Pa. congressman trying to head off I-80 tolls

WEST MIDDLESEX, Pa. —  Skip Doutt sends 25 to 30 trucks a day onto Interstate 80 delivering metal products.

As vice president of operations at Yourga Trucking Inc. in Wheatland, Pa., Doutt says putting tolls on that highway, as the Pennsylvania legislature plans to do, could severely affect business.

“It would affect our rate structure and the cost to transport materials,” he said.

Costs for motorists aren’t the only concerns of Mercer County lawmakers. They worry that those big trucks would move off the Interstate and onto local roads to avoid tolls. A bipartisan group of elected officials gathered Monday   to support a two-prong federal effort to stop Pennsylvania from instituting tolls on the 311 miles of I-80.

U.S. Rep. Phil English of Erie, R-3rd, announced that he would introduce the Free Highway Protection Act this week.

For more on this story, see Tuesday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.