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"I used the opportunity to make sure FHWA Administrator Victor Mendez is aware of my staunch opposition to this proposal," U.S. Rep. Glenn 'GT' Thompson, R-Howard, said. Thompson delivered a 3-inch thick binder of press articles on the differing opinions and the recent scandals surrounding the Turnpike Commission, which, if the application is approved, would manage and toll I-80.
Thompson and Reps. Kathy Dahlkemper, Paul Kanjorski and Chris Carney invited Mendez to meet with the delegation to explain the complicated process of evaluating the Turnpike's application. The FHWA has turned down the state's two previous applications.
The invitation was sent to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who asked Mendez to respond to the representatives.
"While we have been very public in our opposition to tolling Interstate 80, given the precedent setting nature of Pennsylvania's proposal, we respectfully request that your key policy advisors and counsel be made available for a bipartisan briefing of the Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation on the process the Federal Highway Administration's Tolling and Pricing team will use to determine the validity of the PTC/PennDOT application for tolling," the letter read.
Seven members of the 19-member delegation attended the meeting: Thompson, Dahlkemper, Kanjorski, Carney, Jim Gerlach, Bob Brady and Bill Shuster.
Mendez told them, "We are not predisposed to one decision over another. Our intent is to follow the law the U.S. Congress put in front of us."
Asked if he has a timetable for a decision, he said, "We don't have a projected time frame. We must meet the intent of the law and the details. I have instructed our teams to expedite but to be deliberate. Don't push too quickly and get the wrong answer."
One of Mendez's policy advisors explained that the application must show that "the only way the state could reconstruct or rehabilitate was through tolling."
Kanjorski told Mendez that he does not think the state had exhausted all other possibilities.
"Today's meeting has only cracked the surface of this debate," Thompson said.
