Of state-owned roads in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, 28 percent received a "poor" pavement condition rating in a survey released yesterday.

As a result of poor road surfaces, vehicle owners shell out, on average, an extra $464 a year for accelerated wear, added maintenance and higher fuel consumption, according to The Road Information Program, a highway industry-supported research group based in Washington, D.C.

Both figures are slightly above national averages but below those for Philadelphia, with 37 percent poor roads, and well below those for the Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., areas, all with more than 60 percent rated poor.

"With state and federal transportation funding falling short, the cost of materials and repairs rising, and traffic volumes increasing, transportation agencies will face a significant challenge in improving urban pavement conditions," TRIP Executive Director William M. Wilkins said.

He got no argument from Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Allen Biehler.

"The money needed to make headway against our deteriorated infrastructure has frustrated everybody," he said. "That's why we've been pushing hard to get sufficient funding."

Nevertheless, Mr. Biehler said, an International Roughness Index used to measure road pavement condition has improved in all four categories in Allegheny County over the past five years, including the index for interstates, which has gone from 120 in 2003 to 89 last year. Like golf scores, lower is better.

It's the secondary roads, some used by fewer than 2,000 vehicles a day, that have posed the bigger challenge.

"Some are in poor shape," he conceded. "It's important to do proper maintenance, but there just hasn't been enough money to cover everything."

While the General Assembly passed new transportation funding legislation last summer, money is just starting to come into play from Act 44, which calls for higher tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and converting Interstate 80 into a toll road. It represents the first major infusion of new transportation funding in 10 years.

While he said the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation welcomes the expected $450 million for the current fiscal year that ends June 30, Mr. Biehler cautioned that taxpayers shouldn't expect too much. PennDOT has to spread it over a large system -- 40,500 miles of roads and 25,000 bridges.

"Here's an absolutely startling statistic," he said. "The [Construction Cost Index] in Pennsylvania has gone up 63 percent over the past five years. It's frightening. It has killed our buying power."

That index measures costs of projects like new ramps at the Parkway West-Interstate 79 interchange, rehabilitating the Parkway East and major resurfacing.

By comparison, the Consumer Price Index rose 14.5 percent over the same period.

The Road Information Program report classifies 19 percent of the Pittsburgh metro road pavements as "good" and 22 percent as "fair" compared with 12 percent and 15 percent, respectively, in the Philadelphia metro area.

The report says the best roads in Pennsylvania are around the state capital. The Harrisburg metro area, in a lower population category, had 29 percent "good" roads, 25 percent "fair," 34 percent "medium" and only 12 percent "poor."

The report points out that the growing needs come as a $3.2 billion deficit is forecast in the Federal Highway Trust Fund for the 2008-09 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, raising the likelihood that Pennsylvania's share of federal money will be reduced.