OOIDA to Fight “Excessive” PA Turnpike Tolls in Court

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. The lawsuit addresses excessive toll increases that place an undue burden on interstate commerce while improperly diverting toll revenue to other projects unrelated to the turnpike.

OOIDA and the National Motorists Association have requested an injunction to halt the turnpike from overcharging customers to pay for non-turnpike projects, stop the turnpike from borrowing money to help make PennDOT payments, prevent PennDOT from the spending the money it received from the turnpike, and to refund the money to turnpike users.

“The tolls charged far exceed the value of the use of turnpike and the costs to maintain it,” said Todd Spencer, acting president and CEO of OOIDA. “Truckers have especially overpaid the price at as much as 70 cents per mile.”

The lawsuit was filed in the Middle District of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg and says that federal interstate commerce laws for the turnpike hold that tolls can only be used to maintain or expand the 359-mile highway for which the tolls are levied.

Harsh words outlined the group’s objections: “Truckers and motorists are not ATMs to fund everything under the sun. The ongoing, economic drain on unsuspecting turnpike users is the epitome of highway robbery,” said Spencer.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is the only national trade association representing the interests of small-business trucking professionals and professional truck drivers. The Association currently has more than 160,000 members nationwide. OOIDA was established in 1973 and is headquartered in the greater Kansas City, Mo. area.

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