Down River – May 1, 2014
Down This Road Before, Kind of:
Has it been some eight years since Pennsylvania looked to tolling Interstate 80 to pay for improvements to the state’s ailing transportation system?
Yes, it was 2007 when Harrisburg passed Act 44, ill-fated legislation which made I-80 tolls part of the plan to provide dollars to repair and rebuild the state’s highways and bridges.
That plan never came to fruition. You may or may not recall there was a near-unanimous outcry of opposition from government and business interests all along the I-80 corridor from the Ohio line to the New Jersey border.
If my memory is correct, it never happened because the feds never gave an okay, based upon what was described as earlier Congressional intent that interstate tolls could be used only for rebuilding any particular highway, not other highway and bridge projects.
Anyway, the interstate tolling idea resurfaced this week, but this time part of an Obama administration $302 billion bill designed to eliminate a fast approaching shortfall in the federal Highway Trust Fund.
In this instance the feds are pushing the idea because new dollars are needed to pay for interstate reconstruction; this is a major shift over the past funding mechanism where there was sufficient funding in the federal Highway Trust Fund.
That trust fund is just about broke. Federal Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said this week the till will be empty by August and that bodes not well for most states, 31 of which depend on federal dollars for better than half their transportation improvement projects.
Highway building types are already lining up behind the federal proposal. The head of the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association said 35 states have used tolling as a “proven and effective option” for transportation improvements.
But opposition was immediate too. Representatives from the trucking industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were reported to prefer instead increasing federal taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel.
According to a McClatchy newspaper report, American interstate highways have largely been toll free since the system was started in 1956; building and maintenance supported by a per-gallon tax on gas, increased but three times, the last in 1993.
The federal tax since that time is 18.4 cents per gallon on gas and 24.4 cents on diesel.
One wouldn’t think Pennsylvanians would be too enamored of increasing that tax, especially since we’re in the middle of an ascending state tax rate on a gallon of gas here, kicking in as of the first of the year to try and fix our state’s deteriorating road system.
Meanwhile it’s interesting and not particularly surprising to note it took our state fathers and mothers seven years, 2007 to 2014, to finally address the overdue Commonwealth need for more highway dollars, a topic they had hoped to solve with their planned toll tax way back then.
We’ve seen nothing yet to indicate how this new federal initiative might work in conjunction with what Pennsylvania has just enacted. Motorists likely wouldn’t be too excited with the idea of adding a toll on Interstate 80 or any other currently non-tolled interstates in the state, given our currently escalating state gas tax.
The McClatchy story said states have had the toll option for 23 years but not one took that approach; instead they raised their own taxes.
But if the fed’s Trust Fund runs dry as predicted later this year, the head of the Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates says states won’t have enough money to complete necessary work.
Could be our time for a natural gas or battery-powered vehicle, although those options won’t help repair disintegrating roads.
Six Degrees of Separation:
As Clinton County celebrates its 175th anniversary this year, how about a quick sidebar about an overlooked county native that went on to do exceptional things in the world of academia and diplomacy.
We are talking about former Dartmouth College President John Sloan Dickey (1907-1991), born in Lock Haven and educated at Dartmouth and later Harvard Law School.
The Lock Haven High School graduate was, among other things, partner of a prominent Boston law firm and special assistant to the Secretary of State, becoming Dartmouth President in 1945.
His name was advanced by Lock Haven Mayor Rick Vilello at the recent county Democratic dinner when his honor talked of a conversation he had with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf.
Vilello said he had an extended phone conversation with Wolf after deciding to endorse the southeastern Pennsylvania businessman for governor.
Vilello professed while he was unfamiliar with Dickey and his Lock Haven roots, Wolf was and talked glowingly of his experience at Dartmouth when Dickey was president there.
And Wolf passed along to Vilello a notable quote you’ll find when you (if I may use this term) “Google” Dickey. And Vilello shared that Dickey quote:
“The world’s troubles are your troubles…and there is nothing wrong with the world that better human beings cannot fix.”
And yes, John Sloan Dickey was a brother of Lock Haven High School English teacher Gretchen Dickey, one of the best Down River ever had.
