Wise folks, those Pennsylvanians; makes one wonder why they keep electing the people they keep electing.
But the point is: The people are right on this one.
Fixing infrastructure is critical. But because it's expensive, and because our leaders are spineless, witless wusses, such fixes get kicked down the road.
Back in 2006, the state Transportation Funding and Reform Commission cited a $1.7 billion need. Nothing happened.
Last year, the state Transportation Advisory Committee put the figure at $3.5 billion. Nothing happened.
In August, Gov. Corbett's 40-member Transportation Advisory Commission rated 5,205 bridges "structurally deficient" and 8,452 miles of the 40,000-mile state highway system "poor," and recommended a $2.5 billion fix.
What happened? Corbett said that transportation is not a priority this year.
I guess we need another study.
I guess it'll take a bridge collapse with multiple deaths or a buckled highway that flips a school bus to get Harrisburg serious about its obligations to public safety.
Most of what the Legislature does is unnecessary, ideological or both. This is not.
It's a safety issue and a jobs issue. One industry estimate says that $2 billion in repairs means 50,000 construction jobs - in a state with 523,000 unemployed.
Corbett's commission recommends a five-year plan that raises fines, vehicle and license fees; uncaps the oil-company franchise tax; eliminates 11 of 71 driver's license centers and eliminates those little, pain-in-the-ass registration stickers you scrape off and stick on your license plate. (PennDOT says that doing the latter saves $1 million a year. I say do it just to save the annual aggravation.)
Corbett's commission puts the plan's phased-in cost to the average driver at 70-cents a week in Year 1 and $2.54 a week in Year 5.
