http://tags.library.upenn.edu/tag/transportation_policy+i-80+road_pricing PennTags Feed http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/url/20779 http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/url/20779 <br /><br /> <div class="article_timestamp"> Posted on Wed, Oct. 17, 2007 </div> <br /><br /> <!-- startclickprintinclude --> <h1>I-80 toll plans moving forward</h1> <p class="byline">By Paul Nussbaum</p> <p class="byline lastline">Inquirer Staff Writer</p> The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will take over operation of I-80 and turn the freeway into a toll road under terms of a 50-year lease signed late Monday.<p> The lease with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation was signed just before a midnight deadline set by the legislature. Tolls could be in place by 2010 if permission is obtained from the Federal Highway Administration.</p><p> The state's two highway agencies made formal application for that approval on Saturday. In the application, the turnpike agency said it planned to double the money available for I-80 repairs and upgrades over the next decade to $2 billion.</p><p> The state's plan envisions as many as 10 toll booths between New Jersey and Ohio, with an initial cost of about $25 for motorists to drive the entire 311-mile highway.</p><p> The I-80 tolls would be set at the turnpike's rate, which is anticipated to be about 8 cents per mile in three years, for cars. That would represent a 33 percent increase from the current turnpike toll rate, which now averages about 6 cents per mile. (Tolls would be 23 cents per mile for trucks weighing 30,001 to 45,000 pounds.)</p><p> Tolls on I-80 are part of a plan created last July by the legislature to raise about $965 million more per year over the next 10 years for highways, bridges and mass transit. The new law, Act 44, has been under fire from northern Pennsylvanians along the I-80 corridor who fear it will hurt the economy of the region.</p>