By Michael Roknick
MERCER COUNTY — As Halloween approaches, local business owners are looking at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s latest attempt to breathe life into tolling Interstate 80 as Dr. Frankenstein’s monster.
On Monday, business people, economic groups and area politicians along I-80 brought out everything short of torches and pitchforks to prevent the monster from ever walking the face of the earth.
“For ever how long I’m in the state legislature I have a feeling this is always going to be an issue,’’ said state Rep. Mark Longietti, Farrell, D-7th District. “And this is something we’re going to have to beat back.’’
A study commissioned by local business groups on how tolls would affect businesses and residents along the highway was released at Grove City College. During a news conference, local politicians lined up to voice their opposition to tolls saying the local economy is already stressed to the breaking point.
“The economic impact (of tolling I-80) can’t be understated,’’ said state Sen. Robert D. “Bob” Robbins, Salem Township, R-50th District.
State representatives said tolling I-80 is a shifty political attempt to stuff funds for mass transit in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
“This is about the economy of rural Pennsylvania,’’ said Rep. Michele Brooks, Jamestown, R-17th District. “The politics should be thrown out the door.’’
In detailing the 47-page report, its author, Tracy C. Miller, an associate professor of economics at Grove City College, said the Turnpike Commission’s assumptions aren’t valid.
“The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission wants us to believe (Interstate) 80 is a drain,’’ Miller said. The commission plans to submit supplemental information to the Federal Highway Administration in support of its application to put tolls on I-80, spokesman Carl DeFebo said.
Miller’s report concluded a toll on I-80 would likely result in the loss of $1 billion to residents, businesses and communities along the highway from a downturn in orders that would, in turn, cost jobs and lower property values.
Using the state’s own figures, Miller said he found the annual cost of maintaining the 311-mile cross-state highway is about $80 million. But in 2006, trucks paid more than $90 million in taxes and user fees and cars paid more than $40 million in gasoline taxes for miles they traveled on I-80.
Among the biggest losers for a toll would be local trucking companies which could take a hit of as much as $1 million in additional costs. Further, a toll could sock independent truckers between $435 and $1,910 a year, the report said.
In all, Miller said, more than 10,000 trucks travel the highway across Pennsylvania.
Last week, state legislators and Gov. Ed Rendell ended a brutal fight of more than 100 days to get a new state budget passed. All agreed that money is scarce. But tolling I-80 isn’t a solution, said state Rep. Richard “Dick” Stevenson, R-8th District, Grove City.
“We need to find a solution in Pennsylvania that doesn’t toll I-80.’’
U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, D-3rd District, Erie, said communities and businesses along I-80 shouldn’t bear the brunt of fixing the budget mess and shortfalls in mass transit systems.
“The people of western Pennsylvania should not have to pay because Pennsylvania can’t resolve its budget issues,’’ she said.
The Federal Highway Administration 13 months ago rejected the Turnpike Commission’s application for tolls, saying payments to PennDOT for leasing and tolling I-80 were never linked to the cost of operating the highway.
In response to that rejection, the Turnpike Commission said the federal government never nixed the tolling application, but just wanted reassurance that the deal with PennDOT was fair and in line with the private sector.
The Turnpike Commission’s revived application could be ready within a month.
Tucked in Miller’s report is a note that instead of tolling I-80, a 10-cent per gallon increase in the gasoline tax would raise about $600 million a year, far more than the tolls would raise.
That drew grimaces from the politicians, who were asked about the possibility of a hefty gas-tax hike. “I don’t think there’s any support for that,’’ Stevenson said.
Turnpike officials estimate an I-80 toll would raise $350 million to $400 million in its first year. The state’s gasoline tax now generates about $65 million annually, turnpike officials contend.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Highlights of the I-80 report
• Under the proposed toll, commuters would pay $2.70 a day, totaling $1,295 a year.
• All of the counties along I-80 have per capita incomes below the state average and considerably below those for the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metro areas. The per capita income is more than 18 percent higher than the state average in Allegheny County and almost 22 percent higher than the state average in the metro Philadelphia area.
• About 75,000 people work for an employer that depends on I-80 for shipping.
• If tolls placed on I-80 match current tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, heavy trucks — those weighing between 62,000 to 80,000 pounds — would pay more than double the rate for comparably sized trucks in Ohio and more than the rates charged by Illinois, Indiana, New York or New Jersey on their major toll highways.
• The cost of shipping goods along the alternate routes would be greater than the cost of shipping along I-80 without tolls.
• Counties along the western edge of the state may bear a large cost of the tolls because I-80 provides good access to population centers in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York City metro areas.
• The presence of an interstate highway that provides easy access from the Midwest to New York and other northeastern cities has motivated firms to locate along I-80 and in some cases to expand their presence.
• A survey of manufacturing firms in Mercer County revealed one in seven reported it sold more than 20 percent of its output in counties located near I-80, while six of seven reported shipping most of their goods out of state. That means a large part of their output must be transported a considerable distance, part of it along I-80.
• A toll would mean almost a 10 percent increase in shipping costs for dairy farms shipping milk at least 60 miles along I-80 to a processing plant.
• One manufacturer in Mercer County reported tolls would increase its shipping costs by more than $900,000 a year.
• A toll might make a big difference in whether a business would invest in a new plant or expand an existing one.
• Conservatively, 4,000 to 5,000 people in the Pennsylvania counties close to I-80 are employed in long-distance trucking.
• If a plant employing 250 were to close in response to tolls it could cost the state $1.4 million in the first year.
Source: Tracy C. Miller, associate professor of economics at Grove City College.
