Feds reject Pa.’s I-80 toll plan

The Federal Highway Administration today rejected Pennsylvania's application to install tolls on Interstate 80, blocking a key part of the state's plan to fund highways, bridges and mass transit.

Gov. Rendell immediately urged the state legislature to fill the gap by approving his plan to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike for $12.8 billion to a Spanish-American operator.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters told Rendell today that the Pennsylvania application to toll I-80 did not meet federal requirements that tolls be used only for improvements on that highway, Rendell said.

Without toll money from I-80, SEPTA and other mass-transit agencies stand to get $150 million a year less than anticipated, and highways and bridges will get $300 million a year less - a cut of 50 percent by 2010.