Pocono News Section

I-80 Toll Reaction

I-80 Toll Reaction - Friday, September 12, 2008 at 9:24PM EST

Friday, Sep 12, 2008 @ 09:24pm EST
Mount Pocono, Monroe County -

The federal government has put the brakes on Pennsylvania's plan to toll I-80. We caught up with driver Steve Orcutt. He said, "If they were to toll 80 some of these truck drivers in Pennsylvania couldn't survive."
Managers from Monadnock Nonwovens, in Mount Pocono, have been watching the toll debate closely. Keith Hayward, managing director of Monadnock Nonwovens, says "Our customers are saying - why don't you move out of state and build your factory right next door to where we need your products and then you have no freight. I would certainly not help the case for Mount Pocono Pennsylvania and the people here if we have to pay more to move things out." Monadnock has been under pressure to ship it's business out of town. In this economy, managers say every penny counts. And tolls on I-80 would have increased their costs by about 5%.
If the company moves about fifty people would loose their jobs. Some say other economic troubles would cause problems like a chain reaction collision. People would loose jobs, the government would loose taxes and local businesses would loose customers.
Even though the Feds forced the toll plan to exit the highway that doesn't mean the road ahead is clear for Monadnock. Some lawmakers want to lease the turnpike.
Uncertainty about freight cost means uncertainty about the future of this company. They have a plan to expand. Managers want to make the plant bigger and add about twenty five new jobs. They just put in a new loading dock last week. They say the rest of the plans are on hold until someone figure's out what's happening with the roads.