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Washington, DC - Continuing in his relentless efforts to keep Interstate 80 a freeway, Congressman John E. Peterson, R-Pa., was joined by Congressmen Phil English (R-Pa.), Charles Gonzalez (D-Tx.) and Ciro Rodriquez (D-Tx.) in offering bipartisan, bicameral legislation to prohibit tolling along existing federal highways. Peterson’s bill will be the House companion to Republican Policy Chair Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s measure (S.2019) in the Senate.
“American small business and manufacturers are overburdened by local, state and federal regulation and taxes. Tolling existing freeways – the lifeblood of moving goods and services – is bad public policy and states like Pennsylvania and Texas would incur irrevocable economic damage,” said Peterson. “With great pleasure, I’ve joined with Congressmen English, Gonzalez, Rodriquez and Senator Hutchison in offering this commonsense legislation to further prevent tolling along our national highways. It’s encouraging that we’ve consistently had the Democratic Chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Congressman Oberstar, opposed to tolling and on our side in this fight.”
This bipartisan measure would bar the U.S. Department of Transportation from approving tolls on existing federally-funded highways. Currently, states may apply to the Transportation Department – as Pennsylvania intends – to toll existing federal highways.
“This legislation will block efforts by local interests in Pennsylvania and other states to cash in by tolling our free interstates. The Interstate system is the crown jewel of highways globally,” said English, a senior member of the Committee on Ways and Means. “This legislation protects our free highways from double taxation and toll grabs by state government bureaucrats. The driving public needs to be protected from being preyed upon by bad state budget priorities.”
“The American public should never be charged to use interstate highways that were built with their own tax revenues. As it stands, toll roads create an unnecessary fiscal burden on citizens and the idea is one that I fundamentally oppose. This legislation will provide an important safeguard against this practice by ensuring that drivers are never tolled for using roads that were built with federal funds,” said Congressman Gonzalez.
“This bill will protect drivers from paying tolls on roads that were already paid for by taxpayers,” said Senator Hutchison.
“The recent news that the state is reengaging potential bidders for the turnpike is a crystal clear indicator that we are making inroads in overturning Pennsylvania’s reckless, short-term fix to toll interstate 80, which passed without consideration of the negative, long-term economic consequences. The question must be asked: Does this proposal make Pennsylvania a more attractive place to do business? The answer is flatly no and that’s exactly what I hear from my constituents and small business owners throughout my district,” said Peterson. “The court of public opinion – which was virtually shut out before Act 44 was passed – is increasingly on the side of keeping freeways free.”
In late August, Peterson and English included an amendment to the transportation appropriations bill which prohibits funds from establishing or collecting tolls on Interstate 80.
A thorough 2005 PennDoT study determined that “based on the long timetable to realize benefits, the high costs of converting the road to toll and the fact that a financial break-even point is decades away, it is recommended that converting I-80 to a toll road not be pursued at this time.” Standing by the study was Governor Rendell’s PennDOT secretary, Allen Biehler, who told a Senate committee that they would not tolls I-80, which has been free since it opened in the late 1960s.
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