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Billions urged for Pa. transit

A state report says bridges, highways, and mass transit need $3 billion more a year - a 50 percent increase.

Pennsylvania's battered highways and bridges and its underfunded mass-transit systems need about $3 billion more each year than they currently receive, according to a state advisory panel.

That would mean a 50 percent increase over the current $6.1 billion. And local roads and bridges need an additional $432 million, the report says.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by The Inquirer, urges state lawmakers and Gov. Rendell to raise taxes, increase fees, or place new tolls on highways to generate the needed funding.

The Transportation Advisory Committee's report comes as the legislature prepares to meet in special session this week to tackle the crisis in transportation funding.

The legislature created the committee in 1970 to advise state leaders; it includes members of Rendell's cabinet, legislative leaders, and 19 members of the public. Its transportation funding study is to be released Monday.

The most urgent funding gap is a $472 million hole in the state transportation budget for the fiscal year that will start July 1. That was created last month when the federal government rejected Pennsylvania's request to place tolls on I-80 to pay for transportation projects around the state.

But beyond that immediate loss of anticipated income is a chronic shortage of money for highways and mass transit, the report says. Its $3 billion figure comprises $2.5 billion more a year for state roads and bridges and about $500 million for mass transit.

"Pennsylvania's current structure for transportation funding is neither adequate in revenue yield, nor structurally sustainable over the long term," the report says. "Needs and inflation continue to outpace revenue as infrastructure ages."

To solve the problem, the report outlines ways to raise money, including quick fixes like a gas-tax increase and long-term proposals like widespread tolling of interstates.

An increase in the gas tax would be one of the biggest revenue producers, according to the report: A 10-cent-a-gallon increase would raise $620 million a year. But lawmakers are reluctant to raise the tax, especially during a recession and an election year.

Pennsylvania's gas tax of 32.3 cents a gallon (including the oil company franchise tax) is 13th-highest in the nation. The national average is 29.3 cents.

Other possible sources of funding, the report says, include the expansion of the 6 percent state sales tax to gasoline sales, a fee on the extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation, an increase in the oil company franchise tax, higher fees for drivers' licenses and motor-vehicle registrations, an increase in real estate transfer taxes, and a shift in the costs for state police from the motor license fund to the general fund.

Lawmakers have no ready solution for the transportation funding shortfall, legislative leaders have acknowledged. The inability to toll I-80 has left them with politically unpopular options.

"Filling the [$472 million] gap is helpful, but it's nowhere close to addressing the need," said a high-level administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "How much do they want to solve the problem?"

"You get what you pay for . . . or you don't get what you don't pay for," the official said.

Rendell, who called the special session, "is open to anything. His feeling is let's solve the problem," said Richard Kirkpatrick, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

The problem, as portrayed by the committee report, is immense: Of the state's 25,000 bridges, more than 5,600, or about 22 percent, are structurally deficient. Travel delays caused by congestion have doubled in the last 25 years and are projected to increase 50 to 60 percent by 2035. Most roads were constructed in the 1960s or earlier and need to be rebuilt. Mass-transit agencies, such as SEPTA, are saddled with decrepit stations, outdated fare systems, and worn-out power networks.

Additional funding of $3.5 billion, including local funding, would allow the state to rebuild 500 bridges a year for the next 10 years and 300 bridges a year for 10 years after that, reducing the percentage of structurally deficient bridges to 5 percent.

It would also permit transit systems to add new bus routes and commuter rail service, and limit fare hikes.

Highway pavements could be rebuilt and maintained and congestion-inducing bottlenecks eliminated, the report says.

The study offers five proposals for long-term funding, all freighted with political or practical difficulties:

Tolls on existing and new highways. The report says major highways and interstates "will not be sustainable without a nearly uniform use of tolling." But the state's failure to toll I-80 demonstrates that federal policy changes may be required.

Public-private partnerships. Alliances between governments and companies to build and run roads could save Pennsylvania money and lure private investment. But, as the effort to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike demonstrated, there is significant political opposition, and no legal authority yet exists in the state for such partnerships.

Local option taxes. In many states, local governments can levy sales or income taxes to help pay for transportation improvements. But Pennsylvania law forbids local governments to impose most such taxes.

Fees for miles traveled. Technology advances such as E-ZPass have demonstrated the appeal of transponders that can track a vehicle's movements and automatically trigger payments to a collection authority. States and the federal government are examining ways to impose fees based on how many miles a vehicle travels, with the possibility of increasing or reducing charges based on such things as rush-hour travel and use of express lanes. But the technology is not ready, and privacy concerns remain.

"Strategic borrowing." Borrowing heavily to pay for transportation projects got Pennsylvania in financial trouble in the 1970s, and PennDot has been leery of debt-financing since. The report suggests the agency could borrow more, especially for long-term projects.