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Governor seeks overhaul of Pennsylvania’s highway funding

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Governor seeks overhaul of Pennsylvania’s highway funding
A view of I-80 bridge over the Lehigh River in the borough of White Haven, Pa., toward Carbon County, taken Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. The Carbon County commissioners aren’t keen on a plan to toll bridges along Interstate 80 to fund construction projects. (Warren Ruda/Standard-Speaker via AP)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Amid a deepening stalemate over financing highways and public transit, Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday, March 12, proposed phasing out Pennsylvania’s gasoline tax and appointed a commission to recommend alternative ways to pay for the state’s needs.

Wolf ordered a commission of lawmakers, transportation industry representatives, transportation planners, government officials and others to deliver recommendations by Aug. 1 of funding alternatives to foot the extra billions of dollars deemed to be necessary.

The gas tax that Wolf calls “burdensome” isn’t keeping pace with transportation and safety needs as vehicles become more fuel-efficient and more motorists buy electric vehicles, state officials say.

PennDOT has said its current highway and bridge budget for construction and maintenance is about $6.9 billion per year, less than half of the $15 billion that is needed to keep Pennsylvania’s highways and bridges in good condition and ease major traffic bottlenecks.

PennDOT is seeking to add tolls to nine major bridge reconstruction projects, drawing objections from Republican lawmakers.

Meanwhile, the legislature’s efforts to fund transportation over the last two decades have plunged the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission deep into debt, jacked up turnpike tolls and elevated the gas tax to No. 2 in the nation.

By Marc Levy, The Associated Press

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The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. The Trucker Media Group is subscriber of The Associated Press has been granted the license to use this content on TheTrucker.com and The Trucker newspaper in accordance with its Content License Agreement with The Associated Press.
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