Posted on 09/06/2022 7:18:08 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
For months, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has been saying that $5.6 billion in additional federal funds through the Biden administration’s stimulus program won’t come close to addressing all of the state’s road and bridge needs.
Now, a national online research organization agrees, at least on money for needed bridge work.
InMyArea Research released a report last week that claims the $26.2 billion in stimulus funds for bridges nationwide over the next five years falls an estimated $7.3 billion short of the amount needed just to upgrade bridges rated in poor condition. Pennsylvania’s allocation of $1.63 billion for bridges is about $888 million below what it needs, the report said.
It called the federal effort “a great start.”
“The [stimulus package] throws a lot of money at roadway repairs and sets aside a hefty sum for bridges specifically,” the report said. “For some states, it’s more than enough to tackle their broken bridges. For others, it’s woefully insufficient.”
Pennsylvania, which the American Road & Transportation Builders Association said in February had the second most bridges in poor condition in the country, falls in the latter category. That’s because the agency estimated Pennsylvania had 3,198 bridges in poor condition, second only to Iowa, which had about 1,300 more.
Across the country, the ARTBA study said there were 43,578 bridges in poor condition.
The IMA report found Pennsylvania ranked fifth nationally with 15% of its bridges in poor condition. The state’s financial shortfall of $888 million ranked second only to New York, which needs $1.3 billion more to address its poor bridges.
Some states — Utah, $199 million; Nevada, $188 million; North Dakota, $158 million; Vermont, $140 million; and Delaware, $129 million — will receive more money than they need to upgrade poor bridges.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
PING!
Once all of the bureaucrats and interest groups get their cut there never is enough.
What’s the point of fixing the bridges?
We won’t have cars soon.
I’m going to capture a 12 pointer and ride it around.
For why PA refuses to pay for its own repairs...
https://ballotpedia.org/Pennsylvania_state_budget_and_finances
Then scroll down to Spending by Function.
And pay close attention to the note.
Let’s ask the Road Builders Association whether we should build more roads. Then we can ask the Tobacco Association whether we should smoke more, and ask the Bitcoin Association whether Crypto is a safe investment.
Highest fuel taxes in the nation (now second place) since 2014 and multiple big transportation bills in congress, but nothing changes, nothing gets better.
Just more and more excuses.
Pennsylvania Ping!
Please ping me with articles of interest.
FReepmail me to be added to the list.
so 2 trillion aint enough. Fire up the printing press fellas, we need 5 trillion more to fix a bridge.
Will it ever end?
I for one, think Bridges & Roads should be a state’s responsibility. Part of the problem with that massive swamp in Washington is the various states allowing the Feds to assume control of the highway system.
How do you pay for it, you ask
TOLL roads, I answer.
“Send moar other peoples money”
That sounds like a PA problem… not a fed problem…
(And ask Big Pharma whether we should take more mRNA bosters.)
In the midnight hour they cried more, more, more
I think toll roads are useful, but most people don’t like tolls. So what we’d ultimately get is a mix of toll and free roads, similar to those express lane networks they’re putting on interstates in northern Virginia. Existing lanes remain free, while the express lanes are tolled.
That’s what she did, all right! What a hot date that was!
(Thanks, I’ll be here all week.)
We the good people of Florida, shunned by most other states these days, frankly don’t give a tish about Pennsylvania’s bridges.
States could end up like Florida. Down here, there are lots of toll roads and bridges, but the interstates are still free, except for a few express lanes in the Jacksonville Area and some in the Miami-to-Palm Beach area.
I thought Obama already did that? Almost a trillion to shovel-ready jobs.
There are also express lanes on I-4 in Orlando.
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