HARRISBURG, Pa. The oft-times vitriolic debate in Pennsylvania during the past year over financing the state highway program saw some resolution last month.

Gov. Edward G. Rendell signed a bill that provides nearly $1 billion in average annual funding for transportation infrastructure and public transit. br>
At the same time, Rendell proposed putting tolls on Interstate 80, the principal East-West highway across north central Pennsylvania, connecting New Jersey and Ohio, and raising tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. br>
Rendell said Pennsylvania was in need of major new income sources to pay for the repair of the state's deteriorating highways and to support public transportation, especially in its two largest cities, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. br>
I-80 carries the majority of commercial vehicle traffic across Pennsylvania and is a much newer highway than the Pa. Turnpike, which was the first major toll highway in the U.S. br>
Being toll-free to date, many operators have preferred I-80 to the Pennsylvania Turnpike or the New York State Thruway, which is 100 miles to the north and is also a toll road. br>
Rendell favors tolls, rather than gasoline and diesel fuel tax increases because fuel taxes in Pennsylvania already are higher than in most neighboring states. br>
If the I-80 tolls get federal approval it likely will take upwards of a year to implement them. br>
It has not been announced if the road would have toll barriers at prescribed intervals (as on I-95 in Maryland and Delaware) or if a toll ticket system would be used as on most toll roads such as the Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana turnpikes and N.Y. Thruway. br>
Meanwhile, the new law signed by Rendell will make an average of $532 million available annually for the next 10 years to fund bridge and road repairs and $414 million available to support the states 73 public transit systems. br>
Initially, the money to fund the law will rely on borrowing against future toll revenues on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and I-80. br>
More than $13 billion in borrowing by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission over about a dozen years would be necessary to meet the funding levels until money comes in from a 25 percent Pennsylvania Turnpike toll increase in 2009 and the proposed I-80 tolls. Turnpike tolls would rise by 3 percent a year after 2009. br>
'The bridge and road crisis has been building for decades,' said Rendell. 'Over the past four years, we have made record, annual state investments for the maintenance and construction of highways and bridges -- $2.37 billion in 2006-07 compared to $1.78 billion in 2003-04 -- but we could not keep up with our aging infrastructure, rising construction costs and dwindling federal resources. br>
'Despite our record investments in highways and bridges in the past four years, Pennsylvania has nearly 6,000 structurally deficient bridges -- the highest number of any state -- and more than 8,500 miles of roads that are in need of repair.' br>
The new law replaces a patchwork transit funding system with the new Public Transportation Trust Fund, which will draw resources from sales and other taxes, lottery proceeds and money from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. br>
The Port Authority of Allegheny County, which operates the public transit system in Pittsburgh, will receive a 43 percent increase in state operating assistance this year. The increase should allow the Port Authority to avoid additional service cuts, which had been planned for next month.