Washington’s recent delivery of a long-term national transportation-funding package was eagerly anticipated — and warmly welcomed — by Pennsylvania, which has a significant backlog of vital transportation needs to address.
Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, which was signed into law in December, is poised to provide $305 billion in funding to states over five years, helping them build and maintain bridges, transit, rail lines, freight capabilities and ports. Pennsylvania will be among the top five beneficiaries of FAST Act funding, eligible for $8.6 billion over the next five years, $1 billion more than the current level of federal funding.
As the president and many others have noted, the bill is not perfect, but it will improve America’s transportation system and is laudable for many reasons. Here are just a few of its important benefits:
• Greater funding predictability for states: The bill is fully funded for five years, which gives state transportation leaders a predictable flow of federal money as they envision, plan, design and build infrastructure. Pennsylvania will now be positioned to make many of the necessary investments its aging infrastructure requires. In recent years, Pennsylvania has reduced by 2,000 the number of “structurally deficient” bridges, those in need of repair or carrying certain weight restrictions for vehicles. FAST funding will help continue this important initiative.
• Bolstered freight funding and strategy: New or expanded programs aim to ease the movement of freight across the nation. These include funding for improvements to interstate highways and bridges frequently used for freight, as well as to freight rail infrastructure, ports and intermodal facilities. The bill also creates a new National Highway Freight Program to create and advance a national freight policy. These steps are critical to achieve greater economic growth and international competitiveness.
• Acceleration of “disruptive” technologies: The law will provide substantial grants for new technologies that can reduce traffic congestion and improve safety; it specifically mentions autonomous vehicles and collision-avoidance technologies. These investments will accelerate the already brisk pace of innovation to deliver the benefits of disruptive technologies to more communities: more efficient use of roads, shorter travel times and fewer highway fatalities. Pennsylvania is already an innovator in this regard. For example, PennDOT is conducting a pilot program on 119 plow trucks using an Automated Vehicle Location System that monitors vehicle movement and plow-route coverage during winter storms. Among the program’s benefits is the ability to see if an area needs additional service so that trucks can be directed to that area.
These aspects of the bill represent key drivers for creating a stronger, safer transportation system in the years ahead. But by no means does the FAST Act represent a comprehensive funding solution. Its funding levels are modest, and Pennsylvania’s existing infrastructure alone will demand ever-greater investments as deterioration of aging roads and bridges accelerates in the years ahead. Those investments will have to come from state budgets, tolls and other funding sources as well.
We must meet this maintenance challenge, even as we strive to build for the future. It falls to all of us — industry experts, political leaders, state transportation officials, counties and communities — to sustain the momentum created by the new bill. With a sense of cooperation and a commitment to even greater investments, we can enjoy the economic vitality, mobility, safety and quality of life that a world-class transportation system provides, and that the citizens of our commonwealth deserve.
Yassmin Gramian is the Pennsylvania district leader and a senior vice president of HNTB Corp., an infrastructure-solutions firm serving public and private owners and contractors.
First Published: March 2, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
