort to stop the tolls.
By LAURE CIOFFI
WEST MIDDLESEX, Pa. — Skip Doutt sends 25 to 30 trucks a day onto Interstate 80 to deliver metal products.
As vice president of operations at Yourga Trucking Inc. in Wheatland, Pa., Doutt said putting tolls on that highway, as the Pennsylvania Legislature plans to do, could severely affect business.
"It would affect our rate structure and the cost to transport materials," he said.
Costs for motorists aren't the only concerns of Mercer County lawmakers. They worry that those big trucks would move off the interstate and onto local roads to avoid tolls. A bipartisan group of elected officials gathered Monday to support a two-prong federal effort to stop Pennsylvania from instituting tolls on the 311 miles of I-80.
U.S. Rep. Phil English of Erie, R-3rd, announced that he would introduce the Free Highway Protection Act this week. The measure would establish a federal excise tax, equal to the amount of any tolls placed on federally financed interstate highways. Revenue generated from the federal excise tax would be appropriated by the Secretary of Labor for the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, English said. That program provides financial aid to Americans who lose their jobs because of unfair foreign competition.
He has also written a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation, urging it to deny Pennsylvania's application for tolls on I-80.
English didn't mince words when asked why he had introduced the legislation.
"I am not going to stand idly by and watch Harrisburg politicians pick the pockets of western Pennsylvanians to prop up Philadelphia's mass transit system," English said.
Last week, English and U.S. Rep. John Peterson of Venango County, R-5th, also inserted a provision into transportation funding that prohibits the use of federal money to construct toll booths on I-80.
U.S. Reps. Jason Altmire of McCandless, D-4th, who represents a portion of Mercer County and Timothy Ryan of Niles, Ohio, D-17th, did not return phone calls seeking comment on the tolls or on the legislation proposed by English and Peterson.
Statewide effort
English said Gov. Ed Rendell and other Democrats across the state are working to repeal that measure, which passed the state House and is expected to go to a Senate conference committee.
"We are here to say, 'This is not a Republican/Democratic thing. This is about our region and a blow to our economy in western Pennsylvania,'" English said.
State lawmakers agreed to tolls on I-80 as well as to raise rates on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to pay for road and bridge improvements and fund public transportation. The majority of the public transportation funding is sent to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Gov. Rendell initially wanted to privatize the Pennsylvania Turnpike, but did not receive support in the state Legislature. This plan to toll I-80 and increase turnpike fees was a compromise.
State Rep. Mark Longietti of Farrell, D-7, was the only Democrat to vote against the measure in the state House of Representatives and was present Monday to support English.
"I consistently voted 'no' to tolling I-80 simply because it places an unfair burden on this part of the state," Longietti said. "Too much of the money is going to transit systems that have been mismanaged in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh."
Leaders: local economy in peril
The effects of putting tolls in I-80 would be devastating to the local economy, local leaders say.
"It would kill our efforts," said Dave Shipton, president of the 79-80 Interstate Development Corporation, a group dedicated to economic development near I-80 and I-79, which intersect in Mercer County.
He said they have been working on developing the I-80, Pa. Route 19 interchange in Mercer County and a second spot in Venango County near I-80 and Pa. Route 8 near Barkeyville.
"[The toll would] take away from us. Where is it going to stop? It will kill tourism in Mercer County. People will not get on a toll road to go and look at Victorian homes in Mercer," Shipton said.
English said it will be a huge cost for the local driving public.
"It hasn't worked on Pa. Route 60 and it won't work here," English said referring to the toll portion of Route 60 through Lawrence and Beaver counties, which most locals avoid because of the cost.
He believes I-79 and I-90 aren't far behind for state lawmakers to make toll roads.
"We can't allow this to go forward. We are going to fight any way we can," English said.
Study against tolls
Pa. State Rep. Michele Brooks of Jamestown, R-17th, noted that a state study done two years ago advised against putting toll charges on I-80.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation study concluded that maintenance on I-80 is manageable, there would be traffic diversion to other roads and opposition would be expected from the trucking industry and communities along I-80.
Brooks said she was troubled that there were no public hearings on the matter.
"I feel ... they will go after I-79 after this," she said.
English noted it's unprecedented that the federal highway commission would approve putting tolls on a road when the majority of the toll revenues would not be used for its upkeep.
Donald Rakoci, executive vice president of PI&I Motor Express in nearby Masury, Ohio, looks at the proposed tolls on I-80 as an economic blow to the entire region.
He expects truck drivers who now get off the Ohio Turnpike to use the freeway will just continue onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike if I-80 is tolled.
"There will be double the traffic on the Pennsylvania Turnpike," Rakoci said.
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