by KYW's Tony Romeo

A Pittsburgh newspaper reports that two Pennsylvania Congressmen plan to introduce legislation that would stop Pennsylvania’s plan to toll I-80, a key element of the new transportation funding scheme approved by state lawmakers this month (see related story).

The two congressmen from the I-80 corridor had already gotten an amendment inserted into a federal transportation bill that would simply ban the use of federal dollars to toll I-80. Now, the Post-Gazette reports the two are planning stronger legislation. But Governor Rendell made it clear last week he was already operating under the assumption that an all-out effort was being made to kill the I-80 tolls, and that’s why he was moving ahead with an alternate plan:

“I am just doing it because I can’t leave mass transit exposed. I can’t leave our bridges in the condition that they’re in. I have an obligation to go forward and protect the interest of the Commonwealth.”

Rendell’s Plan B is to revisit his turnpike leasing proposal. Meanwhile, it’s useful to remember that Rendell is a Democrat and the two I-80 corridor congressmen are Republicans in a Democrat-controlled House.