Traffic from Interstate 80 snarls the streets of White Haven whenever there is an incident or construction on the highway.

The Lehigh River town and its neighbor, East Side Borough, fear that it could become a regular occurrence if the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s plans to toll the interstate go through.

“They’re diverting it right into our laps,” said White Haven Councilman Robert Lamson.

A meeting Thursday night gave residents a chance to voice opposition to the planned tolls on the eastbound lanes of the Interstate 80 bridge over the Lehigh River. During the “Anti-Bridge Toll Summit,” elected officials and business leaders warned that the bridge tolls would affect commerce, quality of life, and public safety in the river towns.

PennDOT announced plans to replace nine bridges along interstates around the commonwealth, funded by new bridge tolls on the vehicles that use them. The agency says the tolls are needed because the state currently only spends $6.9 billion of an estimated $15 billion needed annually to address the state’s bridges and highways.

Replacing the 47-year-old Lehigh River Bridges alone is estimated to cost about $50 million.

Romilda Crocamo, acting Luzerne County manager, said the tolls are unfair and unjust because Luzerne is the only county with two different crossings slated for tolling - the I-80 bridges over the Lehigh River and Nescopeck Creek. The Nescopeck Creek bridge will be tolled in the westbound direction.

“The tolls are not only unfair, they are unjust,” she said. “The location of those toll bridges will change both communities in ways that are unimaginable.”

County Council member LeeAnn McDermott said that the county is supporting a lawsuit filed by towns in western Pennsylvania seeking to block PennDOT’s tolling plans from taking effect. Arguments in the suit are set to begin later this year.

More traffic

Many residents in Luzerne County are opposed to paying the additional tolls. But the concern raised most by speakers at Thursday’s meeting was additional traffic - particularly tractor-trailers - in White Haven and East Side, boroughs whose combined population is less than 1,500.

“We are not set up to handle this,” said Chris Zweibel, Emergency Management Coordinator for White Haven Borough.

PennDOT predicts that 9 percent of current highway users would exit Interstate 80 to get around paying the toll. That equates to 80 vehicles during the morning rush hour and 70 in the evening.

They predict the main “diversion route” would use Route 940 through the two boroughs.

The meeting featured a video using drones and dashboard cameras to show how trucks would interfere with traffic at multiple points - the intersection of Church Street and Berwick Street, the Reading & Northern Railroad Crossings in White Haven, and the River Street curves in East Side.

PennDOT has pledged to use some of the money to improve the intersection and the curve on River Street.

White Haven Fire Chief Dean Raudenbush Sr. said if there is increased traffic along the diversion route, a disabled tractor-trailer on Berwick Street will bring traffic to a standstill and make it difficult for his trucks to reach an emergency, potentially preventing the rescue of someone entrapped in a house fire.

“I don’t want that on my clock as a fire chief,” he said.

More hazards

Zweibel, the EMA coordinator, said there are other hazards - cars endangering kids on residential streets, polluted air from idling trucks, and a fuel leak causing water pollution in the Lehigh River.

He said more trucks would get stuck at the railroad crossing, something that already happens a handful of times a year, creating the potential for a “horrific” derailment.

East Side Mayor Eric Siglin said speeding traffic would create a danger to school kids who cross Route 940 to reach their bus stops, and residents whose mailboxes are across the street.

“The speed at which people come down that hill is ridiculous,” Siglin said.

The leader of the Greater White Haven Chamber, Linda Miller, said truck traffic could devastate the town’s economic growth.

Alan Stout of the Luzerne County Visitors Bureau said White Haven is an epicenter for the area’s outdoor tourism, and truck traffic in the borough could hurt the hospitality businesses which are just recovering from the pandemic.

Area legislators, including state Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, and state Sen. John Yudichak, I-Carbon/Luzerne have spoken out against tolling the bridge.

Several speakers from beyond the White Haven bridge spoke about the negative effects that the tolls would have on their areas. Katie Hetherington of the Reading Area Chamber Alliance said her organization has joined the fight due to planned tolls on the I-78 bridge in Lenhartsville. She said a group called the No P3 Bridge Tolling Coalition plans to hold a rally at the Capitol next month.

Nescopeck Township Manager Jolinda Becker said she fears that trucks avoiding the Nescopeck Creek bridge will get stuck on the hilly diversion route during the winter. She said all areas affected by the bridges need to get together to oppose PennDOT.

“We are all in the same boat here. They are the enemy. We need to prove to them that they cannot take away our communities and our livelihood,” she said.