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Transportation Planning and Advocacy
Posted 4-28-2004
An important duty of a county
commissioner is being involved in transportation planning and advocacy.
Since taking office in 1996, I have been a member of the Southwestern
Pennsylvania Commission (SPC), the metropolitan planning organization for
southwestern Pennsylvania. SPC is the organization tasked with developing a
transportation plan for how federal transportation money will be spent in
our 10-county region.
Like many other plans, things
don't always turn out accordingly. That is where the advocacy part comes in.
Recent news came out that Westmoreland County would be receiving $20 million
in "spike" funds to complete a part of Route 22 in Export, called the B02
section. Spike funds are a special category of federal transportation money
that the Secretary of Transportation Al Biehler directs to projects he deems
as needing the funding. They are projects that are important, but would
never get the necessary funding through the normal allocation process.
When federal money is
allocated for Pennsylvania, the Secretary holds back a certain
percentage to help fund certain projects. This process began years ago, but,
in recent times, southwestern Pennsylvania was not getting its fair share.
With ordinary transportation money, our region gets about 24 percent of the
Commonwealth's allocation. That number is based on population and lane
miles. However, during the Ridge years -- with Secretary of Transportation
Brad Mallory being from north central Pennsylvania -– our region was only
receiving five percent of the spike funds, and Westmoreland County was
receiving no spike funds.
In earlier SPC plans, we had
identified money for construction of the B02 section of Route 22. Because of
cost overruns on other projects and a $10 million construction cost increase
on the B01 section of Route 22 in Murrysville, the money we had allocated
for the Export portion of Route 22 was moved. When time came to develop the
current plan, PennDOT told us we had to cut $32 million in other projects to
fund to B02 section of Route 22. We said that was impossible as those other
projects are important too.
I was convinced that this
project was worthy of spike funding. At SPC, I stated that our region was
not getting its fair share, and leaders from the other counties agreed. As a
result each county identified candidates for spike funding. The list grew
tremendously, but I stuck by the Route 22 project as the region's best
candidate for spike funding. After an initial list of $600 million in
projects, it was whittled down to $200 million in projects. When the
Secretary made his awards, the region got $43 million, with Westmoreland
County receiving $20 million of that amount.
This lobbying effort was not
done solely by SPC or me. Commissioner Tom Ceraso, who also is an SPC
member, local leaders from the Route 22 corridor, State Senators Allen
Kukovich and Don White, and State Representatives John Pallone and Joe
Markosek all played key lobbying roles in getting the Secretary's attention
to this very worthy project.
Building and repairing roads
can be an objective process. They need attention because they are either in
bad shape or cannot handle current traffic. But where the money goes and
when it is spent can also be a subjective, political process. While we knew
the merits of the project, it took a united bipartisan effort to get funding
beyond what is normally directed to Westmoreland County. This was not simply
a case of the squeaky wheel getting greased. The project is extremely
important to Westmoreland County and the region, and PennDOT had moved
earlier allocations of money to fund other projects. But, we are very
appreciative of Secretary Biehler and recognize that a united voice from
Westmoreland County allows us to get more attention to our county's needs.
Year after year, we develop a
solid transportation plan for Westmoreland County. On paper, it looks like
we are getting millions of dollars to complete the projects on the plan. But
unless PennDOT obligates the money and completes the projects, we continue
to carry them on the plans year after year. Route 22 is such an important
transportation artery, and the numerous projects we would have had to remove
to fund the B02 section would have literally set the county's transportation
program back years. We had to go beyond the normal process, and,
fortunately, things worked out in our favor. |
