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 ...
Those electric buggys are typically 20% heavier than a similar gasser. Expect more road damage.
How are they spending all of the gasoline tax collected and designated for the roads?????
Why on earth would any effert be made to stimulate an inflationary economy with more inflationary pressures?
Fix your own damn bridges!
You beat me to it.
If someone builds a house on your property and you take possession, are they responsible for all repairs into perpetuity?
So, why isn’t Pennsylvania fixing the bridges? Fixing those bridges is the responsibility of the state and local governments and drivers pay taxes on gasoline for that purpose.
Increasing amounts go to the PA state police.
We passed dozens of “infrastructure bills” and the money goes elsewhere. Same with gasoline taxes.
It’s NEVER enough
I’d have no problem with the House elections, where all GOP/Conservative/Trump/MAGA/Disillusioned Democrats got out there and voted Republican, except for Kevin McCarthy’s district, where they would all stay hone.
Make the House Republican again while toppling the GOPee-Weenie leadership. A win-win!
We have the HIGHEST GAS TAXES IN THE COUNTRY.. and a Turnpike System that is as close to HIGHWAY ROBBERY as you can find....
The contracts for the police/state troopers/firemen etc in this state are largely legalized robbery.
May have changed, but last I knew, your pension was based on your last 2 years pay.. not your base pay, your total pay... so when folks are close they just do every ounce of OT they can get, getting salaries at times double or more their actual base, then get retirement packages paying them more than their base pay.
Maybe its changed haven’t looked at it in a while, but I know that’s how it was for most of these positions in this state for years.
When it comes to roads and bridges, with the exception of ddesignated Interstate Highway routes, states and cities should do their own bridge repairs; it should not be on the federal budget, at all. What is the economic viability of an area if it cannot maintain itself, on its own?
Due to the combination of a capital program to widen and rebuild the turnpike, combined with the excrescence of Act 44, in which about $450 million/year of turnpike revenue was diverted to PennDOT to support highway construction and public transit (later, exclusively dedicated to public transit). Fortunately, Act 89 reduces this amount to $50 million on 2023.
What that ultimately means is that the Turnpike Authority needs to issue a ton of bonds for its capital program, which will be covered by ever-increasing tolls until at least 2044.
And do you really think the Turnpike tolls will go down in 2023?
Be serious.
Heck, that first $5 BILLION is just for the committee to study to determine which roads get the first chunk of the $0.6 BILLION left over from the study!
LOL!
“As usual . . . “
Correct. Just wait until necessary (so you say) infrastructure repairs become unaffordable (so you say) and your people are in danger (so you say) and then wait for the government (that’s the rest of us) to bail you out.
Why should you pay for the repairs yourself?
Whatever happened to all the gas tax money in PA?
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