Transportation debate begins at tough time in Pa.

May 3, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa.

Lawmakers usually nervous about casting an election-year vote to raise taxes will begin a special session this week to address Pennsylvania’s perpetually old and ill-maintained network of highways, bridges and mass transit systems.

The debate arrives at an especially inopportune time, since state government is facing a severe budget crunch for the second- straight year.

On Tuesday, Gov. Ed Rendell will deliver an address to a joint session of the House and Senate and is leaving the door wide open to ideas.

“He’s not putting a specific proposal on the table ... and he’s willing to discuss any and all reasonable ideas to fill that funding gap,” said Rendell’s press secretary, Gary Tuma.

The network was already considered underfunded several weeks ago when the federal government rejected Pennsylvania’s application to add tolls on Interstate 80 to collect more than $470 million a year for transportation causes.

That prompted Rendell’s call for the special session.

The money was supposed to be part of $2.9 billion in highway and bridge improvements and $1.6 billion in state and federal support for mass transit in the fiscal year beginning July 1, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Currently, the network is considered to be wanting for well over $1 billion a year.

Rendell advocates robust infrastructure spending as a long-term economic good, arguing that it boosts the businesses that do the contract work and supply the materials while improving Pennsylvania’s appeal to employers looking to relocate or expand.

He may have allies in the business community. The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry views infrastructure building as a central role of government and supports a reasonable increase in the gas taxes or registration fees that support highway and bridge work in Pennsylvania.

“They really function as user fees,” said chamber vice president Gene Barr. “If you use the road, you pay for the road, and we think that’s fair.”

A penny per gallon increase in the gas tax — on top of the 31.2 cents per gallon tax Pennsylvania already imposes — would yield about $62 million a year, according to PennDOT.

For now, roughly 20 percent of the state’s highway miles and bridges are in poor condition, contributing to a maintenance backlog of $14 billion, PennDOT says. The Rendell administration has whittled down that backlog — but siphoned dollars away from congestion relief to do so.