A non-partisan study commissioned by a diverse group of Pennsylvania business, industry, environmental, cultural and community groups has concluded that the Commonwealth has a rare opportunity in the coming weeks and months to fix the way transportation investments are made in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Economy League (PEL), commissioned by the Associated Pennsylvania Constructors; 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania; the CEO Council for Growth, an affiliate of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce; and the William Penn Foundation, benchmarked Pennsylvania transportation conditions and programs against similar industrialized states. The Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development served on the advisory group for the study.  

The study, "Investing in Transportation: A Benchmarking Study of Transportation Funding and Policy", comes at a time when an IssuesPA/Pew poll shows transportation-related infrastructure to be the biggest infrastructure problem, according to Pennsylvanians. A clear majority of residents - 69 percent - believe efforts should be focused on repairing and upgrading roads, bridges and transit systems, rather than building new.  

This independent examination of the challenges facing Pennsylvania and the experiences of other states avoided duplicating work of other recent studies conducted by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Brookings Institution. The PEL report took a careful look at Pennsylvania's particular transportation characteristics, compared our situation with that of similar states, and made an effort to uncover promising practices used in other states. The study was designed to complement the work of Pennsylvania's Transportation Funding and Reform Commission.   

For the press release on the study, click here. For links to a summary and the full report, click here.