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PennDOT Still Assessing Damage from Lee

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PennDOT is still checking roads and bridges that were flooded by Tropical Storm Lee and assessing the full impact of the storm.  Spokesman Steve Chizmar says they fully expect damages will exceed 100 million dollars

The problems range from entire bridges and sections of road swept away, to minor shoulder washouts that can be more easily repaired.  The damage is spread out across the eastern part of the state, but Chizmar says the majority of problems are  in the nine county District 3 region, which is  based in Montoursville.

Chizmar says even major roads were affected. A section of Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County had to be completely reworked before it could be reopened.  He says it was a devastating flood that impacted basically the eastern third of Pennsylvania.

Chizmar says in some cases, the damage is not immediately apparent. He says anytime you have water sitting on top of the road or flowing heavily along the road, it can undermine the roadway.  He says they know the areas where they’ve received damage in the past for high water, and are they’re out inspecting those areas.  But he says if someone spots new damage, they can report it to 1-800-FIX-ROAD. He adds the 800 phone line is not just for potholes but any kind of road damage.

Chizmar says this kind of damage comes at a bad time. He says you’re adding more damage to a transportation network that is already underfunded and under stress.  He says the storm has magnified the importance of transportation.

Special Impaired Driving Enforcement Underway through Labor Day Holiday in Pennsylvania

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A special DUI enforcement campaign is underway in Pennsylvania heading into the Labor Day holiday weekend.  PennDOT has distributed federal funds to state and local police departments to help crackdown on impaired driving. The campaign is called the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” initiative. It’s part of a nationwide enforcement effort to crackdown on drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

PennDOT spokeswoman Erin Waters says more than 600 municipal departments and state police are involved in the effort.  She says they want to draw attention to the fact that police will be out there doing checkpoints and roving patrols, looking for impaired drivers.

Waters says the campaign started on August 19th and will continue through Labor Day. She says they typically see an uptick in impaired driving during nicer weather and large holidays.  She says people go to social functions, then get behind the wheel when they shouldn’t drive.

During the Labor Day holiday weekend last year, there were 169 alcohol-related crashes and five fatalities.

Transportation Funding Report Released

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Transportation Funding Advisory Commission Final Report

The TFAC report includes funding recommendations, a litany of modernization ideas and a 10-year vision of strategic investment.

The five year funding plan, outlined in the final report, could generate an additional $2.5-billion dollars in annual transportation funding.   The report indicates that the governor’s Transportation Funding Advisory Commission (TFAC) was directed not to consider hiking the gas tax, leasing the turnpike, or assumed federal aid. 

With those ideas off-the-table, the ultimate funding recommendations focused on adjusting driver and vehicle fees for inflation, uncapping the wholesale tax that oil companies pay and increasing fines that get funneled into the Motor License Fund. 

“It’s a very fair plan because it doesn’t focus all of the costs on one segment of the motoring public,” said Bob Latham, Executive Vice President of Associated PA Constructors, and one of 40-members on the Transportation Funding Advisory Commission.  “What it does seek to do is to start down that path, and increase funding gradually over a period of five years.  So you won’t see a major impact to highway users, whether they’re commercial users or personal motorists.” 

The impact on the typical driver – assuming no speeding tickets or other infractions – would be about $36-additional dollars in year one.  By year five, it could be up to $132 dollars.  But, PennDOT has said those are conservative estimates, based on all of the additional oil company tax revenue being passed onto consumers.  The report does point out that TFAC is “deeply aware” of the need to minimize the burden on taxpayers.  A few pages later it reads, “TFAC believes it is Pennsylvania’s best combination of options for aligning revenue with funding needs.” 

Nearly all of the major recommendations would require some sort of legislative action.  “Who knows, after the governor looks at it, what it’s going to look like when it goes to the legislature.  Then, who knows what it’s going to look like after they have a chance to look at it,” said Jim Runk, President of the PA Motor Truck Association, and another member of the 40-member panel. 

Runk was a bit leery when he was first appointed to the commission, but the feeling quickly faded.  “I think after the first hour or so I was pleasantly surprised that a group that large, and with so many different backgrounds, was able to come together and talk about the issues that are important to Pennsylvania.”

National Drivers Test

Transportation Commission’s Final Report to be Delivered to Governor

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Two weeks after the governor’s Transportation Funding Advisory Commission voted on its package of funding and modernization recommendations, the final report is about to be delivered to Governor Tom Corbett.  Phased in over five years, the recommendations are designed to provide an annual $2.5-billion dollar shot in the arm for transportation funding in the Keystone State.  Previous commissions have pegged Pennsylvania’s transportation funding crisis to be $3-billion dollars a year. 

