When Joe Obulaney of Lansford picked up the first toll ticket at the Mahoning Valley Interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s brand-new Northeast Extension, there was no telling where he was heading.

On April 1, 1957, the opening day of the turnpike’s reach from the Philadelphia area to Scranton, John Ruzicka of Palmerton, the toll collector, handed Obulaney his pass to a trip on America’s first superhighway, which opened some 17 years earlier, but had just completed a branch to the north.

That day, the Lansford native could’ve driven to Gateway, the turnpike’s westernmost exit, for $5.70.

On Monday, that same trip would’ve cost around $100 in a similar vehicle, thanks to the latest 5% increase in turnpike tolls.

Every year since 2009, tolls on the turnpike have increased, something that will continue at various levels through at least 2050.

And none of it is welcome news to casual travelers, everyday commuters and over-the-road truckers dealing with high vehicle costs - not to mention the cost to fuel them.

The rate issue, unfortunately, was thrust upon the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in 2007 in the administration of then-Gov. Ed Rendell, who proposed leasing the turnpike and using the proceeds to fund transportation improvements.

Lawmakers at the time believed imposing tolls on Interstate 80 to recover funds that would be used for transportation projects across the state was the way to go.

A Spanish firm at first expressed some interest in Rendell’s idea, but backed out of the proposal when the federal government put the Legislature’s plan into a tailspin.

Lawmakers then passed Act 44, which saddled the commission with paying PennDOT $450 million annually for transit projects not related to the turnpike.

That continued until lawmakers approved Act 89 in 2013, which lowered that annual payment to $50 million through at least 2050. That change also mandated that the turnpike not leverage future tolls to pay the bills.

I’m not defending the commission through all this, but admittedly, it’s in a rough spot.

It can’t borrow against the future. It’s stuck with a bill someone else handed them.

What other recourse than raising tolls do they have?

They’ve already furloughed the employees who worked at the toll gates in an attempt to cut costs.

The commission has been forced to make the best of a situation that’s at best one in which there’s no good outcome - at least until 2050.

Until then, they can point to the EZ Pass program, which offers discounted tolls to reward - or at least lessen the blow for frequent users. EZ Pass scans a transponder aboard a vehicle entering and leaving the roadway and deducts tolls from an account in the vehicle owner’s name. No mail, no postage, no paper, just electronic banking.

The other option, called Toll by Plate, takes a photo of a vehicle’s license plate. The entity or person linked to the plate gets a bill for the full cost of the same EZ Pass trip along America’s first superhighway.

With all the other things the commission is dealing with, those payment methods are being challenged, too.

Some claim EZ Pass “haves” benefit from the discount while the “have-nots” pay full price, raising questions about fairness of the toll schedule. The debate may never end.

But it could.

When it comes to the state’s transportation issues, all roads lead to Harrisburg.

Though the faces may have changed over the years, state lawmakers were at the wheel and drove the turnpike’s issues to the spot they’ll be in for the next 25-or-so years.

There’s got to be enough creativity in that collective mind to come up with some workable alternatives that won’t be a drain on taxpayers’ pocketbooks.

Otherwise, the highway robbery will continue.

ED SOCHA/TNEDITOR@TNONLINE.COM

Ed Socha is a retired newspaper editor with more than 40 years experience in community journalism. Reach him at tneditor@tnonline.com.