As many of you know, the Coalition’s web presence for the last several years has consisted of piggybacking onto the ReConnectPA website. ReConnectPA enabled people to identify safety and congestion issues and to suggest transportation projects that could address them.
The site was designed to demonstrate the widespread support for addressing Pennsylvania’s funding needs, and it certainly did so. But as PennDOT began to gear up following passage of Act 89, that was no longer necessary. At the same time, it became clear that Coalition members intend to continue to advocate for transportation funding solutions and, therefore, we needed to maintain a presence on the web.
Today we announce that the Coalition now has its very own site, and I invite you to visit it at http://keystonetransportation.org. We’ve updated some of our previous fact sheets, eliminated those that are no longer relevant, and we’ve asked our member organizations to reaffirm their desire to be identified as affiliated with the Coalition (and many thanks to you who have done so).
We’ve kept nearly all the studies and reports that led up to the passage of Act 89. We’ve freshened the design, and we’ve redirected the old web address to the new one. You can still find a sampling of the latest news, and we’re going to house the most recent issues of this newsletter there as well.
We’ve also converted the ReConnectPA Facebook page for exclusive Coalition use. If you “liked” the ReConnectPA page, your “like” was transferred to the new page. If you haven’t done that, please log onto Facebook, search for the Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition, “like” us, and invite your friends. Finally, you 140-character aficionados can follow us on Twitter here. https://twitter.com/KTFC_PA
As for me, I’ll be turning my attention to how we can optimize our use of Instagram and Hootsuite to pump up our social media analytics. Until then, as always, Be of Good Cheer.
— George Wolff
Transportation Issue Update
- Many of you were there to see and hear it yourselves, but the first in a series of breakfast meetings sponsored by the PA Highway Information Association and ACEC/PA attracted a packed house to hear the four General Assembly Transportation Committee chairs last week. Here are details.
- We were surprised to see that Pennsylvania’s public transportation ridership dipped slightly last year, although Amtrak’s Keystone Service between Harrisburg and Philly had a significant jump.
- Anyone who drives is already aware that it’s pothole season again. The Times-Tribune chronicled how the issue is unfolding in NEPA.
- In a program that could benefit organizations that operate diesel fleets, the PA Department of Environmental Protection is accepting applications for its Clean Diesel Grant Program.
Saying it will benefit the environment and the PA economy, Governor Wolf has reversed a decision that increased the tax on Liquefied Natural Gas.
- A national study showed that pedestrian deaths in PA increased by almost 40 percent in the first six months of last year.
- Here’s what we don’t understand: Chambers of Commerce in 42 states, including PA, want the Republican-controlled Congress to address infrastructure investment needs, and yet…