PennDOT’s bid to toll nine interstate bridges across the commonwealth as part of a public-private partnership still has several hurdles to clear. But its toll collection partner — the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission — has already contracted for the nine toll gantries in question.
Small wonder that the car-driving, toll-paying public suspects that their voice doesn’t really matter.
Whether this is due to questionable management of the project timeline or an arrogant disregard for process and public input, it exemplifies government behavior that erodes trust.
The most important hurdles for the project are the required periods for public comment, one for each of the nine projects. The process has been completed for only two of the nine, while five more will finish in the next few weeks. The comment period for two bridges, however, won’t begin until spring.
Community members near the proposed bridge tolls are asking, understandably, if this is a done deal, and if the public hearings and traffic studies are mere window dressing.
These sessions and studies are supposed to be part of the case PennDOT has to make for federal approval, which has not yet been granted.
But that’s not all that stands in the way. A lawsuit in Commonwealth Court filed by Bridgeville, Collier and South Fayette — the communities nearest the I-79 bridge — claims procedural shortcuts were taken by PennDOT. Among them: receiving approval from the state’s Public-Private Partnership Board for bridge tolling generally, but not for the specific bridges proposed.
Finally, last month, the state House passed a bill to require the Legislature and governor to approve PennDOT toll proposals. The state Senate has not acted on the bill, nor has Gov. Tom Wolf taken a public position. If signed into law, it would send bridge tolling back to the drawing board.
We would expect PennDOT and its partners to work patiently to clear these procedural, legal and political barriers before moving forward. Instead, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has already included the nine toll gantries in its contract for its own transition to cashless tolling. The ratchet has already clicked forward.
PennDOT is not in an easy spot. The governor says the state should spend $15 billion a year to maintain its thousands of miles of roads, more than double the $6.9 billion the department gets. Money for roads comes mostly from increasingly unreliable state and federal gas taxes, which have become more inadequate as drivers use more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Finding a solution to the transportation funding problem will take creative thinking — and a process that doesn’t erode the trust of the people who will have to pay for it.
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (AP)
