Commissioners: I-80 tolls would hurt industrial park

By Rick Dandes
The Daily Item

October 24, 2007 07:48 am

— LEWISBURG — Union County commissioners Preston R. Boop and John R. Showers approved a resolution Tuesday against Act 44, a state law that would permit the tolling of Interstate 80.
Both commissioners strongly oppose I-80 tolling, believing it would be a severe deterrent to business, industry and economic development in Union County.
“The creation of family sustaining jobs in Great Stream Commons and all of Union County is dependent on free access to transportation on the interstate,” said Mr. Boop.
“If you were a company that could locate anywhere in Pennsylvania or anywhere in the country, looking at a highway system that has tolls on it certainly would be a deterrent to locate here in Union County, in Great Stream Commons.”
The state has spent a huge amount of money to bring economic development to rural Pennsylvania, he said.
“And now, we turn around and blow the advantages by tolling the main highway that runs east and west across the country? It just does not make any sense to me,” he said.
Mr. Boop added: “I don’t think the Legislature really did their due diligence in realizing some of the secondary things that would happen as a result of tolling the interstate.
“To me, it is obvious that there will be heavier traffic along secondary roads along the I-80 corridor. Consequently, trucks and cars are going to cause traffic congestion where we haven’t seen traffic congestion before.”
As those roads are used more frequently, “They will deteriorate, and this is not a good thing,” Mr. Boop said. “The traffic ought to be on the interstate, where it belongs.”
Act 44 isn’t good for business, Mr. Showers said.
“I believe the legislation was what was left over at the end of the session, in terms of financing,” he said. “The problem is, the federal government has not been producing the gas tax revenues and highway revenues they used to, obviously because of what they’re spending in Iraq and other higher priorities.
“As a result, states are feeling the revenue pinch. Our highways need repairs. That’s true. And that has to be paid for somehow. But I don’t see the tolling of I-80 as a solution to that shortfall. I think the Legislature and the governor have to go back to the drawing board and tackle, in a different way, the difficult issue of how to finance infrastructure problems.”
Commissioner William W. Haas was absent from the meeting.
n E-mail comments to rdandes@dailyitem.com.