Turnpike seeks toll hike to 5.9 cents a mile (Passenger vehicle rate would go up 1.8 cents per mile)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | January 13, 2004 | Tom Barnes

[BulletBobCo]

HARRISBURG -- Get ready to shell out more to travel the Pennsylvania Turnpike starting, probably, on Aug. 1.

The Turnpike Commission staff is recommending a 44 percent toll increase, taking the rate from the current 4.1 cents per mile to 5.9 cents per mile.

[dirtboy]

The PA Turnpike is one of the biggest political cash cows around. By the time they get done paying for commisioners and toll collectors and spur highways to nowhere, there jusn't ain't enough money left for maintenance.

[bmwcyle]

The PA DMV has been a den of crooks since they were formed.

[Bikers4Bush]

What the hell is going on in PA? Every time I use the turnpike the damn rates are higher!

[Hank Rearden]

Modern states (i.e. those not located in the constipated, rusting Northeast) have never heard of these "turnpike" things.

What are they, some sort of political graft or something?

[Bikers4Bush]

And that BS about not raising rates since 1991 is garbage, they raised them over a weekend when I went to PA last year and I even asked the toll booth operator about it.

1991 is a complete lie.

[BulletBobCo]

When I travel from Avalon down to D.C., I have been using I68 through WV and MD. It's free, the road is better, the scenery is nicer and the time traveled is not that much different.

[BulletBobCo]

I read an article at least five years ago that the toll collectors were making between $35,000 - $50,000 a year.

[twigs]

I loathe the PA Turnpike and will take back roads to avoid it whenever I can. On long trips it's difficult to do that, though. They need to maintain it.

[Paleoguy]

Back in the 1930's, when the PA turnpike was being built, the state said that it would pull the toll booths when the income had paid off the construction of the highway...which I believe occured sometime in the 1940s.

I'm confused...doesn't this mean that there should no tolls on the turnpike? What could be going on here?

[Paleoguy]

Back in the 1930's, when the PA turnpike was being built, the state said that it would pull the toll booths when the income had paid off the construction of the highway...which I believe occured sometime in the 1940s.

I'm confused...doesn't this mean that there should no tolls on the turnpike? What could be going on here?

[bmwcyle]

They could get some of Bush's imports and pay them 10,000.00. /sarcasm

[PAR35]

Modern states (i.e. those not located in the constipated, rusting Northeast) have never heard of these "turnpike" things.

You don't travel much, do you. Some states outside of the Northeast with Turnpikes:

Texas
Oklahoma
Kansas
Florida
Georgia
California
Ohio
West Virginia
Indiana
Illinois
Kentucky
Colorado

I may have left out a few.

[DeFault User]

"Thanks for your support."

[the_devils_advocate_666]

According to the 2002 Overdrive survey of worst roads:
WORST ROADS
1. Arkansas
2. Louisiana
3. Michigan
4. Pennsylvania
5. Illinois

BEST ROADS
1. Texas
2. Florida
3. Tennessee
4. Georgia
5. Nebraska

LEAST AVAILABLE OVERNIGHT PARKING
1. New Jersey
2. California
3. Virginia
4. New York
5. Illinois

MOST AVAILABLE OVERNIGHT PARKING
1. Texas
2. Pennsylvania
3. Indiana
4. Kentucky
5. Florida

WORST REST STOPS
1. Texas
2. New Jersey
3. California
4. Ohio
5. Arkansas

BEST REST STOPS
1. Florida
2. Georgia
3. Texas
4. Indiana
5. Ohio

WORST TRUCK STOPS
1. New Jersey
2. California
3. Massachusetts
4. New York
5. Texas

BEST TRUCK STOPS
1. Texas
2. Iowa
3. Georgia
4. Ohio
5. Pennsylvania

WORST FOUR-WHEELERS
1. California
2. New York
3. Illinois
4. New Jersey
5. Florida

BEST FOUR-WHEELERS
1. Texas
2. Tennessee
3. California
4. Montana
5. Wyoming

TOUGHEST ON TRUCK INSPECTIONS
1. California
2. Ohio
3. Tennessee
4. Connecticut
5. Pennsylvania

WEAKEST ON TRUCK INSPECTIONS
1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. Wyoming
5. Illinois

---

SPLIT DECISIONS

Each year, a few states on Overdrive’s Highway Report Card show up on opposing lists. Texas, for example, is in the top five for some best and worst list pairs.
Readers respond differently to progress — construction on highways or rest areas, for example, is one driver’s headache but another’s encouragement that improvement is not far away. In other instances, the quality of something within a state — roads, four-wheelers’ driving skills or truck stops — may span a large spectrum, so that the extremes attract the attention of those who are critical as well as those likely to notice the positive.

