The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

The AP

October 16, 2007

Turnpike Commission, PennDOT sign I-80 lease

Two Pennsylvania agencies have signed a 50-year lease to turn Interstate 80 into a toll road and applied to the federal government for approval to add the collection booths.

Legislators approved the move in July. Under the agreement, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will lease I-80 from the state Department of Transportation and generate $116 billion over 50 years for highway and mass transit projects throughout the state.

Federal Highway Administration spokeswoman Nancy Singer said the agency has received Pennsylvania’s paperwork, but could not immediately say when a decision on it will be made.

The toll plan has drawn criticism locally from county commissioners, local trucking companies and the Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce, who say tolling the interstate that runs through Mercer County will have an adverse impact on the local economy.

The county’s entire statehouse delegation went on record against tolling I-80. The lawmakers contend tolls on the interstate will bail out mass transit systems in Philadelphia and PIttsburgh.

U.S. Rep. Phil English, Erie, R-3rd District, and U.S. Rep. John Peterson, Pleasantville, R-5th District, tried unsuccesfully to block the tolling with legislation. English says the best hope now is lobbying against the plan with the Department of Transportation, which can reject it.

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