PA Extends Bidding on Turnpike Lease

HARRISBURG, PA-Final bids are due Friday on a 75-year lease to operate the Pennsylvania Turnpike, an arrangement that the commonwealth says will generate billions of dollars above and beyond what highway toll hikes would produce to fund infrastructure repair and improvements. The deadline of May 9 was extended after some of the bids triggered a protocol, a spokesman for Gov. Ed Rendell tells GlobeSt.com. “Because some bids were within 10% of the highest bid, we are obligated to solicit best-and-final offers due this week,” Rendell said in a statement. “We will be back next week.”

Rendell first proposed leasing the 570-mile toll road last May after an analysis by Morgan Stanley said a lease would generate the most revenue out of three transportation funding options. The governor is now touting a lease as a source of alternate funding to Act 44, which the Pennsylvania Legislature approved in July to produce new transportation revenue.

Under Act 44, tolls on the turnpike would increase and tolls would be charged for the first time along Interstate 80 through Pennsylvania, for added revenue averaging $945 million per year for the first 10 years. Sections of I-80 through Ohio and Indiana are tolled.Turnpike tolls under a leasing arrangement would be the same as under Act 44, “so there will be no additional cost to travelers,” Rendell said in a statement. However, one purpose for leasing the turnpike would be to limit the rate of toll increases on the roadway along with eliminating the need to toll motorists traveling I-80. Toll increases under the leasing scenario would be limited to 2.5% annually, while under Act 44 the annual increase could be considerably larger without a lease in place.