BELLEFONTE – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) will have to undergo a federal review process before it moves forward with its plan to toll nine bridges in the Commonwealth, U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson announced today.
Thompson met with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) this week to raise concerns about PennDOT’s Major Bridge Tolling Program, specifically the grave economic and safety impacts these proposals will have on local communities and the Commonwealth.
FHWA said it will require PennDOT to go through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for each bridge it considers tolling.
The NEPA process evaluates the environmental and related social and economic effects of a proposed action, and importantly includes citizen involvement.
“While FHWA does not have the authority to outright reject PennDOT’s bridge tolling proposals, it does have a duty to provide adequate oversight of the process, which to this point has had zero accountability to anyone – most of all local stakeholders and the traveling public,” Thompson said.
“While this will slow the pace of PennDOT’s proposals, the Biden Administration should not turn a blind eye to PennDOT’s haphazard plans.”
PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian recently noted in a published opinion piece that the department “reached out to more than 60,000 households and businesses statewide – including more than 9,000 in Clarion and Jefferson counties.”
Gramian did not include any details of how those 60,000 households and businesses feel about the proposed bridge tolling.
“The Secretary likes to boast that public engagement and feedback has been central to PennDOT’s bridge tolling plan,” Thompson said.
“However, we know that more than 90 percent of Pennsylvanians vehemently oppose bridge tolling.”
