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U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx Launches the New "Mayor's Challenge for Safer People and Safer Streets"

The Mayor’s Challenge will showcase effective local actions to improve safety, empower local leaders to take action, and promote partnerships to advance pedestrian and bicycle safety. “As a former Mayor, I understand what a difference it can make when a Mayor chooses to prioritize an issue that brings together many community members toward a common goal,” Secretary Foxx said. “This Challenge will help Mayors to use what we know about how to reduce pedestrian and bicycle fatalities and injuries to make a real difference and save lives in their communities. Continue reading...

 

More than $800 million to be bid or start construction due to Act 89 in 2014, including more than 200 projects to improve 83 bridges and pave nearly 1,600 roadway miles.

Learn more about the plan in PennDOT's Transportation Funding Plan Summary (PDF) or visit PennDOT's Comprehensive Transportation Funding Plan updates page on their website for project details organized by district and more.

 

Mapping out Pennsylvania's structurally deficient bridges

Keystone Crossroads has mapped out all of Pennsylvania's structurally deficient bridges on their wesbite. View the map >

 

Pennsylvania flush with cash for transportation projects

Excerpt from 02/15/15 Philly.com article

While other states struggle to pay the upkeep on their highway systems, Pennsylvania is implementing a multifaceted, multibillion-dollar blueprint designed to accelerate road and bridge projects, improve mass transit systems and increase subsidies to local governments.

The higher taxes, fees and fines approved in 2013 are being phased in over five years to generate $2.3 billion annually - mostly for roads and bridges, and additional millions in inter-modal grants for railroads, seaports and airports. There's even $35 million earmarked for improving gravel and dirt roads.

"We finally have money to do things," said Sen. John Rafferty, R-Montgomery, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, who helped lead the protracted campaign to sell the proposal in the Legislature. Continue reading...

March 4, 2014 - PennDOT lets $138 million in projects in February
February 3, 2015 - PennDOT starts 2015 with $288 million in lettings
December 31, 2014 - PennDOT ends 2014 just shy of $2.6 billion in construction lettings
December 2, 2014 - November lettings to push yearly total to $2.4 billion

Visit PA Highway Information Assocation's website for more ongoing coverage of Act 89 and PennDOT construction projects.

 

Tom Corbett signs $2.3 billion Pennsylvania transportation bill

Details taken from 11/26/13 Politico.com article

Gov. Tom Corbett signed the bill that will pump billions of dollars into improvements to Pennsylvania’s highways, bridges and mass-transit systems. “There is barely a spot in Pennsylvania ... that will not see an improvement because of this legislation,” Corbett said. “Pennsylvania is a state that puts progress ahead of party,” he said. “The men and women who stood for this bill understood that compromise is not surrender, but rather a path to success.”

Corbett played down the increases in gas taxes and motorist fees that will be phased in over five years to generate at least $2.3 billion a year – an increase of about 40 percent from the $5.3 billion that the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is scheduled to spend this year on highways, bridges and public transit.

Transportation Secretary Barry Schoch said the combined increases, once they are fully in effect, amount to about $2.50 a week for a motorist who travels 12,000 miles a year. That assumes the proposed increase in the Oil Company Franchise Tax on wholesale gasoline is entirely passed on consumers, he said. The first fuel tax increase under the bill takes effect January 1, 2014, according to PennDOT. The tax is imposed on the sale of fuel to gas station owners.

The governor said the accelerated schedule of transportation projects will bolster the state’s economy and enhance public safety.

In August of 2013, PennDOT announced new or increased weight restrictions on about 1,000 state and local bridges to enhance public safety and extend the life of the spans, citing uncertainty over transportation funding. Nearly 4,500 out of 25,000 state-owned bridges are deemed to be structurally deficient, or in need of repair, more than any other state.

Additional local coverage from the passing of the transportation bill:

 

PA Civil Engineers 2014 Infrastructural Report Card

On June 25, 2014, civil engineers from across Pennsylvania released a new Report Card for Pennsylvania's Infrastructure giving 16 grades for the state's infrastructure – from bridges to water to school facilities. The Report Card found that Pennsylvania faces immense challenges to maintaining and modernizing infrastructure throughout the state. Pennsylvania's Bridges reecived a D+ grade on this report. View details from the report here and view a map from CNN mapping America's bridges by state from 2013 before the new transportaiton bill was passed.

Transportation Links:

A little history...

(excerpt from PennDOT's website)

According to PennDOT, within 25,000 state-owned bridges, Pennsylvania has the third largest number of bridges in the nation, but we lead the nation in number of bridges classified as "structurally deficient". The average age of our bridges on the state system is 51 years old. A structural deficient bridge is safe, but in need of costly repairs or replacement to bring the bridge to current standards. Despite a record level of investment since 2003, Pennsylvania has the largest number of structurally deficient in the nation – nearly 5700 statewide. Due to the state of the bridge program in Pennsylvania, Governor Rendell included bridges as one of the primary initiatives in Rebuild PA Program. After months of coordination with our sister State Agencies and Federal Highway Administration, the Secretary of Transportation launched the Department's Accelerated Bridge Program in January of 2008. This program consists of contracting 1,145 bridges over the next three years. Learn more about 2008's Accelerated Bridge Program here.