The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (many of us know it as ARTBA) released a national study recently on structurally deficient bridges. The study highlights the need to address infrastructure needs across the nation, but at the same time, Act 89 has enabled PennDOT to make significant progress in reducing Pennsylvania’s share. We no longer lead the nation – that distinction now belongs to Iowa.
Another article we were pleased to see was about PennDOT getting some projects started early this year because of the recent warm weather, and the snow removal savings from what has been a remarkably mild winter may enable the addition of more construction projects this summer. Let’s hope the storms continue to stay away as we round the corner toward spring.
Finally, our friends at the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia are presenting Vision Zero 2017, a conference with the theme, “creating roadways that respect human dignity,” on March 1 in Philadelphia. For more information and to acquire tickets, follow this link.
Transportation Issue Update
- The American Road & Transportation Builders Association released a national report on structurally deficient bridges. Although PA still has lots of work to do, PennDOT notes that we are making progress.
- The mild winter has enabled PennDOT to get a jump on several construction projects, and could mean the addition of more projects as a result of saving money on snow removal.
- The Incline, a mobile-first news site and sibling of Philly’s Billy Penn, provides an update on autonomous vehicles.
- As Pennsylvania and New Jersey turnpike officials continue to get their arms around the damage to the Delaware River turnpike bridge, they’re calling on quite a roster of national structural experts.
- A possible move to downtown Wilkes-Barre by the Luzerne County Transportation Authority could have an added public benefit: access to a compressed natural gas fueling station for those who are making the switch to CNG vehicles.
- Northampton County is proceeding with a first-of-its-kind local bridge replacement program, using a public-private partnership.
- While it seems there isn’t much we agree on these days, an op-ed article in the Philly Business Journal encourages us to unify around improving the infrastructure.
- Construction won’t begin until at least 2021, but two bridges on I-84 in Lackawanna County will require replacement at a cost of $100 million.
- Many newspapers across the state have delved into the State Police funding issue. Here’s one from the Morning Call.
- TRIBLive posted an interesting article on the cost of police protection across the Commonwealth.
- There has been a significant number of editorials published regarding the State Police funding issue. Here’s the view from Lancaster.
- Addressing communities that rely only on State Police coverage, Berks County Sen. Judy Schwank introduced a bill that would deduct the cost of that coverage from communities’ share of local transportation revenue.