We’d like to send a message, loud and clear, to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

Get your house in order. Get your costs in order. Get a grip on spending. Find a way to stop your annual toll increases.

The commission this week announced that, starting in January next year, tolls will increase by 5%.

Didn’t they reduce costs last year by eliminating human toll collectors and going to E-ZPass and Toll By Plate? Shouldn’t that in itself be a huge cost saving?

Mark Compton, commission CEO, said the increase is necessary to make the final $450 million payment to the state Department of Transportation for transit operations under Acts 44 and 89.

The commission has made that annual payment since 2009, which has necessitated an annual toll increase each year, according to the organization.

“Starting in July 2022, our transit funding requirement to PennDOT under Act 44 will be cut to $50 million annually,” Compton said. “Finally, we are seeing a light at the end of this very long tunnel.”

We think the commission has to take a harder look at costs. The driving public cannot continue to withstand what we perceive as out-of-control hikes in fees.

There are few options for travelers to get to essential locations for work, family visits or just a well-deserved and overdue vacation, other than the turnpike.

And the impact of the increase isn’t just felt by those who pay to drive. The trucking industry feels them too, and most likely passes those costs on to all consumers.

In the end, we all pay.

In mid-May, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that “nowhere is the commission’s impact more important than when making financial decisions.”

During a meeting last month, the commissioners approved a $400 million line of credit, $10.4 million in agreements, more than $500,000 for acquiring rights of way, nearly $17 million in purchase orders, a contract worth more than $600,000 and change orders totaling $1.8 million: all with no public discussion. Given we pay the tolls (and turnpike commission salaries), one would think we’d have some input.

But don’t worry, OK? According to the commission’s news release on the increase in tolls, relief is in sight. The annual hike will decrease over time: set at 5% through 2025, 4% in 2026, 3.5% in 2027, then 3% annually from 2028 to 2050.

Are we supposed to feel, somehow, happy about that?

From 2021 through 2050, tolls will increase about 102%. If the past is any indicator, it’s doubtful salaries will do the same.

Perhaps those mile-marker signs you see on the road should be replaced by dollar signs. Yours and mine.

— AA