Hoeffel wants to double PennDot funding

Even though Pennsylvania needs to close a big budget gap for the next fiscal year, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joe Hoeffel proposed today to double the $2.3 billion the state contributes to PennDot for highways and bridges.

Hoeffel, in laying out a plan to improve the state's transportation infrastructure, said the extra spending is necessary to repair the state's 5,600 structurally deficient bridges and upgrade the 38 percent of state highways that PennDot says aren't up to standard.

He would come up with the money, in part, by raising gasoline taxes and charging more for auto registration stickers to people who own multiple cars.

His proposal also calls for borrowing money and for using the windfall that the state hopes to gain from putting tolls on Interstate 80.

Hoeffel said additional money could be raised from "public-private partnerships," such as the street or intersection improvements that might be required of a land developer.

"We need to invest in roads and bridges and public transportation," Hoeffel said, standing at a bridge on 40th Street in West Philadelphia that has been blocked off for several years while awaiting safety repairs.

"What we have here today," he said, motioning over his shoulder at the bridge in the East Parkside section, "is a failure of government."

Hoeffel said that, as governor, he also would invest more in public transportation, including intercity rail travel.