HARRISBURG - The state Department of Transportation can revive a program to reduce a backlog of structurally deficient bridges if a new state revenue package is approved this fall by Gov. Tom Corbett and lawmakers, a report released Monday by a special commission concluded.
The Governor's Transportation Funding Advisory Commission offered a series of recommendations to generate $2.5 billion annually in new revenue for bridge, road and mass transit projects. A big chunk of revenue would come from lifting the cap on the state Oil Company Franchise Tax, a levy on the wholesale price of gasoline that would be passed along by retailers to consumers.
Another recommendation would increase the cost of a motor vehicle registration fee and driver's license by the inflation rate while extending the renewal periods for both documents. Other revenue would be made available for transportation projects through various cost savings.
If the revenue infusion is approved, transportation officials said they can undertake enough repair work to reduce the overall number of structurally deficient bridges in Pennsylvania by 150 to 200 spans each year.
This category of bridges is considered safe to drive over, but in need of significant repair. Many structurally deficient bridges are eventually closed or weight-restricted.
Transportation officials plan to release a list by month's end of which specific projects would be funded if the commission's recommendations are enacted.
A new Times-Shamrock Newspapers analysis of state and federal bridge inspection data shows that as many as a quarter of the 1,143 bridges in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties are structurally deficient in one aspect or another.
State bridge inspection data show that more than 20 percent of Lackawanna County's 480 bridges have structural problems. Nearly 25 percent of Luzerne County's 663 bridges are structurally deficient.
PennDOT started an "accelerated bridge" program with short-term increased funding in 2008 under the Rendell administration. The program reduced the number of structurally deficient bridges to 5,200 from an all-time high of 6,034 spans before funding dropped to previous levels this year. Without new revenue, the total number of structurally deficient bridges will begin to rise again in three years, the report warned.
If the report's recommendations are adopted, the average driver would pay nearly $36 more in transportation-related costs in fiscal 2012-13, with that cost increasing to $132 more within five years as measures are implemented.
For mass transit, the commission recommends that 2 percent of existing state sales tax revenues go for that purpose. To help local governments contribute more to the budgets of local mass transit agencies, the commission urges lawmakers to pass a law allowing taverns to operate small games of chance such as raffles and punchboards to generate a new funding source from small games license fees.