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We could support such a move if all the money was dedicated to maintaining and improving Interstate 80.
We suspect that many of the people opposed to Gov. Ed Rendell's fatally flawed plan for tolling some I-80 drivers would also drop their opposition, or at least reduce it to the level of a grumble, if that were to happen.
After all, we're not dumb. Nor, apologies to U.S. Rep.Glenn Thompson, are we naive. Thompson, a vehement opponent of I-80 tolls, includes in his arguments the claim that taxpayers paid once to build I-80, and so shouldn't have to pay again.
How long, pray tell, is an I-80 bridge supposed to last?
Hint: About 50 years.
How old, pray tell, are most of the bridges along I-80?
Hint: About 50 years.
So it becomes clear that, after time, that which has been built must be rebuilt. With our homes, roofs must be replaced every so often. While siding can last for hundreds of years, the wooden variety must be repainted and repaired, and even the aluminum and vinyl varieties need periodic attention, ranging from washdowns to replacement of blown-loose sections.
We would actually feel more comfortable with a dedicated revenue stream that assures the regular, scheduled maintenance and replacement of the components of Interstate 80.
But we have no interest in turning the "tolls" along Interstate 80 into a "tax" on drivers who use Interstate 80, with the money going to Philadelphia.
Better - or less bad - to increase the gasoline tax. That way, all Pennsylvania drivers pay the bill.
No, we're not thrilled about higher gasoline prices, either. But this isn't about what we "like." There is no "like" in government finances any longer. This is about what we can tolerate. And we learned, one and two years ago, that we can tolerate $3/gallon gasoline, or even a bit higher. The "break point" seems to be $4/gallon, based on that experience.
Oh. If the plan to toll I-80 is modified to keep all the money for use on I-80, we think it only fair that, as state Rep. Sam Smith so cogently proposed two years ago, tolls also be instituted on I-81, I-78, I-90, I-79 ... all of Pennsylvania's interstate-style highways.
- Denny Bonavita
