Bill Information

An Act to facilitate vehicular traffic within and across the Commonwealth by providing for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, operation and maintenance of toll roads and the conversion of existing toll-free roads to toll roads in Pennsylvania; conferring powers and imposing duties on the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission; providing for membership on the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission; authorizing issuance of turnpike revenue bonds, notes or other obligations of the commission, payable solely from revenues of the commission, including tolls, or from such other funds as may be available to the commission for that purpose, to pay the costs of such toll roads including the acquisition and other costs of toll-free roads and for refunding purposes; providing that no debt of the Commonwealth shall be incurred in the exercise of any of the powers granted by this act; providing for the collection of tolls for the payment of such bonds, notes or other obligations, and for the cost of maintenance, operation and repair of the toll roads including toll-free roads converted to toll roads; making such turnpike revenue bonds, notes or other obligations exempt from taxation; constituting the same legal investments in certain instances; requiring suits against the commission to be brought in the courts in which such actions may be brought against the Commonwealth; prescribing conditions on which toll roads shall be turned over to the Department of Transportation; providing for grade separations, grade changes, relocations, restorations and vacations of public roads and State highways affected by the toll roads; providing for the purchasing or condemnation of land and procedure for determining damages in condemnation; granting certain powers and authority to municipalities and agencies of the Commonwealth to cooperate with the commission; conferring powers and imposing duties on the Department of Transportation; authorizing the Secretary of Transportation to enter into negotiations with the United States Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration or any other Federal agency regarding the conversion of toll-free highways constructed in the Commonwealth using Federal funds to toll roads; and authorizing the Secretary of Transportation to enter into agreements on behalf of the Commonwealth and the commission with the United States Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration or any other Federal agency with respect to obtaining Federal funds for resurfacing, restoring, rehabilitating or reconstructing toll roads in Pennsylvania.