This is Bad News Bears

So let's talk about I-80.

For those not following the story, the state has been trying to toll Interstate 80, a stretch of road running between Ohio and New Jersey and serving a dramatically smaller population than I-76. While not serving a large population, I-80 passes through 5 of PA's 19 congressional districts. Several of these congresspersons, including Kathy Dahlkemper in Erie, lobbied the DOT hard to prevent the state from tolling, saying that it would harm local businesses.

The fact that I-80 will not be tolled is a huge kick to infrastructure in PA. Not only will it hurt road preservation (which is a major concern for a state as old as ours), it will devastate both PAT and SEPTA. There is virtually no way that transit in PA will wind up with the same level of service that it has right now.

This is an example of parochialism at its absolute worst. Without I-80 tolling, the entire state suffers except for a narrow strip of population along the road. East/West or civilization/Pennsyltucky battles are the ones that most often get attention, but what we've got here is a North/South struggle, a confrontation between what is best for the state as a whole and what is best for a narrow sliver of the state. Instead of recognizing that the health of the populated areas of the state can help the entire state, a few locals are being obstructionists for the entire commonwealth. You think last year's budget was a disaster? Wait until this one.

I just want to make sure that everyone reads this, right from Dahlkemper's website:

“We had a sustained effort to oppose this tolling plan, with representatives at the local and federal level working together to protect the jobs and commerce generated by Interstate 80,” Dahlkemper said. “We stood tall against a scheme that would have forced rural Pennsylvanians to foot the bill for urban transit on the other side of the state, and we won.”

Oh, ok. I hope you can explain that to the riders of Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority.

At this point, we've got a couple of options. First, there are no bones about it, the state needs to tax oil revenues. Marcellus is a very different situation than it was in 2007- it's vital now for the state to start generating some revenue off of it. The state should also consider a gasoline tax increase, which is going to be an absolute pain in an election year (ie, it won't happen).

We need to get serious about this funding situation. We need to work together as a state, at least attempting to put aside local concerns, in order to have our state transportation system literally fall apart beneath our feet. Otherwise, you might not have to pay to get off I-80 in Barkeyville (pop 237), Plymptonville (pop 1,040) or Buckhorn (pop 176), but you also won't have much of a road to drive on.