Chesco receives $16.9 million for local roads, bridges.

Chester County municipalities will be receiving more than $16.9 million in state funding for roads and bridges.

The county will be receiving money under Pennsylvania’s Comprehensive Transportation Funding Plan to maintain bridges and roads throughout the county’s municipalities, according to state Sen. Andy Dinniman.

The funding comes from PennDOT’s Municipal Liquid Fuels Program was distributed March first and marks a 5 percent increase over the $16.1 million distributed to Chester County municipalities last year.

“Act 89 continues to pay dividends in making much-needed investments in our local roads and bridges,” said Dinniman. “These sources will go a long way in repairing and upgrading our trans- portation infrastructure, especially as we approach the spring, which can be a particularly challenging time for potholes.”

In 2013, before Act 89 was enacted, Chester County municipalities received $11.5 million in liquid fuels payments. That number increased to $12.5 million in 2014 and $13.7 million in 2015.

This year’s funding comes as part of $466.2 million in funding to be distributed to certified municipalities statewide to maintain local roads and bridges.

“The funds received through liquid fuels payments are critical to the preservation and improvement of our vast network of locally maintained roads,” said PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards. “They are essential to communities for the upkeep of these vital connections to the state highway and bridge network.”

Liquid fuels allocations are annual payments to municipalities to help pay for expenses such as snow removal and road repaving. There are 120, 091 miles of public roads in Pennsylvania, with 72,856 of those miles owned by municipalities and eligible for liquid fuels. The formula for payments is based on a municipality’s population and miles of locally-owned roads.

Chester County’s 73 municipalities are home to 498,886 residents and 2,444 miles of municipal roads that are eligible for liquid fuels payment, according to PennDOT.

To be counted as eligible for liquid fuels, a roadway must be formally adopted as a public street by the municipality, meet certain dimension requirements and be able to safely accommodate vehicles driving at least 15 mph.

Twenty percent of the allocation can be spent on equipment.