PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: Burdensome and unsustainable debt will continue to plague the Pennsylvania Turnpike, pushing tolls up to $50 for a cross-state trip by 2021 for travelers without E-ZPass, according to a report released Tuesday from the state auditor general’s office.
The turnpike is required to pay $450 million annually to PennDOT for nonturnpike costs because of a 2007 state law, Act 44, which attempted to find money for road and bridge repairs and mass transit. The original plan included tolling Interstate 80. The federal government wouldn’t allow the state to do that, but the Turnpike is still obligated to continue paying PennDOT through the year 2057 without the benefit of I-80 tolls it had hoped to collect.
“The debt issue has to be addressed,” Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said in testimony before a House transportation committee Tuesday. His comments echoed those of his predecessor, Jack Wagner, who also as auditor warned that the turnpike was deeply in debt… (more)
Not to worry. This need not be addressed any more than PA public employee pensions. Long before the tolls reach $50, drivers will be using Interstate 80. Business will relocate to areas of cheaper transportation. The invisible hand of the market solves all problems.
EDITOR: In that case, it must be a divine hand.
More seriously, it is this trend of thought that has lost belief in the importance of democracy and come to put trust in capitalism that is at the root of much of today’s problems. It is exactly what the 1/2 of 1% at the top of the economic pyramid wants us to believe.
We will be reporting on this in the near future.