The World’s most Expensive Toll Road is my Local Turnpike
I was originally going to write this blog about the impacts of trade sanctions, particularly embargoes, on global commerce networks. After discussing Nash Equilibrium as it relates to automobile travel and toll roads, and recalling a very heated discussion I have had regarding the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I have decided to write on this instead. Please follow this link for some background info and tidbits.
When I was younger, we had used the PA Turnpike for car rides to Ohio by the Boardman exit, trips to Carlisle for the annual Chryslers at Carlisle festival by the Blue Mountain exit, and even our relatively short yearly trips to Kennywood, a local amusement park. We don’t travel often, so we are not subscribed to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s (PennDOT) E-ZPass. The roundtrip Toll-by-Plate fare for Allegheny Valley –> Blue Mountain by Turnpike is $76.00; this price for little more than 5 hours driving time or 300 miles of asphalt.
Rather than getting into the nitty-gritty about whether or not these outrageous fares are appropriately allocated as “subsidy” to the non-Turnpike drivers, I will admit that considerations of Nash Equilibrium have somewhat enlightened me as to the strategy of the State in this regard. Our latest trip to Carlisle was obviously not via PA Turnpike. We had roughly saved the entirety of the gas money to get there and back by simply not using it. What we did encounter, however, was a daunting drive through Western PA Appalachia, featuring winding roads that take you and your vehicle 1000 feet up, then 1000 feet down, and so on, with all but two feet and a guard rail between you and the cliffs. This is not the optimal path for tractor trailers, in fact, you could make a children’s game of counting the runaway truck ramps and “No Jake Brake” signs. All of these 18-wheelers are on the Turnpike, on their way to I-80, and paying hundreds upon hundreds of dollars per truck to get there. The shipping companies reimburse the tolls, companies that spend plenty more than Turnpike fare on the diesel fuel that their fleet burns. PennDOT makes millions each year this way, most of which goes into maintenance and improvements of their toll-free roads.
But families don’t use the Turnpike to go to Kennywood anymore. They don’t use it to go to Harrisburg or NYC. They all take the toll-free roads now, and if I were to drive home on them right now I would bet that there would be traffic. The rapidly increasing usage is causing rapidly increasing wear, featuring potholes and withering shoulders. Now, PennDOT needs $450mm from the Turnpike just to keep up, and the PA Turnpike Commission has no issue raising tolls even more, not to mention tolling a wider range of traditionally toll-free roadways to do so. There is no strategy for the typical passenger driver. The game plays as this: PennDOT asks the PTC for more money, PTC raises tolls and claims formerly toll-free roads, more drivers must drive on underdeveloped roadways, these roadways become congested and in poor repair, PennDOT needs more money to upgrade and maintain these now abused backroads. These upgraded backroads will surely end up being tolled within a decade’s time as the cycle continues in perpetuity. The Dominant Strategy for PennDOT is to pressure the PTC for more money, and the Dominant Strategy for the PTC is to raise tolls as the tractor trailers have no choice but to travel on their roads. This seems to be a Nash Equilibrium; neither party should ever want or need to do anything else. Perhaps a new edge needs to be introduced to the system, or another party needs to be able to play in this game.
All this considered, I still do not know if there is a better practical solution to what is happening, but I know for sure that compared to every other road in the entire world, the PA Turnpike chalks up among the most expensive toll roads in the world, despite it being little more than a mid-Atlantic cruise through scenic Appalachia. Please feel free to leave your thoughts below on how Game Theory could have better solved this interesting roadway phenomenon.