PITTSBURGH (TNS) — The orange barrel brigade that identifies road and bridge construction could grow by as much as 50% over the next five years under the federal infrastructure bill passed last week.
PennDOT reports that based on formulas the U.S. Department of Transportation uses to distribute federal funds, the agency can expect to receive about $4 billion in new money for roads and bridges. The state also will be eligible for additional for money for improvements on rural roads and a special fund set aside for the Appalachian Development Highway System, which includes Interstate 219 in Somerset County.
The state had expected to receive about $9 billion over the five-year period before the bill was passed, so the additional money will boost spending to more than $13 billion. The bill includes an additional $12.5 billion for bridges that will be awarded on a competitive grant basis, and Pennsylvania is expected to try to participate in that program as well.
The new money headed to the state is split between the regular transportation funding formula ($2.3 billion) and a special bridge program ($1.6 billion). The state has more than 25,000 bridges and annually ranks in the top five for the number of bridges that need major repairs.
The bill comes as PennDOT is in the midst of a funding crisis made worse when gasoline tax revenues dipped by several hundred million during the pandemic due to reduced driving. The department has estimated the state spends about $8.1 billion a year less than it should on roads and bridges because of stagnant revenue as motorists use more fuel-efficient or electric vehicles.
The department hasn’t identified specific projects that it plans to fund with the cash infusion.
”This investment will allow Pennsylvania to invest billions of dollars to modernize our infrastructure like roads, bridges, ports, and rail, while creating sustainable, good-paying jobs that will be transformative of our transportation system and our local economy,” PennDOT spokeswoman Alexis Campbell said in a statement. “These critical investments — along with state-level solutions — will help close Pennsylvania’s growing transportation funding gap, and connect Pennsylvanians to opportunity and each other, and move us forward.”
The infrastructure package includes additional money for other transportation-related projects.
For example, Pennsylvania can expect $2.8 billion over five years for public transit, most of which will be given out by formula to large agencies such as Port Authorityand the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority that serves the Philadelphia area. Port Authority recently identified $3 billion worth of projects it wants to pursue through its 25-year NEXTransit plan, including extending the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway from Swissvale to East Pittsburgh and the light rail system from the North Shore on two wings to Bellevue and Ross.
The state also is in line to receive about $171 million through a new program to install hundreds of charging stations for electric vehicles.
Funding for existing programs such as roads and bridges is expected to be available early next year while new programs such as charging stations will have to have program details developed at the federal level before the money flows.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., called the bill “long overdue” and noted that beyond transportation it also includes billions of dollars for other new or existing programs to improve water, broadband service, flood mitigation and cybersecurity.
”When President Biden signs the bill into law, we will allocate critical funding to make Pennsylvania roads and bridges safer, expand broadband access and improve public transportation, while tackling the climate crisis by prioritizing electric and clean energy,” he said in a statement.
