The P3 (Pennsylvania Public Private Partnership) Board was created by Act 89 of 2013 in conjunction with the increase in Pennsylvania’s gas tax, the second highest in the country.

On November 12, 2020, the P3 Board approved the Major Bridge Initiative, to use the P3 delivery model for nine bridges in need of rehabilitation or replacement. PennDOT is implementing these tolls to offset the shortfall in infrastructure funding that is not currently being met by the recently passed federal funding and the state gas tax.

The No P3 Bridge Tolls Coalition is a group of concerned local chambers, economic development entities, statewide business organizations, business leaders, affected community leaders, and citizens.

The Coalition is opposed to the tolling of these nine bridges, two of which are located in Clarion and Jefferson Counties, because of the effect it will have on our local and statewide economy and aims to stop PennDOT from using this version of the P3 process from negatively impacting more communities in the future.

The No P3 Bridge Tolls Coalition supports finding longterm, sustainable solutions for PennDOT’s infrastructure funding needs. The Coalition says: “We don’t support the inequitable patchwork approach that unfairly overburdens a few local communities.”

For more information, follow the No P3 Bridge Tolls page on Facebook at facebook.com/NoP3BridgeTolls and visit the Chamber’s website at venangochamber.org/bridgetolling.

This article was published in the Venango Chamber’s April 2022 VenangoWorks! Newsletter.