Attention Pennsylvania turnpike users: Get ready to shell out more dough for tolls, because the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is giving America's oldest highway a face lift, with funding coming out of everyone's pockets.

Toll rates will increase 42 percent, from 4.1 cents per mile to 5.9 for commercial cars.

And according to a press release from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, the increase will bring in more than $1.3 billion over the next 10 years for the roadway face lift.

The turnpike's original construction, which took place before World War II, cost about $450,000 per mile, significantly less than the $10 million per mile the renovations are expected to cost.

The commission decided last month to rebuild and improve the roads, overpasses, tollbooths and bridges, something that has never been done before to the 64-year-old super highway. Past construction and delays were to re-pave older sections of the road.

Some are not happy with the decision.

Carli Sklaroff (junior-telecommunications) is from the Philadelphia area and uses the roadway to travel between home and school.

"I go home a lot and with the tolls being more and the gas prices always increasing, all of these bills add up," Sklaroff said.

And although some of the money is going back to the roads, she said she would rather see a more gradual increase than an abrupt one such as this.

Carl DeFebo, the commission's public information manager, said he understood the decision was not a popular one, but was completely necessary.

"There hasn't been an increase like this since 1991," DeFebo said. "And yes, it does seem significant, but to average out the cost of living and inflation over the past 13 years, it's keeping up pace."

As for the idea of a gradual increase, DeFebo said it was an option discussed, but in the end, not the most cost efficient.

"The commission operates about 531 miles of roadway. And because of that, we studied phasing in scenarios," he said.

DeFebo said the biggest challenge is that it's too expensive to gradually phase in the increases without passing along the toll hikes to the consumers to a more drastic degree.

"Because we would have to re-print new tickets, fare schedules, maps and all the programming involved every time [we increased tolls], it almost doubles the expense," he added.

Joseph G. Brimmeier, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission chief executive officer, said in a press release that the toll increase is necessary. In addition the planned construction is required to make the turnpike safer for intrastate travelers, he said.

"Today our turnpike is safe and reliable, but the cold truth is that it will not be safe and reliable much longer if we do not act now. And the only way to do that is to increase tolls," he said.

Some students, like Alexis Kaplan (junior-elementary education), have no problem with the tolls increase because of the final result -- a better and safer roadway.

"As long as the money goes to fix the roads and in the end there is less construction, it's a good thing," Kaplan said.

DeFebo also said some parts of the turnpike, such as in Philadelphia, are being widened from four lanes to six, which Kaplan said seemed like a "beautiful thing."

Andrew Samitz (freshman-public relations) suggested another solution so fewer people think of the increase as a problem.

"I think everyone should just get E-Z Pass, so no one will really be paying out of their pockets or think about it," Samitz said.