Travel on Pa. Turnpike in 2017 will take a bigger toll on your wallet
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Traveling on the Pennsylvania Turnpike is one more way traveling in Pennsylvania is going to get more expensive in 2017, along with higher gas taxes and increasing motorist fees.
A 6 percent toll increase, approved in July, take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 8 on both cash and E-Z Pass tolls.
That means next month at this time a drive from the Harrisburg East exit across the river to the Harrisburg West exit will cost $1.23 if you use E-Z Pass, like three-quarters of turnpike users now do, and $1.95 if you pay cash, according to a toll schedule on the turnpike's website.
Traveling east from Harrisburg East exit to the Valley Forge exit will cost $7.32 if you use E-Z Pass and $10.45 if you pay cash. And the cross-state trek from the Harrisburg East exit to Pittsburgh will cost $17.90 if you use E-Z Pass and $25.20 if you pay with cash.
The higher rates are needed to help the turnpike meet its funding obligations, said turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo.
Those obligations include pension costs, debt service, maintaining and improving the toll road and making the turnpike commission's statutorily required $450 million payment to the state Department of Transportation, according to turnpike officials. The money it sends to PennDOT is used to support mass transit.
It is the ninth consecutive year that the turnpike commission has raised tolls.
As part of its approval of the 2017 toll increase, the commission also ordered a system-wide reassessment of its improvement projects to ensure they are vital and relevant. DeFebo said the reassessment also was done to prioritize projects in the event traffic and revenues that are on track to set a new record high this year, should take a downturn.
Although the commission currently forecasts the need for up to annual 6 percent toll increases through 2044 depending on economic conditions, turnpike commission Chairman Sean Logan said it is also focusing on cost-cutting measures to mitigate future increases, which have included reducing the number of employees over the past decade and holding the line on operating costs.
So if you are grumbling about the higher tolls that 2017 will bring, consider it a bargain when you think what you might be paying 28 years from now if indeed the rates rise annually by 6 percent.
That trip from Harrisburg East to the other side of the river would cost $5.93. Taking the turnpike from Harrisburg to Valley Forge would cost $35.30, and heading from Harrisburg to the Pittsburgh exit would cost $86.32.
Of course, those are all E-ZPass rates because we can only assume that by then, cash payments will be a piece of turnpike history along with Howard Johnson's at rest stops and toll booths.
Story from PennLive.com