---

Source (with some funny trucker quotes): http://www.etrucker.com/apps/news/article.asp?id=29443

[Born Conservative]

What the hell is going on in PA? Every time I use the turnpike the damn rates are higher!

You've got a friend in Pennsylvania! /sarcasm off

Actually, I'm sure that there is one particular politician behind this: Fast Eddy Rendell.

[Publius]

Back in the 1930's, when the PA turnpike was being built, the state said that it would pull the toll booths when the income had paid off the construction of the highway...which I believe occured sometime in the 1940s.

Not exactly true.

The first generation toll roads of the Northeast, all built just before or after World War II, were financed on a "closed" system. This meant that tax revenue was not used for construction or maintenance. The enabling act passed by the state legislature forbade the use of tax money for the project and required that tolls be used to finance the construction and maintenance of the highway. Revenue bonds were floated on the usual 30 year basis to build the highway, and tolls were used to pay the bonds and maintain the highway. Then came the end of the 30 year period.

This is where each state differs.

Some states granted their turnpike authorities the right to exist in perpetuity. Others stipulated that the authority would go out of business when the bonds were paid off -- unless the legislature granted the turnpike authority the right to float a new set of bonds for continued maintenance or new construction.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Authority floated new bonds in 1955 to build the Northeast Extension. More bond issues were floated to maintain the highway over time. Years ago, the legislature could have paid off the last set of bonds, dissolved the authority, and used gas tax revenues to pay for maintenance, but that opened up a can of worms.

Pennsylvania has a huge amount of state highway mileage, and not all of the highways are posted. Some states, like New Jersey, leave the lion's share of highways in county hands, but Pennsylvania long ago chose to have the state take charge of most of it. The state legislature decides what PennDOT will post, control and maintain, and PennDOT always gains mileage and never loses it by handing it over to someone else. Some states give their highway departments the authority to give and take highway mileage (Maryland and California), some let the highway department negotiate with the legislature (Washington state), but others let the politicians call the tune (Pennsylvania and New Jersey). Pennsylvania's highways are in bad shape because the state is responsible for too much of the network.

So now, for the sake of argument, let's dissolve the turnpike authority and use gas taxes to maintain the freeway that was once the turnpike. Now there is less money to maintain the rest of the network. Gas taxes go up. (No politician will let PennDOT hand mileage back to a county or municipality.) The former turnpike's needs would swallow a whole lot of state highway budget, and that's why the authority gets permission year after year to exist, float bonds and collect tolls.

Only when things get totally out of control does this cycle stop. In Connecticut in 1975, a Connecticut Turnpike bridge over a major river collapsed, killing almost a hundred people. A Parsons-Brinkerhoff study showed that billions of dollars of repairs would be necessary to prevent the rest of the turnpike's physical plant from falling apart. Remember the cost of money in the Carter years? The interest on a new set of bonds would have been prohibitive -- but there was a way out.

The ConnPike was also I-95, and in those halcyon days the federal-state split was 90-10. By paying off the bonds early and freeing the turnpike, federal money could now be used to fix the road. The legislature appropriated enough money to pay off the bonds early, and the Connecticut congressional delegation went to DC with palms outstretched and collected federal money to fix the road. That's why the old ConnPike is free today.

The PennsyPike is also an interstate, but the old 90-10 formula is long gone. That's why the bonds and tolls will always remain.

[Publius]

See post #17 as to why Pennsylvania's roads are in such bad shape.

[Mr. Bird]

Driving the PA turnpike at night provides for true white-knuckled thrills. Got off to get some grub, only to find the on-ramp requiring a carrier-like catapult system to launch you to 65mph in 2 seconds to avoid a massive crash. And if jersey walls turn you on, the PA turnpike is your nirvana.

[Timesink]

West Virginia is not outside the Northeast, IMHO. Parts of it are about as far south or west as you can get and still be in the Northeast, but it still counts. Wheeling is practically a suburb of Pittsburth, and the Eastern Panhandle is the DC exurbs.