With an inflation rate of about 3 percent, why is a 25 percent hike needed?

The passage of Act 44 of 2007 substantially changed the mission of the PTC (Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission). Act 44 requires the Turnpike to provide a total $2.5 billion in supplemental transportation funding from August 2007 to May 2010. In order to meet this obligation, the toll increase — originally anticipated for 2010 — was implemented one year sooner in January 2009. This is only the sixth increase in the Turnpike’s 68 years of existence, which averages less than 3 percent annually.

TOP

What has the PTC done to control costs?

Since November 2008, the PTC has reduced expenses by more than 4 percent – or approximately $12 million on an annual basis. The measures that have been instituted so far include:

• Elimination of 75 positions , both vacant and filled positions (i.e.: layoffs and early retirements); and,
• A series of operational savings including delay of fleet purchases, stricter enforcement of energy savings efforts, delayed purchase of non-essential equipment, closing of the Mon-Fayette Project office in Southwestern Pennsylvania and other belt-tightening measures.

TOP

Will raising the price of tolls cause users to find other routes resulting in loss of revenue for the Turnpike?

Motorist diversion from the Turnpike is a valid concern. The Turnpike system had begun experiencing a recession-driven traffic decrease nine months before the new toll rates became effective. And in the first month after the toll increase (January 2009), that trend continued with a 5 percent dip in traffic. Keep in mind, other factors influence traffic volumes on the turnpike, including bad weather (we had much more this January than last) and economic factors that are shrinking commercial traffic especially. As the Turnpike continues to offer a quick, safe and efficient form of travel, it hopes to retain and gain Turnpike customers.

TOP

Did the Turnpike experience a decrease in traffic the last time it raised the tolls?

Statistics from the last toll increase in 2004 show that truck traffic on the Turnpike was actually up more than 3.5 percent in the first month after the toll increase and passenger traffic was up less than one-half percent. Since that time, traffic has steadily increased at about 2.5 percent annually, at least until the economy took a turn for the worse and began to effect travel beginning in June, 2008.

TOP

What did the Turnpike do with the money it raised during the 2004 toll increase?

Money from that increase was allotted to rebuild the Turnpike and resulted in the reconstruction of 32 miles of toll road, the resurfacing of 173 miles and the replacement of 85 bridges. Money from the 2009 increase will continue to fund improvements to the Turnpike and other transportation projects statewide.

TOP

The motoring public is impacted twice by this toll increase: In addition to higher costs at the tollbooth, increased tolls will be passed down resulting in higher prices at the grocery stores and other retailers.

The PTC understands that increased tolls will affect certain groups and certain industries. But no matter which option is selected to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, there will be impacts. (A gas-tax increase, for example, affects every Pennsylvanian). As we have seen in the economic recovery bill, infrastructure investment also creates jobs. It is our hope that the long-term benefits of creating jobs with continued investment in Pennsylvania’s roads and bridges through efficient use of toll revenue will eventually offset the effects of increased costs in the short-term.

TOP

Why are you now making the tolls go up each January?

The cost to maintain and build roadways continues to increase — as does the PTC’s responsibility to provide new transportation funding for the entire commonwealth. A strong transportation system is a critical component to economic growth. Annual increases of 3 percent will allow the PTC to keep pace with inflation, so that progress is not lost in providing necessary funding for roads, bridges and transit throughout Pennsylvania. It also avoids instituting those bigger increases of 30-40 percent every dozen years or so, as was the old practice.

TOP

In a Turnpike press release on the August 2004 toll increase, Turnpike CEO Brimmeier stated: "I pledge that this will be the last toll increase for at least the remainder of this decade." Can you help me reconcile this promise with the January 2009 increase?

The passage of Act 44 of 2007 substantially changed the mission of the PTC and resulted in a toll increase one year sooner than originally anticipated. The state’s only toll-road operator is now a statewide transportation funding partner, supplying billions in funding for statewide road and bridge projects and mass transit agencies. Act 44 requires the Turnpike to provide a total of $2.5 billion in supplemental transportation funding from August 2007 to May 2010. In order to meet this obligation, it was necessary to implement a toll increase in January 2009.

TOP

Why are the PA Turnpike users being penalized with footing the bill for transportation systems and transit in the rest of the state?

Act 44 of 2007 allowed the PTC to become a statewide transportation funding partner and to apply to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for permission to place tolls on I-80 to fund its reconstruction and make rent payments to PennDOT. While the I-80 Tolling Application is pending with the FHWA, the current users of the PA Turnpike are paying higher tolls as a result of the increase; almost ALL of that added revenue will fund quarterly payments to PennDOT. Should the FHWA grant approval to place tolls on I-80, the PTC plans to invest more than $2.5 billion over 10 years in I-80 rehabilitation and reconstruction of roadway, bridges, interchanges, and intelligent transportation systems. Another $500 million would be used for ongoing resurfacing, asset management, operating and maintenance costs. Adding I-80 toll revenue will result in a more equitable funding system as the two major east/west Interstate routes across the state will be tolled.

TOP

Isn’t increasing the fuel tax a more equitable way to raise revenue than increasing turnpike tolls?

The gas tax no longer produces the revenue required to adequately fund our transportation needs. Raising the gas tax has not gained political traction – the last federal increase was 1993 and the last state increase was 1998 – neither with any inflationary increases. Federal energy objectives and policies are leading legislators away from fuel taxes – if we achieve our energy goals, we will erode the buying power of the gas tax. The magnitude of the problem was demonstrated last year when the National Highway Trust Fund approached a deficit for the first time in history. Tolling as a source for generating transportation revenues is a viable, user-based alternative to the gas tax that is fair and equitable.

TOP

Which roadways throughout the state will benefit from the increased Turnpike tolls?

Because of the Act 44 funding, the first year $750 million payment to PennDOT has been distributed to every County in the state with work moving forward on hundreds of roads and bridges throughout the Commonwealth. This averages out to about $11 million in new road funding per county. A list of the fiscal year 2008 projects by county is available on the PTC website for review: http://www.paturnpike.com/toll/2009_Tolls_Press_Kit/Act44Project.pdf

TOP

Increasing tolls in the midst of a national economic crisis doesn’t make sense. Hasn’t anybody considered the economic hardship that increasing tolls will further present?

It has long been understood that a quality transportation system, together with other infrastructure, is a keystone of economic growth and development. Better roads, bridges and transportation helps to drive more jobs and prosperity. However, when faced with flattening revenues as the result, gas tax increases that have not kept pace with inflation, and declining fuel consumption, it is clear that alternative means for generating sufficient transportation revenues are needed. Using Turnpike toll revenues to help fund transportation statewide, when kept in context of the provisions of Act 44, will help to ensure that transportation revenues are inflation sensitive, user-based and fair.

TOP