(TNS) — Transportation funding will take center stage in Harrisburg in the coming weeks as officials face a Bermuda Triangle of issues that threaten the condition of local roads across Pennsylvania.

The problems are easy to identify: the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation announced recently that it will shift $3.15 billion over the next nine years from local roads to interstate highways at the same time the state is dealing with declining road revenue from the second-highest-in-the-nation gasoline tax due to more efficient cars and must find a way to replace $400 million a year in public transit funding it is scheduled to lose from the Pennsylvania Turnpike after 2022.

The state House and Senate begin hearing on Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed 2020-21 budget later this month.

“This is such a complicated issue,” said Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield and chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee. “But it’s so important because transportation is, if not the most important, one of the most important issues we face.

“We’re pretty close [to a crisis]. We have a lot of work to do.”

Her colleague in the House, Transportation Chairman Tim Hennessy, R-Chester, agreed.

“It’s a serious matter. I wouldn’t say we’re at a crisis yet,” he said.

PennDOT says its decision to shift money to interstate improvements is critical because the U.S. Department of Transportation could take away federal funds for other roads if the interstates don’t meet minimum standards. But shifting that money comes at a time when more efficient vehicles and annual inflation are reducing the buying power of state gas tax receipts by $289 million over the next 12 years, putting a further strain on the department’s revenue.

The third prong is the issue of funding for public transit, part of which comes from $450 million annual payments from the turnpike, which is having its own problems due to excessive debt that is expanded by borrowing money for the PennDOT payments. Right now, the state doesn’t have another source for those funds.

“You know what my fear is? We get to 2022 and decide we don’t have the money so we extend the payments from the turnpike,” Ms. Ward said.

At the bottom of the funnel, and potentially with the most to lose, are regional officials who rely on PennDOT to take care of state roads in local communities. Roads such as Route 51 in the South Hills, McKnight Road in the North Hills, and Business Route 22 in the eastern suburbs are vital links to the local economy that face an uncertain future with the shift in money to interstate highways.

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, recently named chairman of the 10-county Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission that helps plan road improvements, said he expects to have meetings with Harrisburg officials to see where more money can be found. Those improvements are “critical” to sustaining the county’s economic growth, he said.

“The entire SPC — Democrats and Republicans — are all in agreement that we have to do something,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “The most expensive thing we can do is to do nothing.

“We all know the need. The question is, how do we get there?”

Mr. Fitzgerald said it’s the job of state officials to find funding options, but there are three he believes shouldn’t even be considered. They are increasing the gas tax, which at 58.7 cents a gallon is second highest in the country; tolling additional interstate roads, which has been rejected by federal officials; and raising property taxes, which are the primary source of revenue for counties, municipalities and school districts.

One long-term option for transportation funding is switching from the gas tax to a monthly charge for miles driven, which would capture money lost from better fuel efficiency or the use of electric vehicles. Pennsylvania has been working with New Jersey and Delaware to test that option by producing dummy bills for selected drivers in those states and the eastern half of Pennsylvania to see what the appropriate charge should be, but any change is years away.

Ms. Ward said she “just don’t know how that would work” if the change to a miles driven fee isn’t done on a national basis. Federal legislators have said they are intrigued by the idea but think it could take as long as 20 years to implement.

Transportation funding also is an issue at the federal level, where the five-year, $280 billion Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act expires in September. The Trump administration last week proposed a 10-year, $810 billion replacement last week, but the House hasn’t reached a consensus and could end up passing a one-year, stop-gap measure as it has many times in the past.

More immediately, Mr. Hennessy said he will be looking for funding suggestions to come from the budget hearings, but one source could be unexpectedly high state tax revenues. A strong economy produced several hundred million dollars more than projected in the current fiscal year, he said, but equally high Medicaid costs ate up most of that money.

“Which needs do you address first? That’s what the budget process is all about,” he said. “We have our work cut out for us.”