HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania submitted a formal written response to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) memorandum issued last fall about the Commonwealth's joint application to convert Interstate 80 to a toll road. The filing by PennDOT and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) includes a detailed financial analysis in support of the I-80 tolling application that was submitted in October 2007.

"By filing this addendum, we're taking a vital step toward closing a huge transportation-funding gap for our state," said PTC Chief Executive Joe Brimmeier. "Without tolls on I-80, state lawmakers and the administration would have to plug a $473 million gap in next year's budget, and that gap will steadily widen, resulting in a $60 billion decrease in infrastructure funding over the remaining 47-year term of the I-80 lease."

The independent financial analysis - completed by Provident Capital Advisors of Baton Rouge, La. - responds to issues raised in FHWA's 2008 application review. It concludes that lease payments being made to the state under Act 44 are reasonable compared to recent North American public-private highway leases. (A copy of the filing is accessible at www.paturnpike.com/i80.) The submission is seen as a milestone by transportation officials who say that the state has done its best to address federal questions to date.

"Act 44 directed PennDOT and the Turnpike Commission to enter into a lease giving the Turnpike oversight of Interstate 80 as a toll road," said PennDOT Secretary and PTC Chairman Allen D. Biehler, P.E. "We have the lease in place, and, with the additional information being provided to the Federal Highway Administration, we hope for a speedy decision."

If I-80 is tolled, Act 44 provides that annual payments to PennDOT would increase by 2.5 percent per year starting in July 2010, growing to an average $1.67 billion a year over the 50-year lease. However, if I-80 is not tolled, payments would drop to a fixed $450 million per year. Accordingly, Act 44 will produce $83.3 billion in new funding over 50 years if I-80 is tolled, but only $23.7 billion if I-80 isn't tolled - a nearly $60 billion difference.

Among the other features in the state's tolling application are:

• a cashless, Open-Road Tolling (ORT) system where vehicles pass at highway speed under one of nine tolling sites - or "gantries" - located between I-80 exits at proposed intervals of 20-50 miles;
• an incentive that would allow all non-commercial E-ZPass customers to travel through their first I-80 toll point without being charged (meaning passenger vehicles equipped with E-ZPass could travel an average of 50 miles on I-80 without paying a toll);
• an E-ZPass rebate for commercial carriers that could lead to savings of up to 20 percent for truckers, depending on their average monthly toll bill;  
• a comprehensive, $2.5 billion, 10-year capital plan to inject $250 million a year in various I-80 improvements - nearly four times greater than the $60 million per year now spent on I-80.