As the investigation continues into the collapse of the fern hollow bridge in Pittsburgh, it’s raising questions about how money has been raised and spent to support bridges and roads in Pennsylvania.
PennDOT leaders say they have a more than $9 billion funding gap to keep their roads in good repair, and that doesn’t include nearly $4 billion for local infrastructure needs. And for years efforts to fund those changes have either hit a dead-end or ran out of fuel.
The driving force of revenues for transportation in Pennsylvania has for decades been the state gas tax. But as it’s become one of the highest gas taxes in the nation, state lawmakers have come to rely on it to fund the transportation system a bit too much.
State data shows that the gas tax accounts for 78% of the state’s transportation revenue. By comparison: no other neighboring state has that ratio above 60% and in New York, it only generates 18% of revenues.
As the investigation continues into the collapse of the fern hollow bridge in Pittsburgh, it’s raising questions about how money has been raised and spent to support bridges and roads in Pennsylvania.
PennDOT leaders say they have a more than $9 billion funding gap to keep their roads in good repair, and that doesn’t include nearly $4 billion for local infrastructure needs. And for years efforts to fund those changes have either hit a dead-end or ran out of fuel.
The driving force of revenues for transportation in Pennsylvania has for decades been the state gas tax. But as it’s become one of the highest gas taxes in the nation, state lawmakers have come to rely on it to fund the transportation system a bit too much.
State data shows that the gas tax accounts for 78% of the state’s transportation revenue. By comparison: no other neighboring state has that ratio above 60% and in New York, it only generates 18% of revenues.
“It used to be a bipartisan thing,” Wolf said. “We need to all be focused on that.”
But Wolf went down that road last year by calling for the elimination of the gas tax and replacing it with a mileage tax of eight cents per mile driven, plus additional tolls on bridges and other fees. That plan was seen as a bridge too far by Republicans in the general assembly.
To solve the state police funding gap, Wolf has proposed a usage fee for municipalities that rely on state police. That too has been a bridge to nowhere.
But transportation leaders warn that as the system gets older and more maintenance has to be pushed off the more expensive the problem will be to fix, and the more likely a catastrophe like what happened in Pittsburgh could happen again.
“Bottom line this shouldn’t happen in the USA,” said Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Transportation Secretary. “We are seeing before our eyes in very blunt terms of what the cost can be of disinvestment in our bridges.”
