Toll increases a sad tradition at new year

It’s that time of year again. As of this morning tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike are increasing by 5%. Motorists have had to deal with such rate hikes annually since 2009.

To make matters worse, the unfortunate tradition is expected to continue through 2057 unless there’s some change in the law that has put the turnpike in this position — a requirement that the commission make sizable payments to PennDOT every year.

Turnpike officials are telling the public that there’s a sliver lining this time around, as the 5% hike represents the first time in six years that the rate of increase is under 6%. The rate of increase is expected to keep going down over the next few years until it plateaus at 3% starting in 2028.

The turnpike commission announced that this is the last year it will have to pay PennDOT $450 million to aid transit systems. After this the contribution drops to a mere $50 million a year. Revenue from the motor vehicle sales and use tax will pick up the slack.

It’s hard to get too excited about the positive side of this year’s news when everyone knows this is going to continue for decades to come. Between the annual payments to PennDOT and the need to repay hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, the turnpike’s financial headaches will keep getting passed along to motorists.

The turnpike commission was dealt a bad hand when the state passed a law in 2007 that went with a plan to establish tolls on Interstate 80. That idea went nowhere, but the required payments already were law. Turnpike motorists have been paying the price ever since.

The most common toll for a passenger vehicle increased from $1.60 to $1.70 for E-ZPass customers and from $3.90 to $4.10 for Toll By Plate customers. The most common toll for a Class-5 tractor-trailer increased from $13 to $13.70 for E-ZPass and from $26.60 to $28 for Toll By Plate.

These increases won’t have much of an impact on those who only use the turnpike occasionally, but for regular turnpike commuters, even small numbers add up over the course of a year.

It’s all part of a bigger problem involving Pennsylvania’s transportation spending and quality of infrastructure. PennDOT is having financial problems in large part because changes in travel habits and the advent of electric vehicles have taken a toll on gas tax revenue, and because the state siphons money away from transportation spending to help pay for state police costs.

The good news is that leaders in Harrisburg are discussing the problem. The bad news is that there’s not enough consensus about what do about it.

In recent weeks, Transportation Secretary Yassmin Gramian has been promoting a three-pronged approach to close an annual funding gap of $8.1 billion. It involves tolling nine major bridges to pay for replacement, including the Lenhartsville Bridge on Interstate 78; using an additional $4 billion in federal funds over the next five years; and implementing package delivery fees, surcharges for rides from services such as Uber and Lyft, and eventually switching from the gasoline tax to fees paid for miles driven.

Grandal says the state only spends $6.9 billion a year for roads and bridges when it should spend $15 billion to maintain one of the largest road and bridge networks in the country.

Republican legislative leaders, who control the House and Senate, say they are willing to move on items like shifting funding for state police back to the general fund and will consider fees for electric vehicles. But GOP leaders are balking at big-ticket items such as mileage fees and bridge tolls.

There’s no denying that lawmakers are looking at a series of unpalatable options. But they need to reach consensus on a path forward. That means ensuring there’s adequate funding for transportation improvements raised in the most fair way possible, and that something is done to reduce the unacceptable burden being placed on turnpike users.