The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s plan to establish tolls on nine statewide interstate bridges, including two in our area, has run into judicial headwinds and opposition from both candidates for governor in this November’s election.

PennDOT has been pushing the idea to toll these bridges to finance their repair and maintenance, but a growing chorus of anger is likely to delay the effort or, possibly, short circuit it completely.

Last month, Commonwealth Court Judge Ellen Ceisler issued an injunction on the tolling proposal, and at some point in the near future the full court will weigh in on the question.

State Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, was quick to extend his gratitude for the ruling and hopes that the full court will hold up the project until a cost-benefit analysis is conducted. Heffley has been a critic of the project since its inception, and his opposition is shared by many legislators whose districts would be affected by the proposal.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro has announced his opposition to the tolling plan, a significant break with the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf, which supports the proposal. Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano also opposes the tolling plan and supports legislation that would stop the project from going forward.

The two bridges in our area are both on I-80, one over Nescopeck Creek and the other over the Lehigh River.

A hearing in Kidder Township that was scheduled to give information and take testimony on the Lehigh River bridge proposal was hastily called off after word of the Commonwealth Court injunction was announced.

There are several major concerns with this tolling proposal. First of all, payment would be through the E-ZPass system, which has been roundly criticized because of the number of motorists who fail to pay their fees now along the Pennsylvania Turnpike system which uses E-ZPass almost exclusively. Those without E-ZPass transponders would be billed by mail. E-ZPass users would get a small discount.

Critics believe that the toll, which is expected to be about a dollar or two, is another add-on cost that will be passed along to consumers by companies that use the highways to move goods.

They also are asking why the $1.6 billion that Pennsylvania will be getting through the administration’s infrastructure bill will not mitigate the need for an onerous toll.

As for us motorists, who are already paying the second-highest gasoline tax in the country, we will be saddled with another nuisance cost. Drivers who fill up in the state pay 58.7 cents per gallon. This does not include the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax. With gas prices at an all-time high, it is one more annoyance with which we would have to contend.

In addition to the two bridges in the immediate area, tolls would also be earmarked to replace the I-78 bridge in Berks County, a prime route between the Poconos and Lehigh Valley and the Harrisburg area and points south. The other bridges that our motorists frequently use include those on Interstate 81 in Susquehanna County (north of Scranton); I-83 South in Dauphin County near Harrisburg and York, and Interstate 95’s Girard Point Bridge in Philadelphia. The other three are in western Pennsylvania.

To PennDOT’s credit, they have been holding well-publicized public hearings in the impacted areas where its officials try to explain how these projects will affect not only motorists but also nearby communities once alternate routes are set up during construction. You can bet that diverting traffic during construction is going to put a strain on some of the smaller, secondary feeder roads that adjoin the interstates.

Officials, such as those in White Haven, are concerned about what will happen once traffic is rerouted onto Route 940 through the borough of about 1,100 near the Luzerne-Carbon border.

PennDOT will try to explain how these projects will affect not only motorists but also nearby communities once alternate routes are set up during construction. You can bet that diverting traffic during construction is going to put a strain on some of these smaller, secondary feeder roads that adjoin the interstates. Even after the projects are completed, some motorists will continue using these alternate routes to skip the tolls.

In defending the project, PennDOT says it creates a dedicated funding source for each bridge, including costs of construction, regular maintenance and operations, avoids the reallocation of traditional funding away from other local and regional projects, and it assesses the toll only on those who use the bridges, including out-of-state motorists who may not have bought gas in the state and don’t pay license and registration fees.

PennDOT says that for every billion dollars invested in bridge replacement or rehabilitation, about 10,550 jobs are created that generate $2.2 billion for the state’s economy.

At the heart of this proposal is the plan for PennDOT to farm out these projects to private construction firms, with the idea that each project would be financed by the tolls. Don’t think the tolls will ever disappear. They will continue even after the projects are paid off and will be earmarked for maintenance or diverted to help nearby communities cope with the disruption fallout.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.