Help BetterSaferRoads.com -
Support a comprehensive solution to Pennsylvania's transportation funding dilemma to improve the quality of life in urban, suburban and rural Pennsylvania by submitting your petition below.
Help BetterSaferRoads.com -
Support a comprehensive solution to Pennsylvania's transportation funding dilemma to improve the quality of life in urban, suburban and rural Pennsylvania.
Thank you for your submission!
The letter at the right has been sent on your behalf to your representatives listed below.
Pennsylvania State Governor
Tom Corbett
PA State House Representative:
District
Rep.
PA State Senator:
District
Sen.
Dear Governor Corbett and members of the General Assembly,
I'm writing to let you know that I have added my name to the on-line petition at www.BetterSaferRoads.com.
I urge you to support a comprehensive solution to Pennsylvania's transportation funding problem. Our transportation system impacts every resident, business and visitor of the Commonwealth. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), transit agencies, and local governments to maintain, improve, and provide the infrastructure and services to meet Pennsylvania's mobility needs.
This situation hinders the state's economic competitiveness and impacts our people, businesses, and environment. The importance of our transportation system to the state's economy cannot be overstated. The system facilitates the movement of workers to jobs, students to schools, consumers to stores and products to their next stop in the global supply chain. In order to compete in a global economy, Pennsylvania requires an efficient and effective transportation system.
A comprehensive solution to this dilemma will enhance safety, relieve congestion, create jobs and improve the quality of life in urban, suburban and rural Pennsylvania. I appreciate your prompt attention to this very important issue.
Dear Governor Corbett and members of the General Assembly,
I am writing to urge you to support a comprehensive solution to Pennsylvania's transportation funding problem. Our transportation system impacts every resident, business and visitor of the Commonwealth. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), transit agencies, and local governments to maintain, improve, and provide the infrastructure and services to meet Pennsylvania's mobility needs.
This situation hinders the state's economic competitiveness and impacts our people, businesses, and environment. The importance of our transportation system to the state's economy cannot be overstated. The system facilitates the movement of workers to jobs, students to schools, consumers to stores and products to their next stop in the global supply chain. In order to compete in a global economy, Pennsylvania requires an efficient and effective transportation system.
A comprehensive solution to this dilemma will enhance safety, relieve congestion,
create jobs and improve the quality of life in urban, suburban and rural Pennsylvania.
I appreciate your prompt attention to this very important issue.
Concerned PA Citizen
Who We Are
BetterSaferRoads.com is presented by a coalition of the highway construction industry and allies who support a comprehensive solution to Pennsylvania's funding needs. The primary funding source is the APC Educational Trust Fund, a 501c4 organization.
For more information about transportation in Pennsylvania, please visit:
Featuring an interactive exercise in discussing transportation needs at the local level, as well as a collection of studies and reports. Visit www.ReConnectPA.org.
Get information regarding public transit in Pennsylvania. Visit the Pa. Public Transit Association at www.ppta.net.
Presenting transportation from a highway users' standpoint. Visit the Pa. Highway Information Association at http://pahighwayinfo.org.
View the recommendations of Governor Corbett's Transportation Funding Advisory Committee; visit www.tfac.pa.gov.
To identify and/or contact your state senator or representative, visit www.legis.state.pa.us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why is transportation funding an important issue?
A: Our 50-year-old highway system requires major improvements, to improve safety and relieve congestion. Doing so will improve the quality of life for all Pennsylvanians, in the short term by stimulating the economy and creating jobs, and in the long term by enabling the state to achieve its economic growth potential.
Q: How much will a good funding plan cost?
A: Surprisingly, an average driver would pay only an additional 70 cents per week in the first year, increasing to about $2.50 per week – less than the cost of a gallon of gas – by the fifth year.
Q: What is the Federal Government doing about transportation funding?
A: Very little. There is no consensus among the Obama administration, the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. Inflation has eaten away at the buying power of federal gasoline tax revenue, and tighter fuel efficiency standards are actually lessening the amount of revenue raised. Given the situation in Washington, it's clear that a funding solution can only be achieved at the state level.
Q: Can't this problem be solved simply by cutting waste and making government more efficient?
A: No. The magnitude of the funding gap – $3.5 billion annually – is far too large. Pennsylvania's transportation system has been significantly underfunded for many years. There must be more revenue dedicated to transportation.
Q: What guarantees that the money I pay in higher fees won't be used for something other than highways?
A: The state constitution. Revenue raised from license and registration fees and gasoline taxes is required to be placed into the Motor License Fund, and it cannot be used for anything other than bridge and highway maintenance and construction.
Q: What has happened to all the additional gas tax revenue resulting from the higher gasoline prices in the last several years?
A: The gas tax revenue remains flat, even though fuel prices have increased. The state gas tax rate hasn't been increase since 1997, and the federal tax since 1993.
Q: Is tolling part of the plan?
A: No. Tolling is a federal issue. Pennsylvania will reserve the ability to use tolling if the Federal Government would ever make that a bigger part of its transportation funding policy, but unlike the I-80 tolling plan, the money raised with tolls would remain with the highway corridors in which it is raised.
Q: How do I know the bulk of the revenue won't be sent to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh?
A: “Sending the money to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh” is probably the biggest myth in the entire transportation funding discussion. Residents of the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas contribute – by far – significantly more in license and registration fees and gas taxes than they receive. If it weren't for the revenue from Philly and Pittsburgh, rural areas would be transportation-poor.