PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) -- PennDOT is studying the idea of charging tolls on large bridges along interstate highways and expressways as a way to raise money to repair or replace them.
PennDOT's Alexis Campbell said the process would involve setting up either electronic tolling to collect funds by way of E-ZPass, or cameras to take photos of license plates to bill drivers later.
“We don’t know which bridges we’re looking at,” she said. “Really, all we’ve done is to get the authorization to consider this.”
Campbell said engineers will identify the list of toll-bridge candidates by sometime this spring.
She said PennDOT has been forced to look at options like tolls because of the state's $8 billion funding gap for its road and bridge network.
“We’re incredibly dependent on the gas tax, and about 75% of our highway and bridge funding comes from both federal and state gas taxes,” Campbell said.
Since COVID-19 hit, fewer people are on the roads, and they’re buying less gas, meaning less of that tax money comes in, she said.
“We have this funding gap between the needs of our network and what we’re actually able to do and that gap grows every single year,” Campbell explained. “So, we’re at a point now where we really need to look at other options.”
She acknowledged it could be a couple years before PennDOT finally clears all the hurdles for new tolling.
And the public, as well as local lawmakers, will also have their say on the concept, Campbell said.