Two Pennsylvania Republicans and two Texas Democrats in the U.S. House are joining the fight to prevent tolling of interstate highways.
U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pleasantville, Venango County, said Friday that he will submit a bill as a companion to a U.S. Senate bill offered this week by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.
If passed, both bills would prevent Pennsylvania from enacting its plan to generate nearly $1 billion a year for transit, bridge and highway projects by charging tolls on Interstate 80.
Co-sponsoring Peterson's legislation this Monday will be U.S. Rep. Phil English, R-Erie, and two Texas Democrats -- Charles Gonzalez and Ciro Rodriquez.
"Tolling existing freeways -- the lifeblood of moving goods and services -- is bad public policy. And states like Pennsylvania and Texas would incur irrevocable economic damage," Peterson said.
Peterson and English have been lobbying against Pennsylvania's toll plan. I-80 runs through their districts.
"The Interstate system is the crown jewel of highways globally," English said.
The three Texans' opposition arose from a Texas Department of Transportation plan to pay the Federal Highway Administration to "buy back" the federal highways and to enact tolls.
"The American public should never be charged to use interstate highways that were built with their own tax revenues," Gonzalez said.
Hutchison, who chairs the Republican Policy Committee and sits on the Senate Transportation and Appropriations committees, proposed her bill Wednesday.
On the same day, Gov. Ed Rendell reiterated a backup plan, which would generate transportation revenue by leasing the state turnpike. Lawmakers did not back his initial proposal last year.
On Thursday, state Rep. Joe Markosek, a Monroeville Democrat who chairs the House Transportation Committee, said Hutchison's bill threatens Pennsylvania's highway toll plan, which has yet to be approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Placing toll booths on I-80 was the core of the state's plan. The bill was passed in July. The toll system would generate $946 million a year, with some of the revenue to benefit the Port Authority of Allegheny County.
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