Pennsylvania Republicans rallied on Wednesday to oppose a plan that would add tolls at nine interstate bridges to replace shrinking revenue from gas taxes.

The PennDOT proposal has been controversial and is currently on hold thanks to a preliminary injunction issued in May. Legislators argued the tolling plan was unfair and was a bad solution for the state’s woes.

“This is not the solution and they need to reengage with the Legislature for the answers to this particular problem and our commonwealth’s problem of financing our infrastructure,” House Majority Whip Donna Oberlander, R-Clarion, said referencing Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Speakers also criticized the process for the bridge tolling plan as lacking transparency.

“The court’s decision saying what we’ve been saying all along: the lack of transparency, the lack of legitimate purpose for PennDOT to be doing this,” said Sen. Wayne Langerholc, R-Clearfield. “Everything about this is wrong.”

Langerholc has proposed an alternative plan for funding that would issue a $2 billion bond for improvement projects to avoid tolling bridges, as The Center Square has previously reported. “There is an answer, there’s better funding,” he said. “With gas prices at record highs, the last thing that we need are more tolls.”

Some speakers also claimed that PennDOT has avoided doing the necessary environmental, impact, and diversionary studies, or gathered public input, but that is inaccurate, according to PennDOT.

The agency has conducted studies and held public meetings, and planned for more environmental assessments to happen during the summer – but those and other meetings have been canceled due to the preliminary injunction. The environmental study required by the National Environmental Policy Act has also been put on hold as a result of the injunction.

State and federal gas tax revenues provide 78% of PennDOT’s funding, as The Center Square previously reported, and those revenues have fallen in recent years. The department has proposed bridge tolling as one of a number of options to replace the revenue. Public-private partnerships, frequently known as P3, have been one option, as well as adding delivery fees or an e-vehicle mileage fee.

“We continue to welcome discussions with the General Assembly on alternative funding sources that can replace the gas tax, which is no longer a dependable source of funding to meet all bridge and highway needs in this commonwealth,” PennDOT Press Secretary Alexis Campbell said. “To date, the legislature has failed to offer any solutions beyond their approval of the P3 initiative that will assist the administration’s desire to phase out the gas tax.”

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