Transportation Funding Crisis in Pennsylvania

A growing transportation funding crisis is building in Pennsylvania. According to the America Society for Engineers' 2009 Infrastructure Report, there are significant concerns about our roads and bridges:

• 44% of Pennsylvania's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition.
• 34% of Pennsylvania's major urban highways are congested.
• Vehicle travel on Pennsylvania's highways increased 27% from 1990 to 2007.
• Pennsylvania has $3 billion in backlogged road repairs.

The fourteen Pennsylvania public transit agencies have experienced chronic debilitating funding shortfalls following the 1998 reversal of a federal policy to fund transit operating support.

Insufficient funding to address these problems has inspired the following efforts on the part of state policy makers to address Pennsylvania's significant funding gaps for transportation. 

November 2006:

The Pennsylvania Transportation and Funding and Reform Commission, created to identify the shortfall in transportation funding, released its final report, identifying the need to increase investment in the state, in particular         

• 900 million per year for "system preservation and targeted capital investments" for bridge and highway funding and
• 769 million of state and local funding for public transportation.

June 2007:

The Pennsylvania legislature passed Act 44 which laid out a scenario for generating increased funding for mass transit and highway and bridge repair throughout the state and emphasized the importance of prioritizing "fix-it-first" projects.  The central funding mechanism for that plan authorized the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to toll Interstate 80 to raise the level of funding available in the state. 

However, in September 2008, the Federal Highway Administration rejected Pennsylvania's request to toll I -80 for the second time. Under the existing 50 year public-public concession deal between the Turnpike and the state, the state will receive sharply reduced payments (from $900 million to $450 million) starting July 1, 2010 if I-80 tolling fails to be implemented. This will particularly impact dedicated funding for transit and the already strapped resources for bridge and road maintenance and repair. 

Transportation Reform

In its final 2006 report, the Pennsylvania Transportation Funding and Reform Commission noted that increasing funding for transportation without reform would be meaningless.  Adding new highway capacity as a result of continuing sprawl development would continue to create additional repair and maintenance responsibilities. 

The key recommendations made to address the impact of sprawl on the transportation funding commission were: 

• Link land use and transportation through the implementation of 'smart transportation' design practices and by preconditioning major capacity improvements on a community land use/transportation vision that provides for sustainable investments.
•  Develop an incentive based funding program to link land use and multimodal community investments through collaboration with partners including municipalities, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, Rural Planning Organizations and other interested parties." (Pennsylvania Transportation Funding and Reform Commission Report, November 2006. Page 61 & 62.)