PennDOT needs a new stream of revenue

The decision by PennDOT to toll selective bridges in the commonwealth was made after the state elections, without advance publicity, the opportunity for public debate or the involvement of our legislative transportation committee leadership.

The authority to toll under the authority of the publicprivate partnership dates back to the Ed Rendell administration’s failed attempt to toll Interstate 80 and provide $450 million annually to PennDOT from the toll revenue for road and bridge construction and maintenance.

The Federal Highway Administration, not unexpectedly, denied permission to toll the interstate, but the annual revenue committed for the Pennsylvania Turnpike to fund PennDOT remained until 2022. Obviously, a new revenue stream needs to be found.

A residential community should not be subject to the burden of tolling. Local and commercial traffic attempting to avoid this expense on the I79 bridge will be diverted to Washington Pike, a local twolane heavily traveled road through Bridgeville and through the Fairview section of South Fayette Township. Any additional traffic on this already congested route will only compromise the safety of the community and the ability of emergency response personnel.

There are alternative funding sources for the much-needed infrastructure improvements that should be considered. For example, there are 8.1 million registered vehicles in Pennsylvania and a $1 increase in the registration fee will generate $8.1 million dollars.

The burden to pay for bridge and highway maintenance should not arbitrarily be imposed on one area of the state; rather it should be distributed equally throughout the state.

Moreover, PennDOT needs to be accountable for responsible fiscal management and avoid spending infrastructure money for special interests such as bike lanes or excessive mass transit funding in certain areas of the state at the expense of our southwestern Pennsylvania community.