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Pennsylvania Turnpike Approves Toll Increase For 11th Straight Year

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Get ready to pay more to travel along the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

According to the Turnpike Commission, a 6 percent toll increase has been approved, which will go into effect on Jan. 6, 2019. This will continue an 11-year streak of price hikes.

"The most-common toll for a passenger vehicle will increase next year from $1.30 to $1.38 for E-ZPass customers and from $2.10 to $2.25 for cash customers," officials said in a press release.

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Stock image (Photo by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)

Officials say the increase is needed to for the Turnpike's funding obligations and to cover the costs of maintaining and improving the toll road.

"Since 2009, the PTC has increased tolls annually to make good on a funding obligation required by a 2007 state law known as Act 44," said PA Turnpike CEO Mark Compton. "Under that law, the commission has delivered $6.1 billion in toll-backed funding to PennDOT in the last 11 years."

If you're wondering how much your next trip will cost with this increase, the Turnpike will launch a toll calculator on their website in the coming weeks.

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale responded to the hike, saying the repeated increases are making the Turnpike unaffordable. He released the following statement:

"As my previous audit and my 2013 special report requested by House Speaker Mike Turzai predicted, until legislators in Harrisburg address the $450 million payment the Turnpike must make to PennDOT annually, tolls are going to continue to rise. I currently have teams auditing both PennDOT and the Turnpike Commission. The results of those two audits could help provide some relief for motorists who are already tired of the toll increases. If they keep raising tolls, middle-class families are going to be forced off the roadway."

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