In The News

LaHood says I-80 tolling decision coming soon

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says his department is on the verge of making a decision about Pennsylvania’s application to toll I-80.

LaHood met with four U.S. representatives from Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Jan. 19, to discuss the status of the application. According to U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pennsylvania, the transportation secretary said the DOT would “be making a decision very soon.”

Since 2007, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has been pushing for tolls on Interstate 80 to meet the financial obligations of the state’s transportation funding law known as Act 44. Tolls would be used to make I-80 self-sustaining so that existing funding could be diverted to fund other transportation projects including mass transit.

Highway user groups including OOIDA continue to push back, demanding that Act 44 be repealed. OOIDA strongly opposes I-80 tolling because tolls on an existing federal highway amount to double taxation.

Thompson, who sides with truckers and other toll opponents on the issue, led the congressional delegation in the meeting with LaHood. The delegation included Democratic Reps. Kathy Dahlkemper, Chris Carney and Paul Kanjorski as well as Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez and U.S. DOT Assistant Secretary for Government Affairs Dana Gresham.

“The tolling threat alone has cast a cloud over future economic decisions by business and industry for our area,” Thompson told LaHood according to a press release.

“If you approve the tolling of I-80, already turned down twice, you will effectively reroute prosperity around Pennsylvania.”

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