DailyItem.com: Carney may be best hope for tolling solution

Published July 16, 2008 12:00 am - The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's warning Tuesday was veiled but hard to miss, all the same. Most commuters will pay if tolls are added to Interstate 80.

Carney may be best hope for tolling solution

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's warning Tuesday was veiled but hard to miss, all the same. Most commuters will pay if tolls are added to Interstate 80.

The turnpike commission cheerily notes that one-third of commuters could use the interstate without paying a toll because motorists will only be billed after they have traveled through more than one toll booth. The turnpike commission does not plan to tell taxpayers where those booths will be until next month. Pardon the math, but the turnpike commission's one-third empty glass means two-thirds of commuters will be impacted. This comes after months of reassurances that the charm of tolling the interstate is that it will collect revenue from out-of-state travelers.

Central Susquehanna Valley residents ought to recognize that tolls on the interstate remains a distinct possibility -- one that will impact the region's economy and the pocketbooks of individual motorists.

The tolling plan remains one of two competing proposals to finance improvements to the state's transportation infrastructure. Tolling the interstate is preferred by lawmakers in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh because it avoids the need to reform the patronage-laden turnpike commission and will not require significant toll hikes in those regions.

In a Harrisburg power struggle between those representing the metropolitan regions and those from rural Pennsylvania, the prospects for a successful outcome might be bleak. Earlier this month, the state House transportation committee declined to even bring the turnpike lease up for vote. "There is no realistic scenario under which (the lease) deal will happen," said state Rep. Joseph Markosek, an Allegheny County representative who chairs the transportation committee.

Central Susquehanna Valley residents may be best-served seeking the intervention of the federal government. The region's representative, Congressman Chris Carney, is a freshman lawmaker but he sits on the House transportation committee and is a member of the majority party. If the Democrats want Carney to retain his seat in the conservative 10th District, shooting down the toll plan might be the type of muscle-flexing that makes the difference.