Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court on Thursday permanently blocked Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to toll as many as nine major state bridges, including one on Interstate 79 in Bridgeville, ruling his administration had not properly followed state law in getting the plan approved.
A panel from the court sided with the towns of Bridgeville, Collier and South Fayette to end the tolling plan. In a separate case from May, a Commonwealth Court judge imposed a temporary injunction on the tolling projects.
PennDOT has said the bridges are in deteriorating condition and wants to use tolls to pay for replacement and maintenance, while bringing on a private firm to complete the work. The agency got unanimous approval for the proposal from the state’s Public-Private Partnership Board in November 2020, and only announced in February 2021 which bridges it intended to use for the program.
As of mid-May, contract negotiations were underway between PennDOT and Macquarie Infrastructure Developments, LLC. of Australia, an international group chosen to run the bridge replacements. Tolls hadn’t been formally set, but were expected to be around a dollar or two.
The three towns argued the board improperly approved the plan since it did not list affected bridges, and the towns did not receive proper consultation, as required by state law.
The judges agreed, and said in a ruling written by Judge Ellen Ceisler that the towns had “credibly shown that the initiative lacks sufficient specificity, such that the board cannot have performed, and indeed did not perform, all of its essential duties in approving the initiative.”
“The board essentially approved a multibillion-dollar transportation project based on what was essentially a four-page PowerPoint recommendation from DOT that failed to delineate which, or how many, pieces of public infrastructure the initiative would affect,” Judge Ceisler wrote.
John Smith, a lawyer representing the three towns, said in a statement that they were “pleased” with the ruling.
“PennDOT's wrongful attempt to circumvent the statutorily required municipal input and mandated oversight by the General Assembly by way of its ill-conceived plan to toll 9 bridges in the commonwealth ... was correctly halted,” he said.
Neither of Mr. Wolf’s potential successors, Democrat Josh Shapiro or Republican Doug Mastriano, supports the tolling plan.
Source: PennDOT
Ed Yozwick/Post-Gazette
PennDOT spokesperson Alexis Campbell said the legislature has “failed” to offer solutions beyond the P3 program to assist with infrastructure funding, which is on the decline due to more fuel-efficient vehicles and electric vehicles hitting the roads and lowering gas tax revenue. When asked whether the department intends to appeal to the state Supreme Court, she said the department is reviewing the opinion.
“The Wolf administration continues to welcome discussions with the General Assembly on alternative funding sources that can replace the gas tax, which is no longer a dependable source of funding to meet all bridge and highway needs in this commonwealth,” she said.
State Rep. Jason Ortitay, a Republican whose district includes the three towns, also lauded the decision.
“Listening to the arguments in court earlier this month, it was clear PennDOT violated the Public-Private Partnerships (P3) law and doesn’t have a leg to stand on pushing this boondoggle,” he said. “The state could have saved a lot of time, millions of dollars and energy if the Wolf administration had just played by the rules to begin with and followed the law.”
Several Republican leaders in the state Senate — including President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, Majority Leader Kim Ward and Transportation Committee Chair Wayne Langerholc Jr. — called the ruling a “victory for millions of Pennsylvania motorists.”
“We remain ready and willing to engage with Governor Wolf, our colleagues in the House, and all other stakeholders to discuss how we should fund our road and bridge projects moving forward,” they said in a joint statement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jon Moss: jmoss@post-gazette.com; Twitter: @mossjon7; 412-263-1542.
First Published: June 30, 2022, 3:56 p.m.
Updated: July 1, 2022, 2:18 p.m.
