HARRISBURG -- Two area legislators are sponsoring a bill that would ease the financial burden on those communities whose streets and roads may be damaged by traffic diverted from Interstate 80, if the highway were to become a toll road.
Reps. Russell Fairchild, R-85 of Lewisburg, and Merle Phillips, R-108 of RR2 Sunbury, are sponsoring legislation, now in the state House, that would require the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to pay for infrastructure costs associated with traffic diversion from the interstate.
"Although the Federal Highway Administration has not approved tolls on Interstate 80, my colleagues and I believe it is in the best interest of the people we serve to have policies in place to respond to the various concerns of traffic diversion," Fairchild said.
"This bill would apply to all state roads converted to tollways, not just Interstate 80," he added.
"During a series of meetings in the area, businesses and residents have testified that with tolls on I-80, they will use other local roads, such as Routes 192, 45, 522, 642 and 11, to get where they need to go," Fairchild said.
"These roads often cannot handle heavier volumes of traffic, some with heavy and wide loads, and maintenance and safety will become major factors in both local PennDOT and municipal budgets," he said. "The issue here is fairness. If the road is tolled and there is traffic diversion, why should local residents have to pay higher taxes for infrastructure repairs, like installing traffic lights?"
A Feb. 3 story in The Daily Item described the possible effects of diverted traffic from I-80 on the village of Potts Grove along Route 642 in northern Northumberland County.
Under Act 44 of 2007, the legislation that authorized the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to move forward with plans to toll I-80, studies are required to determine if vehicle diversion occurs after conversion to a toll road. Those traffic studies must be completed within one year of a conversion to a toll road.
"No studies have taken place because officials with the Turnpike Commission do not believe traffic will be diverted from the tolled highway," Phillips said. "In listening to the hundreds of businesses and thousands of constituents who use I-80 on a frequent basis, commercial truck drivers and residents have told us they will have no other choice than to use alternative routes."
Under their proposal, Fairchild and Phillips believe it should be the policy of the commonwealth to require the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to be fiscally responsible for any increased costs incurred to maintain and repair roads, bridges, highways, and other affected infrastructure as Interstate 80 or any other highways are converted to toll roads.
Specifically, the legislation will require the Turnpike Commission to provide payment for documented increased costs that PennDOT and local municipalities incur as the result of a diversion of traffic from a toll-road conversion.
Fairchild and Phillips pointed to testimony presented at three House Republican Policy Committee hearings held in the past few months as support for their legislation.
Representatives from local trucking companies and its industry organization said at the hearing that since the trucking industry is very competitive and drivers are paid by the mile and not by the hour, a few extra minutes on secondary roads are better than paying the tolls.
Both lawmakers remain optimistic that the Federal Highway Administration will reject the Turnpike Commission's application, as there is only one space left in the pilot program allowing tolling of an existing federal highway, and the administration returned the initial application, citing nearly 30 deficiencies. Those deficiencies included lack of evidence of public hearings in affected counties, detailed descriptions of construction projects to be funded by the tolls and a better analysis of the various bonds being used to fund Act 44.
Most other legislators along the I-80 corridor have joined Phillips and Fairchild in sponsoring this bill. It has been introduced as House Bill 2355 and is awaiting referral to a standing House committee for consideration.
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Michael Bavero/The Daily Item
Discussion
Legislators open new front in toll fight
They want Turnpike Commission to pay for damage to local roads
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