This week, the Coalition took its regularly scheduled meeting “on the road,” holding it in the East Wing of the Capitol. All four chairs of the House and Senate transportation committees were kind enough to meet with us, and the turnout of our own members — about 50 — was quite impressive.
After introductions, APC’s Bob Latham kicked it off by recapping the issues that Coalition members currently face: the need for more revenue for our transportation system, stopping the leakage of transportation funds for non-transportation uses, and the impending loss of a $400 million annual revenue stream for public transportation.
The chairpersons then made brief remarks. They are Sens. Kim Ward and John Sabatina (Republican and Democrat, respectively) for the Senate committee, and Reps. Tim Hennessey and Mike Carroll (Republican and Democrat, respectively), for the House committee.
Of those four, only Senator Sabatina has served as a chair of his committee, and Senator Ward had not previously served on her committee at all, so the meeting was a great opportunity to get to know one another. A big thank you to all the Coalition attendees, and an even bigger on for the committee chairs.
We also discussed plans for a series of regional Coalition outreach meetings, which will begin next month. They will be similar to the candidate meetings we organized last fall before the election as we do our part to keep transportation funding issues on the policy agenda. We will share details as these events come together.
Transportation Issue Update
- An op-ed article in Governing Magazine suggests that a weakening economy makes this the right time to invest in all forms of infrastructure, improving an essential component of economic growth and creating good jobs.
- The Federal Highway Administration green-lighted beginning the final design of a two-mile stretch of the Central Susquehanna Valley Thruway in Snyder County.
- PennDOT unveiled plans to widen part of I-83 on the Capital Beltway and I-81 from the Maryland line to I-78.
- Pennsylvania was lauded for a balanced approach to encouraging development of electric vehicles, a model that could encourage market expansion across the country.
- Of Philadelphia’s 96 fatal vehicle crashes in 2018, 21 occurred on Roosevelt Boulevard. Speed cameras are expected to be installed later this year.