A 6% toll increase was approved for much of the Pennsylvania Turnpike earlier this week.
The increase was approved on Tuesday, July 18th and is set to go into effect beginning 12:01 a.m. on January 7th, 2018.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission says the toll increases are necessary in order to continue the improvements on the 550-mile long highway.
“We must… continue to invest in our aging tollway system and make it safer, wider and smoother for our customers,” said the Pennsylvania Turnpike CEO, Mark Compton.
“Right now, traffic and revenue predictions estimate increases of up to six percent per year will be necessary until 2044,” he added.
As of right now, 124 miles of the Pennsylvania Turnpike has been rebuilt, 90 miles are in the planning phase, and 20 are currently in the process of being redone, all on money made from the tolls.
“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,” added Compton.
Despite the 6% increase, several sections of the Pennsylvania Turnpike will be exempt from the raise.
In order to better transition to cash free tolling, tolls will not rise for the Keyser Avenue or Clarks Summit toll stations on I-476 or on the Findlay Connector until April 2018.
The westbound Delaware River Bridge cashless tolling point will not experience an increase in tolls at all in 2018.
Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale believes that the yearly toll raises are “simply unsustainable.”
“I do recognize that that $450 million is critical for our infrastructure across Pennsylvania, but you have to have a revenue source to pay for it — other than turnpike toll increases,” DePasquale added.
“The Turnpike has… about $450 million a year that it has to pay to PennDOT. Unless that gets addressed by the legislature, the toll increases are going to continue to happen,” DePasquale concluded.