|
LETTER TO THE EDITOR |
FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION |
|
State
Rep. Joseph F. Markosek |
|
Letter to the editor of Williamsport Sun Gazette
Stimulus funds not a long-term solution to state's transportation needs
HARRISBURG, June 29
To the editor:
I am writing to express my disagreement with the editorial "Stimulus funds could eliminate I-80 tolling rationale," that appeared in the Sun-Gazette June 14.
The reality when it comes to statewide transportation funding is simple: We are not collecting enough money each year to maintain our large, aging system of bridges and highways. Pennsylvania has the fifth-largest state-owned roadway system in the nation with nearly 40,000 miles of highways and 25,000 bridges.
We have more than twice the percentage of structurally deficient bridges than the national average, and more than a third of the 21,000 miles of state-owned secondary roads are rated "poor." The state’s highway and bridge system has been sustained by preventive maintenance, but that's not enough. The longer it takes to find a funding solution, the more costly the repairs and replacements will be.
The bipartisan Transportation Funding and Reform Commission waded into this thicket a few years ago and after 16 months of study, it determined that the state was short $1.7 billion per year just to maintain the system while providing very little in the way of expansion.
Act 44, which included a 25 percent toll increase on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and annual increases of roughly 3 percent thereafter, was to generate on average $946 million a year toward closing the $1.7 billion gap. However, an integral part of that equation was converting Interstate 80 into a toll road. Next year, Act 44 funding falls short by $450 million because the application to toll Interstate 80 submitted by the Department of Transportation and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission was returned by the previous federal administration.
Stimulus money from Washington provides the state transportation system with a one-time investment of $1.026 billion. That money is intended to stimulate the economy, not serve as a long-term fix that fills the gap between money coming in now for highways and bridges and the annual maintenance bill for our system. After spending the stimulus money, PennDOT will still have 5,900 bridges on the deficient list.
We can wish this problem will go away, but it won't. Our mobility is treasured in this state and across the nation and we must come to grips with the fact that we need to pay for it.
Sincerely,
Joseph F. Markosek
Chairman, Pennsylvania House Transportation Committee
###