JOC Staff | Feb 06, 2013 2:53PM EST
Pennsylvania’s Gov. Tom Corbett has proposed two changes to the way the state provides funding for transportation infrastructure.
“I am calling on the legislature to pass a 17 percent reduction in the flat liquid fuels tax paid by consumers at the pump,” he said during his statewide budget address. “Second, I am asking the general assembly to begin a five-year phase out of an artificial and outdated cap n the tax paid by oil and gas companies on the wholesale price of gasoline.”
The governor's office estimates the plan will add $1.8 billion of additional funding into the state’s transportation system: about $1.2 billion for improvements to Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation-maintained roads and bridges; $250 million for transit; $200 million for locally owned roads and bridges; $85 million for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to pay for expansion projects; and $80 million for a multi-modal fund providing improvements to ports, airports, railways and bicycle and pedestrian facilities.
Members of the Keystone Transportation Funding Coalition — which includes labor unions, air and seaport organizations, freight rail organizations, truck freight haulers and more — applauded the announcement.