'No Tolls On I-80'

To the editor:

It's not the idea of an I-80 toll road that troubles me. The apex of my worry is the entirety of President Dwight Eisenhower's free National Highway system being made into a toll road, one piece at a time.

The interstates, as originally conceived, were to be "toll free," paid for by our gasoline tax dollars. In short, we own these roads. For our bloated state legislature and governor to attempt to make part of it a toll road will be the beginning of the end of Eisenhower's vision.

Understand, I voted for Ed Rendell twice, and I'm nearly as progressive as he is. But just because the roads are ripe for the picking doesn't mean you take advantage of your citizenry. You're already doing so with the turnpike and the last 43 percent toll increase and another 25 percent to come.

If you want to sell the turnpike to another country, why not first try doing so to our own federal government and making it part of the Interstate system? Oh wait, we already own it.

At the Interstate's inception, the Pennsylvania Turnpike could have been part of said system, but as usual, our legislature didn't want to give up the profitability and opted to bypass being part of the nearly 47,000 miles of national interstate highway.

Privatization promises a quick fix -- and a way to outsource difficult decisions, like raising tolls, to entities that don't have to worry about getting re-elected. But they're buying our infrastructure. Be careful what you wish for.

Tom Zeni Washington, Pa.