Civil engineers claim federal stimulus funds have done little to improve Pennsylvania roads.
RESTON VA – Pennsylvania highways are in worse shape today than they were four years ago, despite the state’s efforts to spend more than $600 million to fix infrastructure problems, The Pennsylvania Independent online news service reported Monday (May 24, 2010).
The Independent cited the results of a new “Report Card for Pennsylvania’s Infrastructure,” in which 30 civil engineers who live or work in Pennsylvania and who are members of the Virginia-based American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), rated infrastructure elements. The ratings covered bridges, dams and levees, drinking water, freight rails, navigable waterways, parks and recreation facilities, roads, schools, solid waste, storm water, transportation and waste water systems.
Freight rail got the engineers’ highest mark, a “B;” roads, transit and storm water all got their lowest marks, “D-Minus.”
The state has allocated more than $600 million of federal stimulus money for road projects, including repairs on U.S. Route 422 between Royersford and Collegeville PA, but would need more than that amount to maintain its roads adequately for a single year, the ASCE claimed.
ASCE’s last such report card was issued in 2006. At that time, state roads were rated slightly higher, at “D,” and transit was rated higher still, at “D-Plus.”
Pennsylvania has the fifth-largest state and local road system in the country, according to The Independent. Truck traffic on commonwealth highways is more than double the national average, and the state itself is responsible for more than 40,000 miles of roadway. Local municipalities care for another 76,000 local miles, it reported.
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