That was actually a proposed public-public partnership. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Authority would take over and improve I-80 for about 50 years while sending about $900 million a year to PennDOT. This was enabled in 2007 by Act 44. However, the application to the feds to make I-80 a toll road failed with both the Bush and Obama administrations, but a clause in Act 44, which requires the PTA to give $450 million per year to PennDOT anyway, is still in effect. That was modified, however, by Act 89 so that it will drop to $50 million per year in 2023.
I observed the inner workings of Eddie Rendell personally and almost took a top job in his government until I did some research.
If the Republican AG at the time was not also as crooked (former in house legal counsel for Waste Management Inc) I would have given him my research. Instead I burnt it in my furnace.