On the heels of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s recent decision to increase tolls on the turnpike by about 42 percent, state Rep. Joseph Petrarca is preparing to introduce legislation that would make all toll increases subject to approval by the General Assembly.

“Fuel and other transportation costs for businesses and families are already rising,” Petrarca said in a statement. “These toll increases could seriously hamper Pennsylvania’s economic recovery and threaten to make the state’s largest infrastructure project one if its least utilized.”

The toll increases are scheduled to take effect Aug. 1. The current toll for an 80,000-pound, class 8 truck traveling the entire length of the turnpike’s 359-mile main line will likely increase from $105.55 to $150.75. That amount includes the ticketed section of the road, plus the fee collected at the cash gate at the Ohio border.

The Turnpike Commission said the higher tolls are needed to pay for construction and maintenance projects. Petrarca pointed out that of the $404.5 million raised by the Turnpike Commission last year from tolls, only about a third of it was spent on road improvements and construction. The rest went for staffing and other administrative costs.

“That points to bloated costs and inefficiency within the Turnpike Commission,” Petrarca said. “To me, that’s a case for cutting costs and improving operations, not increasing tolls by nearly 50 percent.”

Petrarca said money that could be used for highway repairs and maintenance instead is currently being wasted in other areas. The Turnpike Commission is notorious for wasting money on staffing and administrative costs, and as a haven for patronage jobs, he said.

“The Turnpike Commission’s argument for higher tolls doesn’t add up,” he said. “Decisions about toll increases that will cost millions of Pennsylvania families and businesses millions of extra dollars a year should be made by the people who represent those families and businesses – members of the General Assembly – and not by bureaucrats at the Turnpike Commission.”

Petrarca said he is gathering co-sponsors for his legislation and would introduce it soon.