HARRISBURG -- State legislators of both parties say they understand the enormity of the state's transportation funding crisis, but whether they will vote to enact $472 million a year in new taxes and fees remains to be seen.

"The last thing I want to see happen in Pennsylvania is what happened in Minneapolis," when a major highway bridge collapsed several years ago, said Sen. Don White, R-Indiana. "The No. 1 priority is public safety."

But legislators will face the voters in November, and it will be hard for them to return here Aug. 23, as Gov. Ed Rendell wants, and enact a tax on oil company profits or increase the state gasoline tax and fees for driver's licenses and vehicle registrations.

"We can't put this off until next year," Mr. Rendell told the Senate Transportation Committee Wednesday. "We have to do this now. It's urgent. I know that raising taxes or fees isn't popular, especially in an economic recession, but we have to do the right thing."

Steve Bland, CEO of the Port Authority, which plans to cut 35 percent of its service in January to close a $50 million budget deficit, said Wednesday he is confident the Legislature "understands the magnitude of the problem." He said he is hoping people will "get creative and find solutions."

Problems with decaying roads and structurally deficient bridges became clear again this week, Mr. Rendell said, when a big chunk of concrete fell off a bridge spanning the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Montgomery County. He showed senators photos of rusted bridges and exposed rebars in highway concrete all around the state.

Committee members urged the governor to sell the public on the need for higher taxes and fees. Mr. Rendell, who leaves office in January, said he plans to do exactly that -- by taking a bus trip around the state in early August to hold hearings in six regions. He will list all the regional transportation projects that won't get done unless the Legislature allots more money for roads, bridges and transit.

Mr. Rendell said $472 million is what's needed to replace what the state didn't get when the federal government rejected a request to place tolls on Interstate 80.

Mr. Rendell said that ideally, a lot more than $472 million should be raised -- he suggested at least $1 billion a year -- so many more roads and bridges can be fixed. At least 5,600 bridges are now "structurally deficient" and 7,000 miles of highway need to be fixed, he said.

Mr. Rendell's first choice is slapping a new tax on the "gross profits" of oil companies, which he thinks could generate up to $900 million a year. But that idea has gone nowhere in the Legislature, which fears oil companies will just pass along the new tax to drivers in the form of higher gasoline prices.

Mr. Rendell's backup plan is raising the state gasoline tax by 3 or 4 cents per gallon and increasing vehicle fees. He also estimated that $100 million can be raised by putting surveillance cameras on turnpike toll booths to take pictures of license plates as vehicles pass through and then fining a driver if he doesn't have car insurance.

One reason for acting now, Mr. Rendell said, is Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett's pledge to not approve any tax increases if he wins Nov. 2.

"I know Attorney General Corbett is a man of his word and won't sign tax increases," Mr. Rendell said. That means there will be no new transportation money for the next four years if Mr. Corbett is elected, the governor said, and many more roads and bridges will deteriorate.

Sen. John Gordner, R-Columbia, claimed too much is being spent on mass transit, especially in Allegheny County and Philadelphia. Of the $450 million that will be generated this year by turnpike toll increases, he said, $250 million is going for transit and only $200 million for roads and bridges.

"Enough is enough for mass transit," he said. "Let's focus on roads and bridges."

Mr. Gordner said some deficit-ridden transit agencies have created their own problems by giving overly generous pensions and having "bus drivers who make $80,000 a year." He said tax and fee increases would be easier to sell to legislators and the public if the money went just for roads and bridges.

Mr. Rendell said that making mass transit convenient keeps cars off the roads, reducing congestion and damage to roads. If an additional $472 million is generated through higher taxes and fees, he said, about $167 million would go for mass transit and the rest would go for roads and bridges.

Mr. Bland said Port Authority has economized, saving more than $50 million per year, and riders "have done and are doing their part" by paying higher fares and dealing with service changes that make the system more cost-efficient, but said a solution to the authority's funding gap rests solely with the Legislature.

The announcement of service cuts is "not a scare tactic. Unfortunately, it's a reality," he said. Unless there's a long-term solution in the form of a reliable, growing source of funding, "it'll be a recurring reality."

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