Advertisement Audit warns of increase in Pennsylvania Turnpike toll cheaters Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A state audit released Tuesday warns that a plan to raise Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls every year for the foreseeable future may not be sustainable, leaving the 550-mile road network at financial risk. The study by the auditor general's office also said that the turnpike is seeing an increase in drivers who are not paying tolls, and warned the problem will continue unless the agency gets more power to take action against toll-payment violators.VIDEO: Watch Paul Van Osdol's report“If you drive on the turnpike and pay you're not only subsidizing the road, not only subsidizing the debt but you're also subsidizing the people that blow through the EZ pass that don't pay their tolls,” said Auditor General Eugene DePasquale.State law, the report said, "does not give the commission the authority to suspend the registration of Pennsylvania motorists' vehicles or otherwise impose a penalty on vehicle owners who fail to pay their tolls."Related: Read the full audit reportThe survey said drivers are avoiding tolls by exiting through an E-ZPass lane without an E-ZPass account; because E-ZPass transponders are failing to be picked up, perhaps because of low batteries; and because some drivers don't maintain enough money in their E-ZPass account to cover the cost of their fare. The turnpike uses a collection agency to track down people who owe then for unpaid fares, along related costs and fees, but those efforts are of limited effectiveness.In 2015, there were 726,000 violation cases totaling $61 million, and $43 million of that was not collected.The audit says the number of people failing to pay tolls is increasing by 15 percent every year. The report suggested that the turnpike commission should be given the power to suspend vehicle registrations and increase fines for repeat offenders. It also proposed publishing a list of "egregious" toll scofflaws, establishing reciprocal enforcement programs with other states and possibly letting toll collectors accept credit and debit cards.The turnpike plans to more than double tolls over the next 20 years but the audit says even that will not be enough because the turnpike's projections are based on a rosy scenario of increasing traffic. "Our audit found that those projections are highly optimistic and that is needless to say the nicest way you can phrase it. I'm sure if we were in some bar in Pittsburgh we'd probably have some other choice words to describe it,” DePasquale said."We believe that at some point, the average turnpike traveler will be deterred by the increased cost and seek alternatives," the auditor general's office concluded.The audit said the turnpike has given about 2,100 badges and 900 transponders to its workers, providing them with about $1.2 million in free trips between June 2014 and February 2016. The agency also provided more than $4 million worth of toll-free travel to some 5,000 consultants, contractors and state government officials.The auditor general's office recommended the Legislature eliminate or reduce the hundreds of millions of dollars the turnpike is paying to the state Transportation Department under a 2007 state law that requires the turnpike to give PennDOT and public transit agencies $450 million per year for the next seven years.Get the WTAE Pittsburgh's Action News 4 App