We told you last week about Centre County officials getting ready to extend an ongoing program that adds a fee to vehicle registrations to raise added revenue for road and bridge repair projects.
But fixing our roads and bridges will depend on multiple sources of revenue.
Just outside of Bellefonte this bridge on Lower Coleville Road remains closed. Built in 1965, in recent years with the bridge falling apart, there were more weight limits and traffic restrictions.
Replacing this bridge,even a small span like this could cost close to a million dollars.
Its the type of project especially in more rural areas that fuels, whats termed the fee for local use programs.
$5 Dollars added to the registration cost for vehicles registered in Centre County. Because many times, no matter the size or, price tag of the road or bridge project the key term is matching funds
“You cant pull down state or federal money unless you have Federal money.as you can see here,municipalities are already having to come up with tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars just to try and maintain what they have”
Penndot’s acting secretary told state lawmakers the same thing at a recent hearing in Harrisburg in relation to federal transportation spending
“A federally funding project usually requires twenty percent state match. with that in mind,we expect we would nearly need one billion dollars in additional state funds to match and leverage this funding”
Centre County has more projects lined up for the registration fee funding which raises close to $600,000 dollars each year for the county.
