The need for more money to fix state roads was obvious to anyone who has spent weeks dodging potholes left after a harsh winter of record cold, regular snowfalls and unprecedented rain, Gov. Tom Wolf said Friday.
Mr. Wolf’s tour of bad roads brought him to West Carson Street on Pittsburgh’s South Side Friday morning to highlight more than $180 million the state has added to this year's budget for road repairs after the harsh winter. The Department of Transportation has an extra $22.3 million to make pothole repairs through the end of June, plus an additional $158 million to move ahead early with resurfacing projects on interstate highway projects that weren’t scheduled for several years.
In this area, the big addition is the Parkway East, where the state has allocated about $26 million to repave the highway between the Fort Pitt Bridge and the Edgewood-Swissvale exit. That project, which was announced in March, wasn't expected to move forward for four more years but now should begin in by the end of June.
Mr. Wolf, who has visited several sites across the state since his office announced the “Resurface PA” initiative May 24, said about a third of the money came from PennDOT receiving lower-than-expected bids on other highway projects and the rest was cobbled together from a variety of sources.
“It wasn’t the snow that was the problem this year. It was the thaw-freeze, thaw-freeze, thaw-freeze,” the governor said. “We worked to find that $182 million. It’s new money. That $182 million is going to fix potholes like this.”
With that, Mr. Wolf grabbed a shovel and joined with local PennDOT workers to plop hotpatch into a hole that had already been squared off and prepared for filling.
Here’s an example of how much worse potholes have been this year: PennDOT District Executive Cheryl Moon-Sirianni said her workers have used about 5,000 tons of patching material so far in Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties. They used 1,300 tons all of last year.
Across the state, the extra money will allow 17 interstate projects covering about 255 miles will begin this year, at least two years earlier than expected. That's in addition to 85 other interstate projects covering about 775 miles underway or expected to begin this year.
The state urged motorists to report road problems at 1-800-FIX-ROAD (349-7623) or http://customercare.penndot.gov .
Ed Blazina: eblazina@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1470 or on Twitter @EdBlazina.
First Published: June 8, 2018, 4:16 p.m.
