Hopping on the turnpike?

It'll soon cost you more — at least another quarter for every $1 you now pay in tolls.

Senior turnpike officials unveiled toll hikes of 25 percent or more today for travelers of the 545-mile highway.

Heading to Philadelphia from the Lancaster-Lebanon interchange north of Manheim?

It'll cost you another $1.45, for a total toll of $7.20.

The increases, which take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 4, are designed to  raise money to pay for $1.3 billion in mass transit and highway and bridge projects in Pennsylvania.

"This is the first earmark for mainly off-turnpike projects," said turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo. "The money from the increase is going to fund ground transportation across the state."

The toll hikes are mandated by the Legislature in Act 44 of 2007, an effort to solve what lawmakers and Gov. Ed Rendell called a transportation funding crisis.

"Our customers need to know that the revenue from the tollbooth is now being reinvested in the Commonwealth's transportation systems and its economy," turnpike CEO Joseph Brimmeier said in announcing the new toll schedule.

Act 44 directed the turnpike to give $2.5 billion toward transportation projects for fiscal years 2008 through 2010. The Turnpike Commission has already provided $1.2 billion.

The turnpike is borrowing the money through the sale of bonds and paying off the debt with toll collections, DeFebo said.

The law also called for tolling drivers on Interstate 80 across northern Pennsylvania, but the federal government rejected the turnpike's request. Without that revenue, the turnpike stands to fall far short of its $1 billion annual payment projections.

"Beyond 2010, we will supply $450 million per year if we don't toll I-80 and more than $1 billion per year on average in the next decade if we do," Brimmeier said in a statement.

In January, tolls will increase across the entire system with two exceptions: Fees for driving the Findlay Connector/PA-576 and Mon-Fayette Expressway/Turnpike 43 Uniontown to Brownsville will stay the same.

The January toll hike will be the first since 2004, when the turnpike raised the fees by a whopping 42!-W percent to pay for rebuilding and widening the highway.

It is only the sixth rate change in more than 68 years.

Beginning in 2010, though, the turnpike plans to increase tolls by about 3 percent every year to adjust for inflation.

TURNPIKE TOLL HIKE: WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU
Fees from Lancaster-Lebanon interchange to:

Pittsburgh: $15, up from $12.
Bedford: $8.75, up from $7.
Carlisle: $2.85, up from $2.25.
Harrisburg-East: $1.60, up from $1.25.
Norristown: $5.35, up from $4.25.
Valley Forge: $4.40, up from $3.50.
Philadelphia: $7.20, up from $5.75.
Poconos: $10.35, up from $8.25.

Staff writer Tom Murse can be reached at tmurse@LNPnews.com or 481-6021.