Interstate Toll Issues
Tolling I-80 a Bad Idea
In light of recent editorials favoring Act 44 “I-80 Tolls”, it is important to bring to light several overlooked facts. Pennsylvania motorists pay $ .55 per Gallon in taxes on every gallon of gas purchased in PA. With 5 billion gallons of fuel sold annually, we are already paying almost 3 billion dollars in fuel taxes every year. Pennsylvania is also part of the International Fuel Tax System (IFTA) which collects a user fee on every mile a Commercial vehicle travels in PA whether or not they purchased fuel in the State.
Rep. McCall’s Statement that “Giant Commercial Vehicles…Travel across the Keystone State…handing us the repair bill” is misleading to say the least. The deplorable local highway conditions are a direct result of pork barrel spending and a local politician who is more concerned with Harrisburg politics then the needs of his own constituents. While our elected officials claim that they need money to fix the roads, we must ask, where did all the money go that we already sent to Harrisburg?
Rep. McCall voted with Ed Rendell and sent 450 million dollars in federal highway funds to Mass Transit instead of using the money to fix our bridges. In the last 7 years alone SEPTA funding has increased over 40% while rider fares for SEPTA have only gone up 11% or 30 cents. In the same time frame gas prices have gone up 200% and are still climbing.
Area residents are facing enormous economic challenges if Act 44 is approved we will be forced to pay an additional $6 per day or more just to drive to work. The act provides for annual toll increases for the next 20 years and an immediate 25% increase to current PA Turnpike tolls. What are our elected officials thinking?
Chamber of Commerce groups from across the State agree that Tolling I-80 will have a devastating affect on the State’s already stagnant economy. Causing factories to close, eliminating thousands of job and millions in tax revenue. These losses will far outweigh any potential revenue that will be gained through the new tolls.
Act 44 as it is know in Harrisburg, was proposed by Rep McCall and passed in a rush without proper floor debate. On top of that the State did not complete the necessary economic impact Studies. The last study Penn Dot commissioned on this issue, recommended against tolling I-80. Could it be that Act 44 passed simply to pacify party bosses in Philadelphia to advance his own political aspirations in Harrisburg?
Pennsylvanian’s deserve better! Carbon County deserves better! We need a plan that calls for Folks in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to pay their share. Stop sending our liquid fuel taxes and Federal Highway dollars to subsidize mass transit. Say no to I-80 tolls and no to the Lease of the Turnpike! Instead Reform Penn Dot & the Turnpike Commission and hold Septa accountable for the funding it receives. The answers are simple! We just need political leaders with the courage to get the job done.
Doyle Heffley
Candidate
State Representative, District 122
Legislators take shots at I-80 toll concept
By SCOTT JOHNSON, The Express, Lock Haven, Pa.
Posted March 8, 2008
LOCK HAVEN — The proposed tolling of Interstate 80 was the main concern addressed during the annual Clinton County Economic Partnership Legislative Luncheon.
Retiring U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pleasantville, one of the most outspoken critics in Congress on Gov. Ed Rendell’s plan to toll I-80, once again took his shots against the plan Friday.
“Act 44 was a mistake,” said the six-term congressman at the Lock Haven Elks Club. “Act 44 is going to cost your one company, your one shining jewel (First Quality). I wish every county had a First Quality... Here, we have a company that rose out of the ashes (of the former International Paper Co. plant) and will soon have 2,000 employees. It’s going to cost them $2.5 million just to ship.”
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, Peterson said, with every company that relies on I-80 to import or export products going to have to pay more every year for shipping.
“You can’t add those kind of costs. Is Act 44 solving our highway problem? I don’t think so,” he said.
“It’s a terrible mistake and I urge this government to get off the fence and find another solution,” Peterson said to the applause of the approximately 100 governmental and business people at the gathering.
Peterson called the funding formula a borrowing “scam” with the state denied money unless the federal government allows the state to toll the freeway. And then it will take six or seven years before revenues start coming into Harrisburg. In the meantime, the state will borrow money through bonds.
Furthermore, Peterson said 45 percent of that funding would go to subsidize mass transit fares, 90 percent of which going to the “big cities,” like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The remaining 55 percent would go toward fixing the state’s roads and bridges.
He said instead of going into debt to fund mass transit and repairs, the state should get that money from its Licensing Fund. Peterson noted that fund goes toward 73 percent of the costs for state police and repairing the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76).
Taking money from a more broad-based state sales or income tax to pay for state police services would leave between $800 million and $900 million to help fix the state’s transportation problems, Peterson said.
“It’s pennies per person if everybody’s taxed,” he said. “No other state does it like we do. Nobody funds crimefighting out of their motor license fund. That needs to change.”
Peterson said he is not opposed to leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike, especially because the Turnpike Commission “is the most wasteful of all the agencies that we have out there.”
“It’s a horribly mismanaged agency,” he said. “Act 44 needs to be repealed. The sooner, the better.”
Peterson said tolling I-80 would be the same as hanging up a “Closed for business” sign at each end of the highway.
“No manufacturing or large distribution companies will build plants with that there,” he said.
One large manufacturer, Sharon Steel Co., has already delayed $70 million in planned renovations to its plant in Sharon because of the proposed tolls, he said.
