Governor Corbett Does Not Fully Address Transportation Funding with the 2012-2013 Budget

In his budget address on February 7, 2012, Governor Tom Corbett mentioned transportation very briefly, stating that it is “critical that we address our transportation issues. This is not a budget item. It is too large for that. Transportation must be confronted as its own distinct and separate topic.”  The Governor then went on to say that he is willing to work with the legislature to address the problem.

The issue is not the size or scope of the transportation issues in Pennsylvania.  Pennsylvania is at the top of the list of states with structurally deficient bridges and the American Society of Engineers gave our state very poor grades in their 2010 Infrastructure Report Card.  In April, 2011, Governor formed the Transportation Funding Advisor Commission and challenged the forty member commission with developing solutions that fund our transportation system.  The commission completed their work in August, 2011 with a report that was supported unanimously by the members of the commission.  The Governor has not released any public statements indicating his support for the report.  Since the report was released, bills have been introduced to both the Senate (in November) and House (in January) that reform the Department of Transportation and properly funds our transportation infrastructure; the bill are based on the recommendations made by the commission.  The Governor has not publicly commented on either the House or Senate Bills.

The Governor has essentially passed the responsibility for dealing with the problem to the legislature when he said our transportation issues should be handled separate from the budget process.  The legislature is left in a guessing game, wondering what elements of the Transportation Funding Advisory Commission Report the Governor will support.  We should expect more from him than a willingness to work with the legislature; we elected him to lead the process.

Transportation has always been a bipartisan issue.  Aging bridges are neither Republican nor Democrat; they have no concern for budgets or available funding when they need to be replaced.  The concern belongs to the residents of Pennsylvania.  When a bridge needs to be replaced and there is no money to do so, it must be closed and detoured.  Those detours cost us time and money; money that is not being used to replace the closed bridge.  Our transportation problems extend well past aging bridges and pothole filled roads and include a transit infrastructure that is outdated and inadequately serves the areas where the population is now located; a freight rail network that is incapable of handling increased volumes of freight, forcing more onto our already congested highways; and airports that are plagued with frequent delays because they were designed during a period when air travel was a luxury, not a necessity.

Transportation is certainly too large to be dealt with properly in the budget process, but it is also not so insignificant as to warrant only a brief mention in an address to the legislature.  If the Governor wants us to “continue the journey that will turn the road to recovery into the path to prosperity”, then we will need a good road map and a good driver behind the wheel.  He gave us the road map with the commission’s report, now we need him to be more than a backseat driver; we need him at the wheel. 

Posted in: policy,Shayne Trimbell