Pennsylvania Turnpike officials are to decide by the end of the week whether to submit a partial application to the Federal Highway Administration seeking preliminary approval to toll Interstate 80.

They had planned to hold off until around Labor Day, when they would be able to provide complete engineering, traffic and revenue information answering 14 questions and issues raised by the FHWA in December.

But Gov. Ed Rendell, who now prefers to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private consortium and forget about tolling I-80, has been pressing the turnpike to go to the FHWA immediately in hopes of getting an early decision about I-80 while a $12.8 billion turnpike lease offer remains on the table.

"We're willing to do it either way," project manager Barry Schoch said of the FHWA application. "A decision will be reached on that later this week."

Mr. Schoch and other turnpike officials held a news conference yesterday, outlining needs on the 311-mile highway and a proposal to spend $2.5 billion over the next 10 years for I-80 improvements -- about four times as much as the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation plans to spend.

The first of nine meetings with regional planning organizations in the I-80 corridor, one of the FHWA's issues, will be held this morning with the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission in Pittsburgh.

Although tolling I-80 has been approved by the Legislature, opposition remains among many congressmen, state legislators, businesses and others in the corridor.

In a recent letter to state Rep. Rick Geist, R-Altoona, minority chairman of the House Transportation Committee, FHWA acting Administrator James D. Ray explained that while the federal agency can't fully approve the I-80 tolling application until all criteria have been met, including consulting with the regional planning organizations, it could grant "conditional provisional approval."

If it did, the FHWA would reserve the third and final slot available in a national pilot program on tolling interstates.

Mr. Ray did not say how long the FHWA would take to reach a decision if the turnpike submits a partial application now or a complete application around Labor Day.

The consortium of Spain-based Abertis and New York-based Citi Infrastructure Investors has indicated its offer for a 75-year lease of the turnpike will remain in effect through September, when the state Legislature ends summer recess and returns to Harrisburg.

Under the partnership between the turnpike and PennDOT, the turnpike would rehabilitate, maintain and operate I-80 and, in effect, pay "rent" to PennDOT. That money, along with higher tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, would provide growing sums of money for roads, bridges and transit for the next 50 years under Act 44 legislation passed a year ago.

The turnpike and consultants it has hired have been working on the 14 FHWA requests for additional information since December.

"We now have a detailed improvement plan for I-80 backed by an increasing revenue stream," turnpike CEO Joe Brimmeier said. "PennDOT has done an admirable job managing resources and repairing the surface, but the bottom line is that we need to rebuild I-80 and PennDOT cannot provide the funding for this effort."

In the first 10 years, starting next year, he said, the turnpike would begin construction of two Centre County interchanges linking I-80 and I-99 at a cost of $179 million; replace or resurface 80 percent of I-80; and replace about 60 original bridges, all structurally deficient and with other problems, including low clearances that require some trucks in the eastern part of the state to detour.

"We are committed to providing FHWA with everything they need to make a sound, informed decision," Mr. Brimmeier said.

Information about Act 44 and the I-80 improvement plan are available at www.paturnpike.com/i80.