The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will require the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to undergo the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process for each of the nine bridges it plans to toll.
The NEPA process evaluates the environmental and related social and economic effects of a proposed action and includes citizen involvement and feedback.
Last week, U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) met with the FHWA to discuss PennDOT’s Major Bridge Tolling Program. Thompson expressed concern about the economic and safety impact of the tolling proposal on local communities.
“While FHWA does not have the authority to outright reject PennDOT’s bridge tolling proposals, it does have a duty to provide adequate oversight of the process, which to this point has had zero accountability to anyone – most of all local stakeholders and the traveling public,” Thompson said.
In a published opinion piece, PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian stated that the department spoke to more than 60,000 households and businesses statewide but did not say how those who were contacted felt about the proposed bridge tolling. The survey included more than 9,000 households and businesses in Clarion and Jefferson counties, part of Thompson’s district.
More than 90 percent of Pennsylvanians oppose bridge tolling, Thompson said.