Democrats urge governor to fix state roads, bridges
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State Senate Democratic leader Jay Costa calls for Gov. Tom Corbett to address the state's transportation needs Tuesday.
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Democratic state lawmakers picked the long-crumbling Greenfield Bridge as their backdrop Tuesday as they urged Gov. Tom Corbett to take the lead in raising more money for Pennsylvania's roads, bridges and transit systems.
One of the region's most notorious structures, the bridge was draped in netting years ago because chunks of its concrete arches were falling; when that didn't work, the city built a second "bridge" under it to protect traffic on the Parkway East.
"The city of Pittsburgh has been catching pieces of this bridge for decades," said Rep. Dan Frankel of Squirrel Hill, one of about a dozen legislators who said the state's economy and public safety are being jeopardized by underinvestment in transportation.
The bridge was symbolic for another reason. It is crossed by buses on the Port Authority's 58 Greenfield route, one of 46 scheduled to be eliminated Sept. 2 if the state doesn't help the transit agency with a projected $64 million budget deficit.
Perhaps the only thing keeping it from being the perfect symbol? The 90-year-old span is finally slated to be imploded and replaced starting in 2014.
"It's one of the few that's finally being addressed," Mr. Frankel said.
Jay Costa Jr. of Forest Hills, leader of the Senate Democrats, noted that six months have passed since Mr. Corbett's handpicked commission recommended ways to raise up to $2.1 billion in new annual revenue for transportation, by removing an artificial cap on the wholesale tax on gasoline and modest fee increases.
"It's high time for the administration to follow through," he said.
To his side were two poster boards, filled, in small print, with a listing of hundreds of structurally deficient bridges in Allegheny County.
"Nothing has been done," said Frank Dermody of Oakmont, the House Democratic leader. "In order for this to move forward the governor has to take a leadership role."
Rep. Joseph Markosek of Monroeville said Democrats and Republicans have introduced legislation implementing the commission's recommendations and "are standing shoulder to shoulder" in support of more transportation funding.
"Who's the person who doesn't seem to be for it? The governor," he said.
Mr. Markosek said the state derives 50 percent of its revenue from just six counties -- Philadelphia and its four surrounding counties, and Allegheny.
"If we don't have solid mass transit systems in these six counties, it will have a very direct and egregious impact on the income of the state," he said.
Mr. Corbett may address the issue in his budget message, scheduled for Tuesday.
"The governor recognizes our infrastructure needs but must evaluate that need in the context of challenges our economy and taxpayers continue to face," spokeswoman Kelli Roberts said from Harrisburg.
As the news conference began, state Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Brookline, spotted a jogger near the Greenfield Bridge.
"That's what everyone's going to have to do when there's no Port Authority. They're going to have to jog," he said.
As the news conference wrapped up, the legislators got some unsolicited help from a passing motorist, who was perhaps a bit less eloquent than they.
"Fix the damn road," he hollered.
First Published February 1, 2012 12:00 am