Peterson said tolling I-80 would give Pennsylvania the “distinction” of being the only state in the nation with two major toll roads near each other. Further, he said every other toll road in the nation was built with tolls and is maintained through tolls, while I-80 was built with money from taxpayers several decades ago.
Also, Peterson noted, every other toll road in the nation has nearby roads that can be taken free of charge.
Peterson said tolling I-80 from the West to East coasts would cost $1,500 in tolls for tractor-trailers and between $350 and $400 for family vehicles. The cost for crossing Pennsylvania, he said, would be $152.50.
“People say we’re tolling out-of-staters. Well a lot of out-of-staters are coming to First Quality, they’re going to Hershey, they’re going to companies that you and I go to,” he said.
Read the entire article here at LockHaven.com.
I80 Toll Road Proposal Expected to Hurt Modular Housing Industry
A Pennsylvania law to toll Interstate 80, passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature at the request of Governor Ed Rendell may help prop up Philadelphia's mass transit system, but the new proposal will have a devastating effect on Pennsylvania's modular housing industry, states The Modular Building Systems Association.
Representative John Perterson (R-Pleasantville) stated in July that "Like the middle of the night pay-raise and the gambling legislation, this reckless, short-term fix to toll interstate 80 was voted for in haste without consideration of the negative, long-term economic consequences."
This proposal will result in higher housing costs and the loss of vital jobs many of them in rural areas of the state. The tolling of Interstate 80 will place the modular housing industry, a major employer throughout Pennsylvania at a clear competitive disadvantage as the industry competes against modular companies located in the surrounding states.
Currently, modular homes and other oversized loads are unable to be transported on the Pennsylvania Turnpike due to the size limitations at the toll booth areas. Similarly sized booths on I-80 could likewise destroy Pennsylvania's modular housing industry and put thousands of workers in mostly rural areas out of a job.
When asked about the plan to toll I-80, Mike Clementoni, Executive Vice President of Muncy Homes in Muncy, PA stated "We transport approximately ninety to ninety-five percent of our homes on I-80. Tolling I-80 will be devastating for our company." Similarly, Ron Weaver, Transportation Manager with Ritz-Craft Corporation in Mifflinburg, PA stated that "Ritz-Craft ships somewhere between eighty and ninety-five percent of our homes on I-80. Finding alternative routes is simply not feasible."
Pennsylvania is the top producer of modular homes in the Northeastern United States and one of the top three (3) production states within the entire country. Approximately forty (40) percent of all homes produced in Pennsylvania are transported to other states and even if appropriately sized booths are placed at tolling areas, the toll fees and other related costs will add thousands of dollars to every home. "This makes modular homes built in Pennsylvania much less competitive with homes built in other states," says Don Shiner, President of DeLuxe Building Systems in Berwick, PA, "the cost of our homes will increase not only because of the tolls imposed when we transport the finished home to the job site, but also on raw materials being delivered to our factories, employees traveling on company business, the return of empty undercarriages to the factories for reuse in transporting the next home, time delays in transporting our homes that will result from I-80 being a toll road and other, additional factors. In short, we can not help but think it will have a major impact on our overall cost structure, with no added benefit to us or the end home buyer."
As a result of the large number of modular home manufacturers located in Pennsylvania, an entire industry of building material and supply companies have located in Pennsylvania to service the industry. This proposal to toll I-80 will affect every supply company shipping materials to the manufacturers.
On Friday, November 30 the Modular Building Systems Association (MBSA) is participating in the "Perspectives on I-80 Symposium" sponsored by the Clarion Area Chamber of Business. Steve Snyder, Executive Director of the MBSA stated, "The Clarion County Chamber's I-80 Symposium is an excellent opportunity for industry, local government and individuals to come together and have their voices be heard in opposition to this ill conceived plan to toll I-80. The Modular Building Systems Association and our membership strongly oppose the proposal to toll I-80 and are extremely concerned that this plan will have a dramatic negative impact on our industry. Our members are located in predominantly rural areas and in many cases are the major employers in that area. Pennsylvania cannot afford to lose these companies."
The Modular Building Systems Association lobbies on behalf of the modular housing industry throughout the northeastern, southern and mid-western United States. The MBSA is the only association in the U.S. involved solely in legislative and regulatory affairs on behalf of the modular housing industry. The MBSA was formed in 1977 as a small association of Pennsylvania modular housing manufacturers shipping homes throughout the northern United States. Today the association represents approximately 65 manufacturers located throughout the Northeastern, Southern and Midwestern states and Canada. Of that number, 29 are located in Pennsylvania. In addition, there are over 70 building supply company members of the MBSA that ship building supplies and materials to the modular manufacturer.
For more information on how tolling I-80 will hurt Pennsylvania's modular housing industry, negatively impact homebuyers and damage Pennsylvania's economy, please contact Steve Snyder or Chad Harvey at the Modular Building Systems Association at (717) 238-9130.
For more information on the "Perspectives on I-80 Symposium" please contact Tracy Becker at the Clarion Chamber of Commerce at (814) 226-9161. The Symposium is being held at the Zion Baptist Church in Reidsburg, PA from 9am to approximately 1pm and is open to everyone.
If you have any questions or would like additional details about any information noted in this release, please contact the Modular Building Systems Association at (717) 238-9130.
Read the entire article here at PRNewsNow.com.
For information on the Modular Building Systems Association, visit ModularHousing.com.
