PA Turnpike Votes To Raise Tolls … Again

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission voted Tuesday to increase both E-ZPass and cash tolls starting early next year.

The increase will kick in at 12:01 a.m. on January 7, 2018. Tolls will increase from $1.23 to $1.30 for E-ZPass customers and from $1.95 to $2.10 for cash customers. The fee for Class-5 vehicles – mainly tractor-trailers – will increase from $10.17 to 10.78 for E-ZPass and from $14.45 to $15.35 for cash.

There will be no toll increase next year for E-ZPass or Toll-By-Plate customers at the Delaware River Bridge westbound cashless tolling point in Bristol Township.

This year’s increase marks a pattern that started in 2009. Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission said the increases are to keep up with obligations and continue to maintain their 550-mile toll-road system that is almost 77 years old in places.

PAIndependent.com reported in 2015 that a trip across the state on the Turnpike could cost $80 by 2044.

“The Turnpike Commission is obligated by state law to augment Pennsylvania’s infrastructure needs; in fact, the commission has delivered $5.65 billion in toll-backed funding to PennDOT in the last decade,” Turnpike CEO Mark Compton said in statement. “Today, our annual payments of $450 million enable PennDOT to provide operating support to mass-transit authorities across the state to help ease future fare increases for riders.”

“Since August 2007, the PTC made 40 quarterly payments to PennDOT totaling $5.65 billion. Of that, $2.25 billion has supported the PA Motor License Fund (MLF) where it is invested in off-Turnpike highway and bridge projects; $3.4 billion has supported the PA Public Transportation Trust Fund (PTTF) to provide financial assistance to the public-transit systems. Beginning in 2014, the PTC’s payments no longer funded the MLF but have gone exclusively to the PTTF,” a statement from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission said.

Also, at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission meeting, PennDOT Secretary Leslie Richards was appointed to chair the leadership. Former Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Chairman Sean Logan resigned earlier this year to join the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.