Pennsylvania transportation policy is a dumpster fire
Aside from public education, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is the champion of constantly receiving huge infusions of tax dollars — but always claims to be underfunded. No matter how much money is pumped into traditional infrastructure we are perpetually on the cusp of a financial crisis.
Under former Gov. Tom Corbett a deal was struck to raise a tax on oil production to secure additional billions primarily to fix Pennsylvania’s roads and bridges which are in a constant state of disrepair. The impact of that tax of course trickled down to consumers raising the average cost of gasoline by about thirty cents per gallon.
That sated the beast for a couple of weeks and then the drumbeat began for more funding. Blaming fuel economy, and the tiny portion of electric powered vehicles, for declining gas tax revenue Gov. Tom Wolf empaneled a Transportation Revenue Options Committee, TROC for short, to devise new funding schemes.
And that they did. According to The Center Square, TROC recommended a “patchwork of taxes and fees on drivers, electric vehicles and packages delivered by Amazon, UPS, FedEx and chain grocery stores. It also calls for corridor tolling, surcharges on rideshare services, increased registration fees and a phase out of the gasoline tax.”
After feasting on this smorgasbord of new revenue proposals TROC delivered the crowning recommendation: Charging each vehicle driven in the state a fee of 8.1 cents per mile. This supposedly would replace the gasoline tax. The end result: $11.4 billion in new revenue to close what PennDOT claims is a $9.3 billion funding gap.
The TROC report landed with a thud in the legislature where Republican leaders declared it dead on arrival. State Rep. Jason Ortitay said he would prefer PennDOT set up a commission to study how they are spending the money they already receive. Senate Transportation Chairman Wayne Langerholc said he doesn’t believe the agency could spend that much more money even if they got it.
These lawmakers have correctly identified the problem: state transportation policy is a dumpster fire. The focus is solely on increasing revenue with no corresponding effort at improving efficiency. Ortitay laments “there is no talk of doing things better — only the need to raise taxes and fees.”
Successive governors and legislatures have taken a piecemeal approach to the state’s transportation needs acting only to plug holes or respond to crisis or near crisis situations. There has been no focus on comprehensive longrange planning.
And the problem is not limited to PennDOT. For 15 years travelers on the Pennsylvania Turnpike have been paying steep annual fare increases due to a botched plan to toll Interstate 80 and divert the revenue to PennDOT.
The end result is the turnpike is now one of, if not the, most expensive toll roads in the world. Starting next year the turnpike’s payment to PennDOT will drop to $50 million, however, turnpike officials say annual toll hikes will continue until at least 2050 as the commission addresses unmet needs.
That of course blows a $400 million hole in PennDOT’s budget which will give the agency yet another talking point as it presses the legislature for new and increased funding.
All eyes are now on the federal government as congress works to pass a massive new infrastructure bill. However, the term “infrastructure” has been redefined from the traditional understanding of roads, bridges, airports and railroads to include a wide range of social programs. That will dilute the funding that trickles down to the states for traditional infrastructure.
Federal action aside, it is clear that it is well past time for Pennsylvania to take a wide-ranging and systemic look at our transportation infrastructure policy. But with the Wolf administration distracted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and its general incompetence, this is not likely to happen.
Hopefully, the next governor will be able to work with the legislature to finally put Pennsylvania’s transportation systems on the right track.