Trying hard to apply the brakes
GOP lawmakers keep pressure on PennDOT to stop bridge tolling project
HARRISBURG — Republican state lawmakers continued to criticize a PennDOT plan to toll nine bridges around the state that they say would hurt small towns and significantly increase costs for businesses already struggling with rising inflation.
PennDOT proposed a plan in November 2020 to use a public-private partnership and institute tolls on nine bridges — including on the Interstate 79 bridge near Bridgeville — to pay for their replacement and maintenance. This is part of an effort by Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration to replace the state’s gas tax, which is one of the highest in the country.
PennDOT’s plan was temporarily paused by a state appellate court last month, with Commonwealth Court Judge Ellen Ceisler issuing a preliminary injunction until the full court holds a hearing on the case in a suit filed by Cumberland County and several of its municipalities. The southcentral Pennsylvania municipalities filed the suit to block the tolling proposal on Interstate 83 outside Harrisburg, and a number of other suits are ongoing.
GOP lawmakers said they were concerned with how little public input was used in creating the plan, and that it was anti-Pennsylvanian to move forward with PennDOT’s contractor choice, Macquarie Infrastructure Developments LLC of Australia. The project is expected to cost $2.5 billion, and PennDOT is negotiating its contract with the Australian contractors.
“It’s been a sloppy, closed process that sets precedent for more tolls in the future, and more costs to the motorists, communities and our employers,” said Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-Oil City, at a news conference Wednesday with other GOP lawmakers and business leaders from across the state.
Mr. Hutchinson called the plan a “declaration of war” against northern Pennsylvania communities already struggling.
However, a spokeswoman for PennDOT said in a statement that the Legislature has “failed to offer any solutions … that will assist the administration’s desire to phase out the gas tax.”
Both GOP lawmakers and PennDOT said they’re open to negotiations on the issue.
Lawmakers were joined by members of the No P3 Bridge Tolling coalition, a group of chambers of commerce, business owners and
local officials that was created to oppose PennDOT’s tolling plans. The local leaders said they worried about how tolling could overwhelm traffic diverted to roads in small towns to avoid the tolls.
State Sen. Devlin Robinson, R-Bridgeville, said he was concerned that the project on I-79 near the Bridgeville exit wasn’t the worst bridge in the region.
“Nobody wants to see these bridges fall, but they are using problems that we have in Pennsylvania to impose more taxes on our citizens,” Mr. Robinson added.
Mr. Robinson pointed to the billions in federal funds the state is slated to receive as part of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package as a potential substitute to this tolling plan.
But last month, PennDOT officials warned that these funds won’t go as far as they’d hoped, due to inflation and problems acquiring some basic materials such as concrete and asphalt. Cheryl Moon- Sirianni, PennDOT district executive for Allegheny and Beaver counties, told the Post -Gazette last month that bids are coming in 10% to 20% higher than anticipated.
A representative from the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association said some trucking companies expect a $ 5,000 increase for each truck if this plan is implemented.
“If you think inflation is already bad, let’s talk about adding an extra $5,000, when supply chains are already reeling,” said Rebecca Oyler, the president and CEO of the trucking association. “It will also increase the cost of all those goods and services that your communities depend on.” the