Lawmakers urged to fix Pennsylvania turnpike’s fiscal plight
Trucks and cars move through a Pennsylvania Turnpike toll plaza without stopping to pay in Carlisle. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
(Harrisburg) — Pennsylvania’s elected fiscal watchdog is urging state lawmakers to rescue a Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission that’s deep in debt from payments it’s forced to make to the state, despite annual toll increases.
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said Thursday the annual toll increases are driving motorists away, but aren’t reducing the commission’s rising debt.
Meanwhile, the commission’s debt is limiting improvements to its 552 miles of highway.
A federal lawsuit is seeking to end the turnpike commission’s annual payments. The tab is $450 million a year under a 2007 state law designed to pump more money into Pennsylvania’s highways and public transit systems.
Meanwhile, state budgetmakers have been diverting constitutionally restricted highway dollars to cover fast-rising state police costs.
Senate Transportation Committee Chair Kim Ward says she’ll assemble working groups to tackle the issues.
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