Report Card for America's Infrastructure

Pennsylvania

Top 3 Infrastructure Concerns*

  1. Roads
  2. Bridges
  3. Drinking Water

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Key Infrastructure Facts

  • Roadway conditions are a factor in an estimated 30% of traffic fatalities. There were 1,549 traffic deaths in 1999 in Pennsylvania. 1
  • Federal funding for Pennsylvania's road and bridge system under TEA-21 was about $1.4 billion in fiscal year 2002. 1
  • 46% of Pennsylvania's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition. 1
  • 42% of Pennsylvania's bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. 1
  • 21% of Pennsylvania's urban freeways are congested. 1
  • Vehicle travel on Pennsylvania's highways increased by 18% from 1991 to 2001. Pennsylvania's population grew by 3% between 1990 and 2001. 1
  • Driving on roads in need of repair costs Pennsylvania's motorists $1.9 billion a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs - $219 per motorist. 1
  • 33% of municipal solid waste is recycled in Pennsylvania. 2
  • 42% of Pennsylvania's schools have at least one inadequate building feature. 3
  • 57% of Pennsylvania's schools have at least one unsatisfactory environmental condition. 3
  • Pennsylvania's drinking water infrastructure need is $5.26 billion over 20 years. 4
  • Pennsylvania must invest $6.3 billion over the next 20 years to upgrade its existing sewage treatment plants and lines, including $4 billion to remedy combined sewer overflows. 5
  • Pennsylvania has 757 high-hazard dams whose failure would likely cause a loss of human life. 6
  • The rehabilitation cost for Pennsylvania's most critical dams is estimated at $646.2 million. 6

Field notes from civil engineers in state*
I advised engineering students in 1986 on a senior project to develop a better East/West highway. Students found real need for improvements, did an excellent alignment study, and the media acknowledged their findings. State and planning agencies recently proposed minor safety improvements for the existing obsolete highway after a speeding truck killed several members of a family parked at a store near a dangerous intersection. Here in Pennsylvania, it seems that human blood must first be shed for engineers and planners to initiate action, and, when they do, it usually is inadequate and too late. When will engineers be allowed and provided the resources to do the work they were trained to do? - a civil engineer from Johnstown, PA

Roads continue to be the biggest roadblock to the development of Pittsburgh. The system here is woefully inadequate for a major city. There is no attempt to establish a true ring-road around the city that has spurred development in other cities. Pittsburgh is so far behind other comparable cities like Cincinnati or Nashville that it is laughable. And most of the people here have no idea how bad things are. Bridges are a real problem, just by sheer numbers. Many are way past their design life and are not being maintained. Wastewater will be a massive problem that is just dawning on the public here as the requirements to separate out storm water hit home. Because of the terrain here, it will be an incredibly expensive proposition. - a civil engineer from Pittsburgh, PA

Too many people do not believe that this is an issue until a bridge on their route is out, the transportation system is disrupted or some other catastrophe happens, and then infrastructure becomes an emergency need. - a civil engineer from Philadelphia, PA

From the Headlines

Roads & Bridges

  • The local hospital in Warren, Pa., has stationed an ambulance crew on the other side of town to avoid a time-consuming three-mile detour around the Hickory Street Bridge. The 86-year-old concrete arch bridge had deteriorated so thoroughly that it was closed at the end of March. A new $10-million span is more than a year away. (Associated Press, 7/8/03)
  • The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission plans to increase tolls in order to raise annual toll revenues from $30 million to $100 million to repair and improve bridges, self-insure against terrorist attacks, and undertake economic-development projects. The average age of bridges under the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission, which range from Bucks County to the New York border, is 70 years old. (Philadelphia Enquirer, 7/29/03)
  • Recently, the Pennsylvania Highway Information Association released a study stating that every $100 million invested in state road and bridge construction would create 1,914 jobs, and produce more than $15 million in federal taxes and more than $8.5 million in state and local taxes. (Highway Builder, Summer 2003)
  • Recently, the Pennsylvania Highway Information Association released a study stating that every $100 million invested in state road and bridge construction would created 1,914 jobs, produce more than $15 million in federal taxes and generate more than $8.5 million in state and local taxes. (Highway Builder, Summer 2003)
  • According to the 2000 U.S. Census figures, over the last 10 years the average commute times in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia grew 13% and 16%, respectively. Philly commuters lose 32 hours annually stuck in traffic while Pittsburghers are spending 24 hours a year stuck in traffic. In fact, rush hour in Philadelphia now lasts seven hours and costs each motorist $780 annually. (Highway Builder, Summer 2003)

Transit

  • A statewide edict to freeze state transit funds seven years ago has caused SEPTA, Philly's mass transit service, to cut services significantly. Pennsylvania also has a constitutional ban on gas tax money for transit, impacting the funding that SEPTA has access to. (Philadelphia Daily News, 7/6/03)

Sources

  1. TRIP Fact Sheets, July 2003
  2. The State of Garbage in America, Biocycle Magazine 2001
  3. Condition of America's Public Schools, 1999, Dept. of Education
  4. EPA Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey, 2001
  5. EPA Clean Water Needs Survey, 1996
  6. Association of State Dam Safety Officials

*Survey of the state's civil engineers conducted in August 2003.