Pa. House Halts PennDOT Toll Idea Proposed to Fund Nine Area Bridges in Need of Repairs
A PennDOT plan to add tolls on nine bridges to finance their repairs was halted last Tuesday by the state House, which passed a bill to void the proposal, writes Mark Scolforo for WHYY.
The legislation, however, currently requires one more vote in the state Senate. And it faces opposition from Gov. Tom Wolf.
Tolling of the bridges would pay for their repair or reconstruction. And it would free up funds from the new federal infrastructure bill for other projects throughout the state.
But opponents claim tolls would hurt the surrounding economy and that there was not enough public input in the process.
Rep. Mike Carroll said that the money approved in the federal bill is insufficient to cover all the necessary projects in Pennsylvania, which is 49th on the list of states with the worst bridges.
“Every single county in the state will have projects that do not get done if we have to dedicate $2 billion of the $4 billion to fix nine bridges,” he said.
The Girard Point Bridge in Philadelphia is among the spans that could be tolled.
Read more about the PennDOT toll plan at WHYY.
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