Transportation challenges 'enormous'
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Pennsylvanians are spending more to have lousy roads and bridges than it would cost to keep them in good condition, a new study suggests.
The study, released Tuesday by TRIP, a national transportation research group, estimated that poor roads, congestion and crashes cost the average Pittsburgh driver $892 per year in damage, maintenance costs and time lost to traffic delays.
Inadequate capacity and rough roads cost Pennsylvania drivers $8.2 billion annually -- far more than the roughly $1.5 billion the state spends in a typical year on highway and bridge projects, and more than the $3.5 billion a year that a state advisory panel said was necessary to catch up on road and bridge repairs.
"Pennsylvania faces enormous challenges in addressing its transportation needs. Deteriorated road and bridge conditions and mounting traffic congestion threaten to impede economic activity and diminish quality of life. The state's public transportation systems are also in disrepair and must be modernized and expanded," said the report, titled "Future Mobility in Pennsylvania."
Drawing on Federal Highway Administration data, the report said that 58 percent of the Pittsburgh area's major roads were in poor or mediocre condition; 21 percent in fair shape; and 21 percent in good condition.
The report did not offer options for raising additional money for transportation spending. "That's for the elected officials and the public here in Pennsylvania to decide," said Frank Moretti, director of policy and research for TRIP, a nonprofit organization sponsored by highway construction interests and insurance companies.
The report can be viewed at http://www.tripnet.org/research.htm.
Several recent studies have concluded that federal and state governments aren't spending enough to maintain and improve transportation infrastructure.
The Pennsylvania State Transportation Advisory Committee said this year that state spending was $3.5 billion a year short of what is needed to maintain the transportation network.
First Published November 24, 2010 12:00 am
