Proposed Bridge Tolls on I-80! (construction, tax, cost)

[fisheye]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

That's even crazier than tolling individual bridges on interstates. How are townships and boroughs not required to pay for police protection? SMH

Personally I feel that all of our fuel tax should go exclusively to highway repair. Our politicians play shell games with our tax dollars. Worse yet is that there are no proficiency mandates as to how they spend our dollars.

I listen to Talk Back 16 (WNEP) and many people will call in and say they want the truckers to pay a lions share of the tolls. They do not realize that the cost will only be passed along to the consumers.

Higher cost is higher cost no matter how you cut the cake. Now is a terrible time to place more pressure on our businesses to survive. 65% of the businesses that went out of business with the pandemic said their closing would be permanent. Our Nation needs small business since about half our jobs are working for small business. Additional tolls could further hurt that small business. Right now there is also a push to raise the minimum wage and that would also hurt small business. Our government is not passing out stimulus checks because we are in great shape. We need some breathing room until the economy is again robust.

[jtab4994]

Originally Posted by rowhomecity

Although I am confused how 80 cannot be tolled but 95 can be tolled in New Jersey??

Same reason I-76 is tolled in PA. Part I-95 in NJ was a pre-existing toll road when it was designated as part of the interstate highway system.

[jtab4994]

Originally Posted by BPP1999

You left out the fact that a big chunk of the gas tax revenues fund state police coverage for mostly rural areas of PA. Care to report about that?

This article came out 2 years ago, and according to it the Auditor General says the gas tax diversion toward State Police has been going on since 2012.

All it proves is that people are correct when they say most of the toll money collected on proposed I-80 bridges would be wasted, stolen, or diverted to fund budget items it was never intended to fund.

https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/40...es-as-intended

[charmed hour]

Originally Posted by fisheye

I listen to Talk Back 16 (WNEP) and many people will call in and say they want the truckers to pay a lions share of the tolls. They do not realize that the cost will only be passed along to the consumers.

Just chiming in to say I love "Talk Back" The ranting! Last night's was the best in a long time. The person screaming about NYers "stealing" the COVID vaccine from the locals. Um, ok guy might want to fact check yourself there.

[blazerj]

Originally Posted by rowhomecity

You are right by this in the fact that Rendell wanted to toll 80 (it was actually a bipartisan initiative but was struck down by the Feds). Although I am confused how 80 cannot be tolled but 95 can be tolled in New Jersey??

And yes, Corbett passed the gas tax and a nice share of that funding goes to SEPTA, and yes I agree there should be a regional Southeast Pennsylvania coalition to provide more local funding for SEPTA.

With that SEPTA is a major economic boom to PA and provides tax revenue for the state with its economic return. (just as roads can for communities).

And subsequently I would argue rural Pennsylvania as a percentage is more subsidized than Southeast Pennsylvania in infrastructure projects. When only 4,000 cars a day travel on I - 99 at a cost of $500 million? Or $500 million goes to SEPTA to service 200,000 people a day.

Rural Pennsylvania is actually being subsidized more so.

I-80 is tolled in Ohio.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by charmed hour

Just chiming in to say I love "Talk Back" The ranting! Last night's was the best in a long time. The person screaming about NYers "stealing" the COVID vaccine from the locals. Um, ok guy might want to fact check yourself there.

There's a lot of stuff like that going around these days, and not just on the Right.

[MikMal]

Originally Posted by BPP1999

You left out the fact that a big chunk of the gas tax revenues fund state police coverage for mostly rural areas of PA. Care to report about that?

Originally Posted by KevinE

Gotta pay the state troopers pensions some how

I'd be okay with the fuel tax dollars funding the State Police IF their sole responsibility was enforcing traffic laws. But that's not the case. Their funding should come from elsewhere.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by blazerj

I-80 is tolled in Ohio.

Most of I-80 in Ohio was routed over the existing Ohio Turnpike, which was completed in 1955, before the interstate highway system was born.

This also is why parts of I-76 and I-70 in Pennsylvania are tolled; they are routed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

[rowhomecity]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Most of I-80 in Ohio was routed over the existing Ohio Turnpike, which was completed in 1955, before the interstate highway system was born.

This also is why parts of I-76 and I-70 in Pennsylvania are tolled; they are routed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Makes sense, and the same goes for the NJ Turnpike.

Fun fact: The Pennsylvania Turnpike is considered the first modern highway in America built in the 1930s and opened in 1940. The original route (including the tunnels) was carved for the Pennsylvania Railroad, but when the project was abandoned the state took over and decided to hire engineers to design what then was considered the first modern highway in America. #funfacnts

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by rowhomecity

Makes sense, and the same goes for the NJ Turnpike.

Fun fact: The Pennsylvania Turnpike is considered the first modern highway in America built in the 1930s and opened in 1940. The original route (including the tunnels) was carved for the Pennsylvania Railroad, but when the project was abandoned the state took over and decided to hire engineers to design what then was considered the first modern highway in America. #funfacnts

Not the Pennsylvania.

The South Penn Railroad was "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt's effort to take the battle between the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroads onto the Pennsy's home turf in the 1880s. The Pennsy already had a route across the state — the four-track "Broad Way of Commerce" (from whence the name of its deluxe passenger train, the Broadway Limited, came) that included the famed Horseshoe Curve. Vanderbilt engineered his railroad to have fewer curves and grades than the Pennsy's line did (which is one reason why it had so many tunnels). But midway through the project, the Pennsy and the Central agreed on a truce, and Vanderbilt stopped work on his railroad, leaving it to gently molder until the Turnpike Commission got its hands on it.