News From the Daily Item

Turnpike officials pledge $1 billion for I-80 improvements

Published August 20, 2007
The Daily Item, Reprinted with Permission

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — State officials plan to spend more than $1 billion on improvements to Interstate 80 over the next few years under a plan to convert the 311-mile highway to a toll road.

The improvements would focus on repairing bridges, adding climbing lanes for trucks, upgrading pavement and extending access ramps to the interstate, officials said.

"We are going to issue bonds over the next five years for about $1.1 billion to put into I-80," said Joseph Brimmeier, chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. "If they (motorists) are going to pay a toll, you've got to have a first-class road."

Last month, the state Legislature approved a plan to add tolls to raise money for road and bridge repairs across Pennsylvania, and also provide funding for cash-strapped mass-transit systems. The turnpike commission this month formally asked the Federal Highway Administration to approve the plan; Interstate 80 was built in the 1950s and 1960s with federal funds.

The planned I-80 improvements are authorized under the new state transportation funding law, which was passed after heated debate between Gov. Ed Rendell's administration, state lawmakers and two western Pennsylvania congressmen.

U.S. Reps. Phil English, R-Erie, and John Peterson, R-Venango, have urged federal authorities to reject the toll plan, arguing that tolls would hurt the economies of towns along the east-west interstate.

The commission is studying traffic volume along I-80, and plans to have engineering firms suggest design and structural changes, Brimmeier said. The panel has yet to identify any specific improvements it intends to make, although state lawmakers have some suggestions.

"We know there are on-ramps that have to be lengthened," said Bob Caton, spokesman for House Majority Whip Keith McCall, D-Carbon. "We know there are bridges that need to be improved."

He cited the interchange of I-80 and Interstate 81 near Hazleton and sections of I-80 in Monroe and Carbon counties as areas that need upgrades to handle increased traffic. The latter area has seen a boom in traffic as more people commute from the Poconos to New York City.

The state law that Rendell signed last month would provide about $946 million a year over the next decade for highway and bridge repairs and to reverse mass-transit cuts. The money would come from the new I-80 tolls and toll hikes on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

A 2005 state Department of Transportation study estimated that $2.2 billion would be needed to convert I-80 to a toll road. According to Brimmeier, that estimate included the cost of building new maintenance buildings and state police stations.

"We intend to use existing structures," he said.