By now most Pennsylvanians will have added another item to the list of inevitabilities in life: death, taxes, and annual hikes to tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Last week the Turnpike Commission voted to once again approve a 6 percent hike to tolls along the road.

It is the 11th year in a row that the road has raised tolls for drivers, who for years have shouldered an ever-increasing burden as one of the state’s sacred cows of transportation funding. Next year, when the latest toll hike goes into effect, the cost of a trip from the Ohio state line to New Jersey will top $55.

The real culprit here is Act 44, a 2007 law that was supposed to bring in revenue by turning Interstate 80 into a toll road — but the federal government (wisely, in our opinion) said ‘no’ to that idea.

Unfortunately, the scrubbing of an I-80 toll plan didn’t extend to Act 44’s other provisions. That left the commission responsible for annual payments to PennDOT in the hundreds of millions of dollars, an arrangement which has siphoned more $6 billion in toll revenue away from the Turnpike and to other state initiatives, like mass-transit, bridge improvements and highway maintenance.

The arrangement has rightly produced angry reactions from motorists and residents. And in March two national trucking companies filed a $6 billion civil lawsuit against the commission, arguing that the toll hikes inflict an undue burden on interstate commerce and generate revenue for things that have nothing to do with the Turnpike itself.

The ever-rising cost of driving on Interstate 76 has generated concern and attention. In January Auditor General Eugene DePasquale announced that he was concerned about the higher tolls affecting Turnpike use, and said he would be convening an early audit of the road, to evaluate revenue projections and collections.

The Turnpike itself has also taken action regarding revenue, kicking off a program to go after toll scofflaws and recoup money from people and organizations that regularly flout toll collection efforts and have cost the commission millions of dollars.

For some reason, however, this situation hasn’t prompted state lawmakers to revise Act 44 — which is the only way to solve this problem once and for all.

The lawsuit remains a potential disaster for transportation funding in Pennsylvania. And Act 44 remains a public policy disaster for drivers and the turnpike.

Add it to the list of things state legislators should take up when they return to Harrisburg from their summer vacation.

—PAR