PennDOT Warns Lawmakers that Raiding Funds Jeopardizes Transit, Infrastructure Projects

PennDOT Warns Lawmakers that Raiding Funds Jeopardizes Transit,
Infrastructure Projects

9/8/2017-HARRISBURG

Secretary of Transportation Leslie S. Richards today warned oversight
chairs in
the House and Senate that a recently unveiled House Republican plan to cut
transportation funding from dedicated sources is based on misleading
information and would lead to transit services cuts in small and large
systems,
and delay or deny assistance to important transportation infrastructure.

"Most of these funds are not available, they are actually contractually
obligated for current and pending projects," Sec. Richards wrote. "This
could
have been conveyed to House Republicans had the department been contacted
prior
to the release of this plan.

"Moving $357 million from the Pennsylvania Public Transit Trust Fund would
mean
a 35 percent reduction in operating subsidies this fiscal year for the
state's
37 fixed route transit agencies. That could translate into more than 30
percent
service reductions and fare increases.

"The loss of $120 million from the Multimodal fund will deny much needed
assistance to communities, rail freight lines and airports around the
state.
Communities have limited resources for transportation improvements and
increasingly rely on state funding to fill the gap and meet important
needs,
such as safety improvements to intersections and safety improvements for
pedestrians and bicyclists."

The letter lays out the impacts of cutting $357 million from the
Pennsylvania
Public Transit Trust Fund, $120 million from the Multimodal Transportation
Fund
and $30 million from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Bank, totaling more
than
half a billion dollars in funding cuts to infrastructure and transportation
in
Pennsylvania.

Cuts to transit agencies would be cataclysmic, particularly those located
in
smaller, more rural areas of the commonwealth, who are reliant upon the
state
for a majority of their operating subsidies. For example, a 35-percent
reduction would translate to:

• A more than $580,000 reduction for the Indiana County Transit Authority;
• $1.7 million less for the Area Transportation Authority in the north
central
region;
• $2.4 million less for the Central Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
(rabbittransit);
• $2.4 million less for the Red Rose Transit Authority;
• $3.2 million less for the Berks Area Regional Transportation Authority;
• $3.4 million less for the Erie Metropolitan Transit Authority; and
• $6 million less for the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority.

Cuts to the Multimodal Transportation Fund would put in jeopardy projects
from
across the state which are seeking investment and are aimed at improving
safety
and connectivity while modernizing infrastructure.

The $30 million in the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Bank supports a variety
of
local transportation improvements that simply would be unable to proceed
without this low-interest-rate loan program. In fact, more than $20 million
of
this funding is already committed or in the approval process for projects
improving community roadways. Examples of projects impacted by cutting this

funding include:

• $500,000 for public street and drainage reconstruction projects in North
Manheim Township, Schuylkill County;
• $26,000 for street improvements in Stillwater Borough, Columbia County;
and
• $263,000 for street and drainage improvements in Beaver Meadows Borough,
Carbon County.

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