LOCK HAVEN - The state's transportation funding crisis is so severe, members of both parties of the state House Transportation Committee have gone on a tour of the state for a series of hearings on the issue - and they are doing it together.
On Tuesday, the committee stopped at Lock Haven University where it gathered testimony on the scope of the state's transportation problems and ways in which those problems can be lessened, if not solved.
Minority committee chairman Richard A. Geist, R-Altoona, who co-chaired the hearing with majority committee chairman Joseph Markosek, D-Monroeville, called the bi-partisan hearings "unprecedented for the House of Representatives."
"For members to go on a tour like this is something people are having a hard time getting their arms around - but it's real," Geist said.
Fueling the committee's willingness to sit side-by-side is an annual $3.5 billion funding gap for maintaining and repairing highways and bridges and funding public transportation.
According to Kevin Kline, state Department of Transportation District 2-0 executive, the state has more than 5,600 structurally deficient bridges and more than 7,000 miles of poor roads.
District 2-0, which encompasses Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Elk, Juniata, McKean, Mifflin and Potter counties, has 670 structurally deficient bridges and 298 miles of poor roads, Kline said.
More importantly, there are almost 800 miles of roads in the district that are out of PennDOT's repaving cycle, which means those roads may soon be added to the list of those in poor condition, he said.
PennDOT's District 3-0, which encompasses Bradford, Columbia, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga and Union counties, has more than 320 structurally deficient bridges, more than 1,000 miles of poor roads and more than 1,400 miles of roads out of the department's paving cycle, according to testimony.
"It is essential to Pennsylvania's economic development, both now and in the future, that this (funding) gap be closed immediately," said John McCaskie, a member of the American Concrete Pavement Association and chief engineer for Swank Associated Companies, a concrete paving and repair company.
McCaskie said the association "will actively support any strategy that includes sound and permanent funding mechanisms to do so."
McCaskie said the association supports a wide range of revenue sources, including an increase in the gasoline tax and registration fees and the use of newer and cheaper paving technologies.
Samuel J. Lansberry, owner of trucking company Samuel J. Lansberry Inc., also spoke in favor of an increase in the gasoline tax, but voiced opposition to an increase in registrations fees, which he said would drive companies out of business or force them to downsize.
"I believe the answer to the funding crisis is to increase the fuel tax by 10 cents per gallon for all highway fuels," Lansberry said. "This is the least expensive to collect, it is the fastest to implement, spreads the burden evenly and is the least painful to highway users."
Lycoming County transportation planner Mark Murawski also favors a gasoline tax - sometimes called a "user fee."
Murawski said he believes an 8 cent per gallon tax should be implemented with an annual 1-to-2 cent increase built into it "to keep up with inflation." The last time a gasoline tax was implemented was when a 3.5 cent tax was implemented in 1997.
Such an increase would raise the same amount of money that tolling Interstate 80 would have raised, Murawski said. The state's application to toll the highway was rejected this spring by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
"(A gas tax) won't solve the complete $3.5 billion problem, but it'll abate the crisis that's on us right now for the short term," Murawski said. "Then they should take a hard look at other (funding) strategies."
Murawski said that no matter what funding strategy the legislature agrees on "our county is not going to beat them up for making a tough vote on increasing revenue."
Murawski said that waiting on the federal government to solve the issue is not the answer.
"We can't look to Washington as the Emerald City to solve the problem," he said. "There is no great wizard and the yellow brick road is fading. We need courage by our legislature to vote for the money now."
Cynthia Zerbe of the Pennsylvania Public Transportation Association discussed the need to fund public transportation, including services such as River Valley Transit and STEP Inc.'s Shared Ride Program.
