
Rush-hour traffic on Interstate 81 at the Suscon Road overpass in Pittston Township in this file photo. While this stretch of the highway would not be affected, PennDOT’s recently announced plan to toll nine bridges on interstates across Pennsylvania, including a nine-mile stretch along Interstate 81 in Susquehanna County, and the Nescopeck Creek bridges on Interstate 80 in Luzerne County, have raised concerns among business and community leader.
Times Leader file photo
Business, political leaders say PennDOT action would harm region’s economy
WILKES-BARRE — Teri Ooms, Executive Director of The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development at Wilkes University, Friday said there is a pressing need to evaluate the potential impact that tolling of two Luzerne County bridges will have on the region.
Ooms made the comments during a virtual meeting hosted by Rep. Tarah Toohil and attended by 80 leaders representing government, economic development and business.
PennDOT’s recently announced its plan to toll nine bridges on interstates across Pennsylvania, including a nine-mile stretch along Interstate 81 in Susquehanna County, and the Nescopeck Creek bridges on Interstate 80 in Luzerne County.
“These two bridges book-end Luzerne County on I-80 and I-81 is in between,” Ooms said. “These are primary corridors in our region and with a region rich in logistics, warehousing and manufacturing, access is key.”
Ooms said it is too early to accurately assess the extent to which tolling will cause a negative economic impact to the region.
“We are still gathering data, but we do need to realize that this potentially impacts businesses, their suppliers, their employees, and also the tourism industry which is a huge economic generator in our region,” Ooms said. “There is no doubt our roads and bridges need improvements and the cost is significant, but we need to balance it against what generates positive economic impact in the region.”
Three other economic development experts voiced similar concerns about the proposed tolling plan: Joseph Lettiere, President & CEO at the Greater Hazleton Area CANDO; Wico Van Genderen, President/CEO of the Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce; and John Augustine, President/CEO at Penn’s Northeast.
“This plan has a definite negative impact to the region,” Van Genderen said. “It will change many business models.”
Van Genderen said during the pandemic, one bright spot has been the goods industry, prevalent in this region.
“And the I-80/I-81 corridor is extremely important to that business,” he said.
Lettiere agreed, saying that the tolling plan would also have a devastating impact on the Greater Hazleton Area and its future economic development.
Augustine pointed out that Northeastern Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate has traditionally been higher than the rest of Pennsylvania and the nation.
“Thanks to our location and highway system, we can reach a third of the U.S. in a day’s time,” Augustine said. “The truth is that you need to go through us to go most places. We don’t want to do anything to stunt that business.”
Augustine said warehousing jobs pay an average of $18 per hour.
“We don’t want to drive those jobs away,” he said.
Toohil, R-Butler Township, said the PennDOT plan, unveiled last week, is a controversial plan to raise revenue for bridge replacement and maintenance.
“The bridges bookend Luzerne County on east and west,” Toohil said. “The tolls are expected to range from $1 to $2, which would be a real hardship for commuters and the companies that moved here to take advantage of our location and highway system.”
Sen. John Yudichak, I-Swoyersville, believes the proposal could not have come at a worse time and will slow the economic growth currently taking place along the Hazleton corridor.
“This could have a significant negative impact on the economy in our region,” Yudichak said. “Luzerne County would have to shoulder 25% of the entire statewide tolling burden if this is agreed to by PennDOT. I don’t know why the residents and businesses in Luzerne County should have to do that.”
Yudichak said with the U.S. automotive industry moving toward the production of electric cars and Pennsylvania’s over-reliance on gas taxes to fund transportation projects, PennDOT’s plan to toll highways appears to be a very shortsighted fix to that problem
“It’s certainly not something that has been vetted through a public or legislative process, and there are serious questions whether the P3 board has the ability to tax and appropriate funds,” Yudichak said.
Luzerne County Manager David Pedri said the county is being treated differently than the 66 other counties in the Commonwealth.
“In that we have two toll bridges under this proposal, essentially book-ending Luzerne County,” Pedri said. “Of the nine proposed tolls, our two bridges are the closest in distance with only 22 miles between them.”
Pedri said a resident of Luzerne County will not be able to use Route 80 without paying a toll because there will be one going east and one going west at the county lines.
“We are the only county in the state that will have this prohibition under this proposal,” he said.
Pedri said the potential economic impact also has not yet been completed — there have been more than 4,000 jobs created in Luzerne County in the past five years, many in the distribution and manufacturing sectors.
“These tolls could have a major impact on the future growth of our economy,” Pedri said. “In an earlier meeting today, PENNDOT admitted that at this time they have not yet completed a detailed economic impact report on these tolls to the communities they serve and that is concerning. They did say they did a broad overhead review, but will be completing a more detailed economic review some time in the future.”
Pedri also said the financials are also a major concern. He said looking at the Nescopeck Bridge and using PennDOT’s own numbers, there is a maximum potential of $195 million in renovation and upkeep needed over the next 30 years.
“Once again, utilizing their own numbers, the toll on this bridge would generate $542 million over 30 years,” Pedri said. “Where is the other $347 million in tolls collected going to go?”
Pedri said Luzerne County Council will be sending a letter to PennDOT in opposition to the plan as well.
Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.