To fill the multi-million dollar renovation funding gap, Pennsylvania Turnpike commissioners will increase tolling across the turnpike 25 percent starting in January, a year earlier than originally planned.
"Back in 2004, we projected a need to increase tolls again by 25 percent in 2010," Turnpike CEO Joe Brimmeier wrote in a press release. "Now, our new Act 44 responsibilities dictate that the increase is needed one year earlier."
The average toll rate for passenger vehicles will increase from 75 cents to 96 cents, while the average rate for commercial vehicles will increase from $6.25 to $7.85, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Communications Director Bill Capone said.
Under Act 44, signed by Gov. Ed Rendell, the turnpike must provide a total of $2.5 billion in transportation funding to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) from August 2007 to May 2010.
To fulfill this commitment, the turnpike commission proposed increasing tolls along the turnpike in 2010, as well as instituting a toll on Interstate 80 (I-80).
Capone said the increase in the tolls was a move that has always been planned but had to be moved up a year because of the severity of the transportation budget funding deficit.
"We have to find a way to fulfill our obligations to PennDOT," Capone said. "For the 2008 fiscal year, we must come up with $750 million. In 2009, we have to come up with $850 million and in 2010, we have to come up with $900 million."
The new tolls will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 4.
Tolls will increase along the entire system except along the Findlay Connector/PA-576 and Mon-Fayette Expressway/Turnpike 43 Uniontown to Brownsville section because they are newer sections and the price already reflects the toll increase, according to the press release.
Brimmeier stressed in the press release the increased tolls will go right back to the taxpayers, addressing the transportation needs of the entire state.
"Our customers need to know that the revenue from the tollbooth is now being reinvested in the Commonwealth's transportation systems and its economy," Brimmeier said in the press release. "For the first time, toll income isn't only going back into our toll roads, but helping to fund infrastructure improvements in every corner of Pennsylvania."
Darrell Sabocsik (sophomore-hotel, restaurant and institutional management) said the increase in tolling would affect him as he travels to and from school.
Sabocsik, of Coatesville, said that he pays $3.75 to get home and to add about another dollar to that from both trips would be "inconvenient."
"It's going to add up over the long run and cost more to get home and then come back," Sabocsik said. "It's just more money out of my wallet."
Capone added more attention should be focused on what will happen with tolling on Interstate 80. He said if a decision isn't made by late summer of 2010, the commission could be forced to increase tolling along highways more drastically to complete its obligations.
"It remains to be seen what would happen in the future," he said. "This was an increase that was necessary with or without tolling I-80. When we have to also make up for that, there is no way to tell how much tolls could increase."
