TodayLocal bridge symbol of underfunded projects
Transportation officials tout need for private-public partnerships for highways.
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U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, left, and Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Transportation Allen Biehler look at a large hole in a bridge near William’s Grove Park that has been closed for two years.(Karissa Zimmer/The Sentinel)
A crumbling bridge in Monroe Township became a symbol Wednesday for underfunded road and bridge repair projects in Pennsylvania.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters visited the nearly century-old span on Locust Point Road to support Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposal to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private entity.
“We’re finding more and more traditional means of funding are not going to be sufficient,” Peters told reporters under a chilly drizzle.
Fed funds inadequate
Citing the importance of private-public partnerships, Peters said available federal funds are “barely enough to maintain” the nation’s road and highway system, adding that one source of revenue — the gasoline tax — “is not going away.”
Peters, who has been stumping for such cooperation across the country, later appeared with Rendell at the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg. (See related story on A2.)
The state closed the 1911 bridge in March 2005 because of deteriorating concrete. The structure carries Locust Point Road across Yellow Breeches Creek.
Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Allen Biehler said it’s just one of 5,900 structurally deficient bridges in Pennsylvania.
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” Biehler told Peters as the two gaped at visible holes in the bridge. “It’s small, but it plays an important role for this rural area.”
A scheduled replacement of the bridge in 2011 is expected to cost about $3.5 million, Biehler said.
Earlier this year, Rendell proposed leasing the turnpike to a private company to raise nearly $1 billion a year for highway and bridge repairs across the state.
Citing a 13 percent annual increase in construction costs, Biehler said the need to raise money is urgent. “We’ve got to tackle this problem fast to stay anywhere near even,” he said. “We’ve got to move.”
