Rendell: Congress should remove restrictions on tolling of interstates – Post-Gazette
There he goes again — Gov. Ed Rendell wants Congress to give Pennsylvania and other states the ability to establish tolls along highways. Interstate 80 which runs through the northern half of the state has heavy out-of-state traffic. This leads to people with no familiarity of highway funding to believe that out-of-state drivers do not contribute to the roads maintenance costs. This is fiction of course, since American motorists are responsible for 90% of interstate highway funding that is collected primarily through a national sales tax on gasoline. State gas taxes tend to fund the other 10%. in short, all American drivers pay for interstate roads. Politicians, like Rendell and a previous recent governor, Tom Ridge, apparently do not understand this either. Both called for tolls on I-80. I have even created a label called I-80 so you can follow along.
American motorists and taxpayers have paid for I-80 for over fifty years. If Pennsylvania wants to toll the road or any other previously “free” interstate highway, they should have to reimburse the highway trust fund for all costs associated up until this point. If that happens, I have no problem with them putting tolls up. I’d laugh and call Pennsylvania “the toll booth state” too. It is worth noting too that Pennsylvania got more funding from the Federal Highway Trust Fund throughout the 1990s than any other state. Of course, much of it was sent to the Altoona area by Bud Shuster, who ruled the powerful infrastructure committee that allocated highway funds. Congress shouldn’t give Pennsylvannia a free pass because they spent the money poorly. If Pennsylvania wants more highway funding, they ought to increase their statewide gas tax appropriately.
H/T Jeff Kitsko, on Facebook
