Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale recently said the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) is at risk of defaulting if traffic and revenue projections are not met.
A state law that went into effect in 2007 requires the PTC make substantial payments to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to fund other transportation projects and services.
Payments began in 2008, and tolls have risen above the rate of inflation annually.
The PTC is now $11.8 billion in debt and is forecasted to triple tolls in less than 30 years. The increases will cause more drivers to use alternate routes instead.
Recently there has been a reduction in projected traffic and stagnant traffic growth, so this already may be occurring, DePasquale said.
“The turnpike simply cannot continue to raise tolls to cover the legally mandated payments to PennDOT,” DePasquale said. “Hiking tolls year after year while hoping that E-ZPass users won’t notice is not a sustainable revenue plan and it causes a financial hardship for motorists.”
Drivers with unpaid tolls, according to state law, face vehicle-registration suspension.
In 2017, more than $1.4 million was collected, but 40 percent of uncollected tolls are from out-of-state motorists.
DePasquale’s audit of the PTC covered June 1, 2015, to Jan. 30, 2019.