As another highway construction season dawns, our friends at PennDOT are receiving positive attention for several developments. First was the announcement that PennDOT will engage local planners earlier in transportation projects, before the scope of the projects are developed.
The second was Secretary Leslie Richards’ announcement at a budget hearing that PennDOT will allocate $2 billion over 10 years for a highway maintenance and preservation program call “RoadMaP.” The money will be used for state and local projects.
On top of that, on March 1 PennDOT distributed $466 million to municipalities across the state to help with road and bridge maintenance. It was nearly $150 million more than before the passage of Act 89.
You may read about these positive developments in the news links below.
Be of Good Cheer,
— The Wolff
Transportation Issue Update
- PennDOT received positive attention for a couple of developments recently. First was the announcement of its “PennDOT Connects” program, which engages local planners in transportation projects before the project scopes are developed. The second is a $2 billion highway maintenance and preservation program over 10 years called the “RoadMaP” initiative.
- And as the calendar page turned to March, PennDOT distributed nearly a half-billion dollars to municipalities across the Commonwealth to help them maintain roads and bridges.
- A Pennsylvania-New Jersey Turnpike bridge closed for seven weeks for repairs to a fractured beam reopened last week, several weeks ahead of schedule.
- Local officials are looking forward to the easing of congestion around the New Stanton interchange once the improvements are completed.
- In autonomous vehicle news, a bill creating rules for testing driverless cars was introduced in the PA Senate.
- PA Turnpike Chairman Sean Logan resigned his post to accept a seat on the Gaming Control Board.
- At a legislative budget hearing, State Police Commissioner Tyree Blocker shed light on the issue of what it costs to provide police coverage to municipalities that do not have local or regional police coverage. The answer: about $600 million per year.
- Meanwhile, editorial pages across the state continued to weigh in on how best to pay for State Police coverage in communities that don’t have local coverage.