Better together?
Explore joining PennDOT and turnpike services
There is nothing to lose and maybe something to gain with the Pennsylvania Senate’s decision to study increased synergy between the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and the state Department of Transportation. Neither is a model of efficiency. Both cost a fortune to operate. If a restructuring of the agencies yields something greater than the sum of its parts, the taxpayers are in for a lucky break.
At the Senate’s behest, the Joint State Government Commission — the Legislature’s bipartisan research arm — will spend as long as 18 months on the study. Now, the turnpike commission oversees the 550mile Pennsylvania Turnpike and other toll roads, including the MonFayette Expressway, while PennDOT oversees the non-tolled interstate highways and other state roads, bridges, tunnels and mass transit.
The study will look at the possibility of shifting PennDOT’s interstate highway responsibilities to the turnpike commission. It also will look at the opposite scenario, in which the turnpike commission would turn over its roads to PennDOT and become little more than a vehicle for debt service. It’s difficult to see how either arrangement would be an improvement over the status quo — the agencies already are interrelated in terms of financing and governance — but researchers might find hidden efficiencies.
The turnpike, which last month increased tolls for the 10th year in a row, faces chronic financial challenges, thanks partly to a $450 million annual payment it must give PennDOT for mass transit. In 2023, the required payment drops to $50 million, potentially offering financial breathing room to the turnpike but creating a new transit funding headache for PennDOT. Another of the study’s goals should be to bring clarity to the dilemma of transit funding.
Much of the turnpike’s operating budget goes to debt service, and higher tolls have been necessary to keep the agency operating. But there is concern about the turnpike commission reaching the point of diminishing returns. Because of a traffic falloff in October and November, state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale last month announced an earlier-than-usual audit of the agency to determine whether higher tolls are affecting turnpike use and undercutting revenue projections.
It isn’t like PennDOT has a lot of money to provide for turnpike repairs, either. A national infrastructure bill is needed to infuse money into the turnpike, not to mention the other state roads and bridges in desperate need of attention.
While the turnpike has been sullied in recent years by an inept snowstorm response and a pay-to-play scandal, PennDOT is not the gold standard, either. For example, the 2016 Liberty Bridge fire inadvertently started by a construction company showed the need for PennDOT to better monitor its contractors. Because of the fire, the public lost use of the bridge, one of the city’s biggest arteries, for 24 days.
Both the turnpike and PennDOT pledged their support of the Senate study — and their openness to change. That is a good starting point. But any change to the agencies must be more than window dressing or political legerdemain. If researchers have reason to believe a restructuring can yield dividends, let them produce the evidence.