Comments on proposed toll road

I was born and raised outside of Philadelphia, PA, growing up about 20 miles from a toll plaza of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Over the years, not only have I seen the changes the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission implemented, but also heard the stories of my father and grandfather as they witnessed the birth of America’s first highway specifically planned as a toll road.

Over the years, since I’ve first started driving, I have driven on a variety of toll roads across our great country, thanks mostly to my years serving on active duty in the Army. I can tell you that toll roads serve different purposes for different communities, and the ways that tolls are collected are varied as well. I know that several years ago, not only did WYDOT conduct studies to determine the feasibility of tolling I80, Pennsylvania conducted similar studies to toll that state’s portion of I80 as well.

One would think that with Pennsylvania’s significant knowledge of tolling the Turnpike, that it would have been a simple process to be able to do the same with Interstate 80. However, the federal Department of Transportation has denied their application. While I can’t speak to the specifics of that denial, I can make an informed guess that it may have had to do with the fact the PA Turnpike and I80 are both east-west routes across the state, and that it may have been seen as unfair or impractical to have both major routes serving those directions be toll roads.

In Wyoming, it is not so simple as two routes. Our section of I80 is favored by drivers of small and large vehicles alike, because of its relatively flat traverse across the southern portion of our state, in comparison to I70 attaining more than 11,000 feet above sea level at the Eisenhower/Johnson tunnels west of Denver, which can be extremely treacherous or impossible to traverse at times. Another less desired route is I90, because while it is extremely easy to traverse in Wyoming, can get much more difficult as one travels west through Montana.

Tolling also needs to be looked at in regard to how funds are collected. While becoming rapidly outdated, there is the possibility of ticket tolls, which require a driver to take a ticket when entering the tollway, and then stopping again as they leave the highway to pay the applicable fare. More recently, through the advancement of technology, companies such as EZ Pass and Express Toll have introduced transponders in the form of small plastic boxes or special stickers that are placed on the windshield for frequent users, that allow the possibility to charge a reduced rate. Those systems have implemented the ability to also take pictures of license plates in order to send a bill to the registered owner of the vehicle, but in order to access the records of other states’ databases and mail bills, that requires a higher amount to be charged.

While tolling seems to be an easy solution to offsetting the rising costs of our state’s transportation needs, gaining approval from the federal government, purchasing the additional equipment and signage required, and determining the best tolling agency to work with (or possibly establishing our own, through either public or private entities), will undoubtedly lead to several phases our state will need to undergo before we are able to realize any potential benefits. I believe that tolling is a practical approach, but it certainly needs to be examined with a certain amount of prudence and patience.

Jayson Zimmerman