meadville tribune

WASHINGTON — Continuing in their efforts to keep Interstate 80 a freeway, Republican U.S. Rep. John E. Peterson has been joined by Republican U.S. Rep. Phil English and two Democratic congressmen from Texas in offering bipartisan legislation to prohibit tolling along existing federal highways.

Peterson’s bill will be the House companion to Republican Policy Chair Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s measure 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,” Peterson said in a press release Friday.

He has offered the legislation to further prevent tolling national highways. “It’s encouraging that we’ve consistently had the Democratic chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Congressman (James) Oberstar, opposed to tolling and on our side in this fight,” said Peterson, whose Fifth District includes a portion of eastern Crawford County.

The 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, whose Third District includes most of Crawford County. “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 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 (the tolling plan) was passed — is increasingly on the side of keeping freeways free.”

A thorough 2005 Pennsylvania Department of Transportation 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,” said Peterson.