Surprise! In passing a new budget last week, the Legislature agreed to borrow $350 million to repair an extra 400 of PennDOT's worst bridges. That will leave 5,600 structurally deficient and obsolete bridges, so Pennsylvania's No. 1 national ranking is not in jeopardy.
The pols deserve congratulations for continuing to focus on bridge problems, but not for issuing more IOUs.
By the time the governor leaves office in January 2011, perhaps earlier if Democrat Barack Obama wins the presidency and names him transportation secretary, a position that Mr. Rendell has indicated he'd like, Pennsylvania will have gone more than $3.5 billion in debt for roads, bridges and transit during his watch.
The loans will have to be repaid with interest, which will just about double the total amount of money to be repaid to an incredible $7 billion.
The figure includes money the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is borrowing to advance to PennDOT through the rest of Mr. Rendell's term as a result of Act 44, a law passed last summer that raises turnpike tolls and assumes the Federal Highway Administration will authorize tolling I-80.
Children not even born yet will be stuck with the bill, long after Mr. Rendell and lawmakers responsible for imposing these long-term burdens have left town.
The last major debt run up by state officials for transportation was about $2 billion in the '60s and '70s, borrowing which ex-Gov. Dick Thornburgh stopped in 1979 as part of reforming PennDOT and putting its finances on a pay-as-you-go basis.
That old debt is still on the books. It won't be paid off until the 2015-16 budget year.
Mr. Rendell's debt has trumped his predecessors'.
Taxpayers will be living with his transportation legacy for the next 50 years.
Surprise! The Port Authority and Local 85, Amalgamated Transit Union, failed to reach a new labor agreement when the existing contract expired at midnight Monday.
As a result, they're moving to a state-mandated next step called fact-finding in which a neutral third party hears the demands and arguments from both parties and then recommends a proposed settlement.
Local 85 President-Business Agent Patrick McMahon has characterized the process as a waste of time and money, only a means of prolonging the issue.
That's true, inasmuch as fact-finding has never resulted in a contract settlement in authority history.
There's even less reason to be hopeful this time because the two sides have never been farther apart in 10 previous contract negotiations going back to 1976.
Authority Chief Executive Officer Steve Bland says although fact-finding may not result in a contract, the process still has value.
That's true too, inasmuch as the findings validate and discredit bargaining positions, putting differences and issues in the best court of all: the court of public opinion.
Meanwhile, barring an action on the part of management or the union to provoke some sort of job action, daily riders should expect bus, trolley, incline and paratransit services to continue as usual for the next two or three months.
Barring a Pittsburgh transportation miracle, there's no guarantee beyond then.
Surprise! The Port Authority has adopted a $350.2 million, 2008-09 operating budget that's 4.3 percent higher than the fiscal year that ended Monday, despite including a $10 million savings from a new contract with the bus-trolley operators' union.
People have asked why there is an increase when service has been reduced 15 percent, employment has been cut and the budget-makers have assumed that Local 85 members will lose the contract fight of their lives.
The biggest reason? Energy.
Diesel fuel costs are projected to almost double from $18.2 million to $33.2 million, partly because a long-term contract for $2.28 a gallon is expiring.
Ergo, the authority has budgeted to buy for $4.15 a gallon and crossing its fingers that the price won't go higher. Every 1-cent-a-gallon increase adds up to $80,000 on an annual basis.
If diesel fuel hadn't skyrocketed, the authority's budget would have shown a small decrease.
Surprise! U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, delivered $500,000 to Alle-Kiski Valley officials last week for yet another study about establishing commuter rail service to Pittsburgh.
Don't hold your breath.
A study released in July 2000 said such a service would be feasible, operating on 23 miles of a freight line privately owned by the Allegheny Valley Railroad and starting with two trains during both the morning and afternoon rush hours. It ID'd locations for a dozen stations, recommended grade-crossing improvements, suggested fares, etc.
Maybe the new study should focus on why nothing happened after the last study was done eight years ago, when elected officials pledged to "see this thing through."
First Published: July 6, 2008, 4:00 a.m.