It’s important that Pennsylvania is taking its transportation woes into its own hands, according to Joshua Schank at the Washington DC-based Eno Transportation Foundation.  Schank says states can’t rely on the federal Highway Trust Fund for help.  “The primary reason is that it’s traditionally been funded through the federal gas tax, which is 18.4-cents per gallon and has not been increased since 1993.”

PennDOT Logo

PennDOT Secretary Barry Schoch chaired the governor's Transportation Funding Advisory Commission.

The Transportation Funding Advisory Commission never considered a hike in the state’s gas tax.  Chairman and PennDOT Secretary Barry Schoch likens the gasoline tax to chasing one’s tail.  “If you increase it, you know that fuel consumption is going to go down in the future, so you’d have to increase it substantially to make up for that difference,” Schoch said back in June.  

PennDOT Vehicle Registration Sticker

The Transportation Funding Advisory Commission recommends indexing driver and vehicle fees to inflation.

One high-profile recommendation that will appear in the report is the removal of the state’s cap on the wholesale taxes paid by the oil companies.  The Commission also recommends an increase in the vehicle and driver fees, which would index them to the rate of inflation.  All together, the recommendations could result in PA drivers doling out an additional $132-dollars a year.  However officials say those are conservative estimates, based on the entire impact of un-capping the Oil Franchise Tax being passed onto consumers.  PennDOT spokesman Dennis Buterbaugh tells Radio PA that’s unlikely to happen. 

Many in Harrisburg are anxiously awaiting Governor Tom Corbett’s reaction to the report.  Corbett says tapping the 40-member commission was the first step in a “reasoned approach” to the transportation funding problem.  “As I call it, ready, aim, fire; not ready, fire, aim,” Corbett said on the July edition of “Ask the Governor.”  The report’s recommendations would require legislative action.

Governor Corbett’s Transportation Funding Advisory Commission Votes on Recomendations

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The final report of the Transportation Funding Advisory Commission is due to the Governor on August 1st. The panel voted Monday on a series of recommendations, including changes in fees and fines for drivers and uncapping a tax on oil companies. The goal is to fill a transportation funding gap, and develop more predictable funding to fix roads and bridges and pay for mass transit.

The commission recommends raising the driver’s license and vehicle registration fees to reflect inflation.   PennDOT spokesman Dennis Buterbaugh says whenever the fee is set, it can take another 10, 15, 20 years before they look at the fee again to see if it needs to be adjusted.  The recommendation calls for a 3% annual adjustment for inflation for many of the fees.

The commission is also suggesting some cost savings measures, such as biennial registrations and 8 year driver’s licenses.  This would cut registration and licensing paperwork in half and result in annual savings to the state.

The commission is calling for the cap to be removed from the Oil Company Franchise Tax.  For the average drivers, that could mean about $132 more a year out of pocket after the change was phased in over five years.   But Buterbaugh says those figures assume the entire change in the tax would be passed on to drivers, and the last time the fee was raised, almost none of it was passed along.

The commission has also recommended a number of fund transfers and other efficiencies.

The panel’s goal was to find $2.5 billion dollars in recurring annual revenue for transportation.

State Transportation Secretary Barry Schoch, who chaired the commission, says none of the recommendations should come as a surprise to the Governor. He says Governor Corbett will review each carefully when he receives the final report.  Schoch says the Governor put the charge out to them, saying transportation is important to him and he wants to know how to finance it.

National Drivers Test

PennDOT to Hold Hearings on 12 Year Plan Update

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Pennsylvanians are being asked to share their ideas on highway planning during a series of public hearings to update the state’s 12-year transportation program. The plan is updated every two years and is a “blueprint” of prioritized transportation projects.

PennDOT wants to hear what members of the public, local governments and county governments see as the top needs for transportation in their areas of the state. PennDOT is required by law to conduct the biennial process.

The hearings will be held August 11th in Altoona, August 25th in the Pittsburgh area, August 26th in Gettysburg, September 15th in Shawnee on Delaware, and September 16th in Philadelphia.  Pre-registration is required for those who want to speak at a hearing. People can learn more about the hearings at PennDOT’s website.

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle Nest Numbers Soar

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Bald Eagle Chicks

Bald Eagle Chicks

The number of bald eagle nests in Pennsylvania now tops 200.  The state Game Commission counts 203-nests in 50-counties.  “As recently as 1983 there were only three known nests, and they were all in Crawford County,” Game Commission spokesman Jerry Feaser tells us. 

1983 was the year the Game Commission implemented its bald eagle restoration program.  From that restoration effort, Feaser says, PA went from 3 active nests in 1983 to 100 in 2006.  “Now here we are, just five years later, and we’ve more than doubled the number of active bald eagle nests.”   

Crawford County still tops the list of bald eagle nests.  It and Pike County each have 19 known nests.  Lancaster County follows with 18.  None of those counties should be a surprise, because bald eagles thrive around major waterways.

