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On April 30 I wrote a post titled Tolling of I-80 Still an Open Issue. In it, I explained that although many of us thought that the prospect of tolling I-80 had ended back in 2008, the issue is still open. According to the details, the tolling of I-80 was not really stopped by politicians and efforts by Legislators. Instead, Pennsylvania’s application was simply turned down by the Federal Highway Administration [read the details HERE].

The issue did not ‘go away’ at all. The application was simply rejected. The PA Department of Transportation and Turnpike Commission have the ability to reapply at any point again in the future.

At the end of March, a group of Legislators put together a Resolution (HR 197) which attempts to put an end to the ‘possibility’ of the Turnpike Commission reapplying for the tolling of I-80 at some point in the future. The Resolution was introduced by Representative Hutchison (R-64) and was supported by Representative Michele Brooks (R-17) and Representative Dick Stevenson (R-8) of Mercer County as well as Rep. Brad Roae (R-6) of neighboring Crawford County.

After an unsuccessful attempt to push the resolution through as part of HB 67 at the end of April, HR 197 sits in the House Transportation Committee. My theory is that Legislators are not motivated to push for the legislation as they may be holding off in order to get a big bump in voter support in an election year . . . 2010. It is my guess, therefore, that the resolution will sit until about June of next year when State Representatives are looking to get re-elected.

Although our Legislature may not be motivated to get rid of the possibility of tolling I-80, you can’t say the same for commercial interests. While it isn’t something that most of us think much about, there is lots of money to be made (outside of Harrisburg) if the tolling of I-80 goes through. One such example is the firm of McCormick Taylor, an engineering and planning company located in Philadelphia. According to the company website [view HERE], McCormick Taylor is advertising themselves as the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commissions management consultant for the I-80 tolling project. They even have a web page devoted to the project HERE.

While our Legislators are sitting on their laurels, you can bet your bottom dollar that businesses are motivated and looking for every opportunity to make money on this project. I’m certain that backroom deals have already been struck, and companies and executives are counting their profits . . . for a project that isn’t supposed to happen.

I’m concerned that the commercial interests related to the tolling of I-80 may have been working the phones and shaking hands with plenty of lawmakers in Harrisburg since last year. I suspect that they will do anything in their power to see to it that the project for tolling I-80 moves forward. Realize that I support free enterprise and I want companies to make money. However, in the case of tolling I-80, the interests of the citizens and the communities and business that will be effected need to be taken into consideration too. That is SUPPOSED to be the responsibility of our Legislators. Unfortunately, they are only busy looking out for their own best interests (re-election) . . . not the interests of the people who put them into office.