PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE Toll fees to rise to meet maintenance costs

The commission says 640 bridges would need to be repaired.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Traveling the Pennsylvania Turnpike could soon become more pricey.
Officials say that costs for the 530-mile turnpike system have outpaced toll booth collections, whose fees haven't been raised since 1991.
"Realistically, it's not a question of if we need an increase. It's a question of the Turnpike Commission deciding when and how they want to do it," said Joe Brimmeier, executive director of the agency.
According to a recent report from the turnpike's consultant, Michael Baker Jr. Inc., the commission should raise tolls "as soon as possible" to prevent construction projects from stalling and the ride on the road becoming rougher.
Turnpike officials say despite raking in a record $399.5 million in tolls from a record 178.3 million vehicles last fiscal year, which ended in May, they can only afford to fix four miles of the highway a year.
"I wish [a toll increase] would have happened yesterday. ... We can't put Band-Aids on the situation forever," Brimmeier said.
Operation and maintenance
According to turnpike officials, half of the almost $400 million in tolls last year went to operate and maintain the turnpike system, which includes the 360-mile stretch from Ohio to New Jersey, the Beaver Valley Expressway, the Greensburg Bypass, the Mon-Fayette Expressway and the Northeast Extension into the Poconos.
The remainder of the $400 million was used to pay debt, build a connection to Interstate 79 in western Pennsylvania, patch up the oldest sections of the toll road, upgrade toll plazas and modernize toll collection, including E-ZPass lanes.
The Turnpike Commission says it also needs to repair 640 bridges along the road that are at least 40 years old, including bridges of the Susquehanna and Allegheny Rivers. Both bridges are expected to cost at least $100 million each.
The turnpike's consultant has estimated it could cost as much as $1.2 billion over the next 30 years. Fixing the bridges alone would require a toll hike that would raise at least $39 million a year, according to Michael Baker Jr. Inc.
"No bridge is unsafe," said Gary Graham, the turnpike's bridge engineering manager. "When we can't rehabilitate them, we're doing what's necessary to keep them structurally sound."
Other focus areas
Brimmeier said the commission also needs to curb congestion around Philadelphia and repair the 110-mile Northeast Extension to the Poconos.
"There's no other way but to raise tolls," Brimmeier said. "It may make us one of the highest toll road agencies in the East, but we're also the oldest, with lots to do."
The last time the Turnpike Commission raised tolls was 1991 when it rose from 3.1 cents a mile for cars to 4 cents a mile. The turnpike also raised tolls in 1987 and 1978.
When measured by cost-per-mile for cars, the 4 cents to travel the mainline of the Pennsylvania Turnpike falls behind Oklahoma's and Wyoming's 4.1 cents, West Virginia's 4.3 cents, and Massachusetts' 5.5 cents, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported in Sunday's editions.
Newer sections of the Pennsylvania Turnpike are much more costly. It costs 75 cents to drive a six-mile stretch of Mon-Fayette Expressway south of Pittsburgh -- or 12.5 cents per mile.
XOn the Net: Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission: http://www.paturnpike.com