This is the first year that the Game Commission has published an “Eagle Watching in Pennsylvania” guide, which you can find on their website.  “Pennsylvanians now have a greater opportunity of seeing a bald eagle, today, than any other generation since the Civil War,” Feaser says. 

Meanwhile, nesting bald eagles have temporarily put the brakes on a road construction project in York County.  PennDOT says the work on Route 30 will resume in August, as they do not want to disturb the chicks.  Bald eagles are currently classified as a threatened species in Pennsylvania.  There are 10 known bald eagle nests in York County.

PennDOT Posts the Help Wanted Signs for Winter

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We may be in the heat of July, but PennDOT is looking ahead to winter.  The help wanted signs are up for the Winter Maintenance Program.

The program, whichs runs from September into early April, hires transportation equipment operators and diesel mechanics to help remove snow and ice and maintain the equipment used for the job.

PennDOT spokesman Dennis Buterbaugh says a lot of people may not realize that when the winter season hits, PennDOT does not have enough of a complement of people to get out and plow the roads. They’re seeking people who have Commercial Drivers Licenses (CDLs) or who are certified diesel mechanics. There are also other seasonal positions available at some in some of PennDOT’s districts.

Buterbaugh  says they often see people who are construction and heavy equipment drivers during the summer seek snow removal positions in the winter.

People who are interested in a temporary position can call their local PennDOT office to see which jobs are available in their area.  More information on the Winter Maintenance Program is available at Penndot’s web site under Non-student Winter Maintenance Opportunities, including a link to apply.

PennDOT Vehicle Registration Sticker

Transportation Commission Works Toward August Goal

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The Transportation Funding Advisory Commission, created by Governor Tom Corbett’s executive order, is on pace to submit recommendations by August 1st.  PennDOT spokesman Dennis Buterbaugh says the objective is to find another $2-billion to $2.5-billion dollars to annually inject into Pennsylvania’s transportation infrastructure.  That’s the majority of an annual $3-billion dollar transportation funding gap that was identified in a previous study.

So what is the commission discussing?  “It can be something as small as eliminating the annual registration sticker on your license plate.  That can save the Commonwealth some money.  Many states have taken that step,” Buterbaugh tells us.  Another simple step that may be recommended involves the drivers license renewal process.  “Currently the drivers license time is four years.  There’s been talk about possibly extending that, because there’s a cost savings to the Commonwealth,” Buterbaugh adds.

As far as big ticket items go, Buterbaugh confirms the commission did hear a presentation on the possible tolling of Route 422 in the southeast.  Tolling may or may not be a part of the recommended solution.  “But the Commission is not going to make any decision on any specific route”

A hike in the gas tax appears to be off-the-table.  “The gasoline tax is a little bit like chasing your tail,” PennDOT Secretary Barry Schoch recently said.  Schoch is also chairman of the governor’s commission.  Their next meeting is set for June 27th in Harrisburg.

National Drivers Test

Are You Fit to Drive? I am

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Cleaning out my inbox the other day, I spotted a news release slugged, “Nearly 1 in 5 American Drivers Unfit for the Road,” and it was just too tempting not to follow up.  It turns out GMAC Insurance has been conducting a National Drivers Test for seven years now, and 18% of American drivers failed in 2011.  Pretty bad, right?  Well, 19% of we Pennsylvanians failed the test too.  The Keystone State actually ranked 26th according to the GMAC data – a marked improvement from 2010 when PA came in 39th among states. 

Looking even more closely at the data, Pennsylvanians’ average score was 77.7% , just a hair below the national average.  I had envisioned myself writing this post while boasting a perfect score (but I think 95% is a perfectly acceptable score too).  PLEASE, someone tell me you too would be tripped up by this one:

“When you approach a traffic signal displaying a steady yellow light, you must:”

A: Go through the intersection before it turns red

B: Stop if it is safe to do so

C: Be prepared to stop

D: Slow down and proceed with caution

Seriously… B, C, and D are virtually the same thing?!?  Despite my complaints, the correct answer remained “B.”  GMAC’s chief marketing officer Scott Eckman tells me the question people miss the most is: “How far you should follow somebody.”  If you’re taking the test later on, just remember the three-second rule (and not the one that applies when you drop a pretzel in the newsroom). 

If you want to brush up on your driving knowledge, the PA driver’s manual is posted online.  While I was surfing around looking for it, I came across PennDOT’s own safe driver quiz.  I won’t go into details about my score on this one, but I did learn that the fine for failure to yield to a pedestrian is $50-bucks.  Also, ‘failure to restrain children up to age four in an appropriate child safety seat’ is apparently a primary violation of the state’s seat belt law (I gave myself a pass on that one since I don’t have kids).    

Good luck on those quizzes… and on the highways.