I-80 toll opponents pin hopes on hearing

The hearing will be 11 a.m. Friday at Grove City
Municipal Building.

GROVE CITY, Pa. — State lawmakers opposed to putting toll booths on Interstate 80 are hoping a hearing this week will help strengthen their case.

Area business leaders and residents are urged to give testimony Friday before the Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee at a hearing set for 11 a.m. at the Grove City Municipal Building.

All testimony will be forwarded to the Federal Highway Commission, which is now considering Pennsylvania’s application to put tolls on I-80 throughout the state.

A nonpartisan coalition of state and federal lawmakers who represent the 311-mile stretch along the I-80 corridor has consistently opposed plans to add toll booths to the road.

The state Legislature passed Act 44 in July as a way to generate nearly a billion dollars for roads, highways, bridges and mass transit. Part of that bill authorized the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to toll I-80 and use that money to pay back a series of loans.

State Rep. Dick Stevenson of Grove City, R-8th, will chair the hearing.

This is the second GOP Policy Committee hearing on the matter. The first one was in late October in Bloomsburg, Pa., and future hearings are expected but haven’t been scheduled.

These hearings follow a series of public comment meetings held by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. Most of those who attended opposed the tolling plans.

“We’ve learned from community meetings around the state that placing tolls on this highway will have a devastating effect, not just on local trucking companies, commuters and businesses, but on future growth in the area,” Stevenson said.

About eight to 10 members of the house Republican caucus are expected to attend Friday’s hearing. The Republican Policy Committee membership includes all Republican General Assembly lawmakers, and the committee meets throughout the state to set the group’s policy agenda.

U.S. Rep. John Peterson of Pleasantville, Pa., R-5th, is expected to make a presentation. Peterson, along with U.S. Rep. Phil English of Erie, R-4th, have been vocal opponents of the tolling plan and have unsuccessfully tried to stop it with federal legislation.

“From the very beginning, the transportation legislation calling for the tolls on I-80 was bad public policy,” said Stevenson, who has co-sponsored a bill to repeal Act 44. “This hearing will allow us to further study the issue and generate additional evidence to convince the Federal Highway Administration to reject the turnpike commission’s proposal.”

The Grove City Municipal Building is at 123 W. Main St.