Pennsylvania Senator Marty Flynn plans to introduce a Turnpike reform package in hopes of preventing future uncollected tolls along Montgomery County and the rest of the state, often referred to as “leakage,” writes Marley Parish for the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.

Last year, more than $104 million in Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls ended up uncollected.

“This number is unacceptable, and it demands a targeted approach to increase enforcement and penalties for those that consistently evade paying applicable tolls,” wrote Flynn, a member of the 14-member Senate Transportation Committee, in a memo last month.

In three pieces of the legislation, he proposes:

• Higher penalties for drivers who fail to pay their tolls
• Raising the statute of limitation to pursue offenders
• Mandated Turnpike Commission reporting to the General Assembly
• Reinstation of staff at turnpike interchanges

“The attempt to streamline and modernize the collection of tolls through the shift to all-electronic tolling was made with good intentions,” wrote Flynn in the memo. “However, the Turnpike Commission has failed to sufficiently adapt existing enforcement mechanisms — along with a lack of new tools — to address the issue of unpaid tolls.

“We need to stop the bleeding and find solutions.”

Read more about the Turnpike reform package in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.