The 2007 state law Act 44, created as an alternative to leasing the Pennnsylvania Turnpike to a private investor, requires that the Turnpike Commission provide funding of $450 million a year to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

When the law was passed, the assumption was that the commission would be receiving a windfall from the proposed tolling of Interstate 80. Trouble is, the controversial tolling plan never was implemented, in most part due to federal restrictions regarding the Interstate Highway System.

While the commission never realized any of the anticipated money from I-80, the provision of Act 44 requiring that the toll road provide a big chunk of money for non-turnpike general highway repairs and mass transit systems didn’t go away along with the tolling proposal.

Lawmakers who passed Act 44 never should have done so without a provision that the turnpike be absolved of payments to PennDOT if I-80 wasn’t tolled.

Because of that easily avoidable omission, the turnpike now has a financial mess whose outcome remains a serious, troubling unknown.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Act 44 financial demands on the shoulders of the turnpike have put the commission deeper in debt each year. The commission currently is more than $7 billion in debt, $5 billion more than in 2002 and $3 billion more than in 2009.

Meanwhile, road and bridge projects — and mass transit systems across the state — have grown dependent on the money paid by turnpike users.

According to the Inquirer, if the turnpike stopped making its annual payment to PennDOT, the already-strapped state transportation agency would lose about 12 percent of its financing, with the fiscally strapped state unable to make up the lost funds.

So, a large-scale financial dilemma is in place.

If the turnpike continues to provide funds to PennDOT without a new funding source, the commission’s debt will continue to grow, making borrowing more challenging.

If the turnpike were unable to continue its payments to PennDOT, the roads and bridges that are its responsibility, plus the state’s mass transit agencies, would be dealt a serious blow.

The commission has said it will not default on its Act 44 obligation to PennDOT. However, if it were to do so, state law would require taxpayers to pick up the tab by way of the gasoline tax — not a desirable scenario amid already high gasoline prices.

But the fact remains that the turnpike is continuing to be penalized financially — and unfairly — because lawmakers passed a law that didn’t acknowledge the possible bumps in the road if the initial plan fell through.

When state officials get the commonwealth’s fiscal house in order, they should address the financial albatross thrust onto the turnpike commission by Act 44.

Continuing, huge turnpike toll increases will cause more motorists to use toll-free I-80 or Interstate 68 in northern Maryland and West Virginia, imposing even more financial pressures on the turnpike.

Act 44 was passed with good intentions; that’s not being disputed. But good intentions have proven to not be enough.

The law should be amended to lessen the turnpike’s financial burden each year until that obligation goes away — unless the state can find a new, steady source of money for the toll-road agency, which seems unlikely.