Gov Wolf proposes to eliminate gas tax

[Deminpenn]

That's the state gas tax we all pay at the pump, 2nd highest in the US.

https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/gov-wolf-seeks-overhaul-of-pennsylvanias-highway-funding/

He's ordering a commission of lawmakers, transportation experts and so on to report back to him by Aug 1 of this year.

For me, tolling I-80 should be back on the table. It was requested by Rendell when he was governor, but for some reason denied by the federal gov't. I-80 is almost all through traffic. I-81 should be considered, too, since it's a north/south through traffic road. I'm sure there are other interstates although I think trying to toll I-95 wouldn't be politically feasible.

The PA state police would have to be funded from a different pot of money, too, like fees for the policing service they currently provide at no extra charge to communities who choose to disband their own police force.

[durablend]

1. IDK if that's feasible

That's over $7K/year per motorist (assuming 12K/year) they're going to have to make up somewhere.

[modrepub]

2. Tolls Are Better

but still seem to fall in densely populated areas disproportionally. Notice no talk of tolling I-99 or the US 322 stretch of interstate-like highway between Harrisburg and State College.

I like the state police collecting monies from communities that don't have organized police forces. That only seems fair but those folks have been living on the dole for so long they'll probably howl in protest.

PA needs to prepare for the electric vehicle switch which is bound to happen in the coming decades. The gas tax will be useless for funding roads at that point.

What we also need is some legislation that prohibits road building in counties with declining population/car registrations. Areas with declining population should actually have their state road systems shrink. Otherwise lots of road maintenance monies will be diverted away from areas with increasing traffic volumes to areas with very little or decreasing traffic.

[Deminpenn]

3. I live in an area with a declining population

and our roads are already poorly maintained. The road that runs past my house will be re-paved this year for the first time in over 15 years. I would be happy if these big semis with trailers were limited to roads able to handle them except when they are making local deliveries. For years, the road where my house is was used as a shortcut by truckers to avoid a new, tolled 4 lane road. Because a few sections of this route failed, the truckers stopped using it, but the damage has been done.

You're right about the municipalities that use the PSP now will howl if they have to start paying. They went nuts when Wolf proposed a mere $25/yr fee a couple years ago!

I think what the ultimate goal is, though, is to charge drivers by miles driven. I'm not sure how well that will go over. You wouldn't even need big brother type tracking, just the miles from yearly car inspections and registrations.

[modrepub]

4. More Weight, More Damage

Heavier vehicles are harder on roads than lighter ones. Milage and weight would have to be considered. A motorcycle doesn't cause as much damage as a dump truck.

We had that issue with township roads being used as short cuts leading to damage on local roads they were not supposed to be on. My township has no police force but the truck source was identified (local quarry) and the owners were made aware that their truck drivers were taking short cuts on roads they weren't supposed to be on. After awhile, the quarry owners got their drivers to stay on the state roads and off of the local township roads. You have to be proactive and start making a stink at your local township meeting or sending letters and IDing the culprits. A lot of time that's enough to get people to cooperate and follow the rules.

The whole road system needs radical reform. Building highways for "economic development" is something that should be frowned upon. In the end those roads soak up maintenance money that could be used for road systems that are more used. By building rural interstates like I-99 and the US 322 corridor (just to handle penn state football traffic 6-7 times a year), we've added more road milage to a road system we can't already maintain. Other states like VA had put a halt to all new road construction. Politicians love directing money to their own road systems or upgrading their local roads. Of course new roads add to the maintenance costs for a system that is already underfunded.

[Deminpenn]

5. An adjoining township put up signs on the entrances to its local roads

that say "not a GPS route" as truckers sometimes use the "shortest route" option to direct them and end up on residential streets.

There's a good bit of fracking going on west of me in a nearby rural township. I see a lot of trucks hauling that huge drilling equipment and all that goes with it. They really beat up the roads.

You make good points about the entire US road system.

[modrepub]

6. Thanks For The Feedback

Funny (not really I'm channeling ), weren't those fracking fees supposed to cover wear and tear on the local road systems? Our politicians have sold us down the river so to speak.

[Deminpenn]

7. No, the impact fees are paid to the county where the wells

are to do with as they please. Greene county spent theirs like a druken sailor, but the other counties in SWPa have saved their fees for a rainy day.

A major impacter on road maintenance, though, is the 700-800M the state police siphon off the top of the gas tax money to pay themselves.

[modrepub]

8. Don't Complain Too Much

None of those fees go to my county even though technically the natural gas in the Marcellus formation is a state asset. Maybe there's some other tax that goes into the general ledger but none that is retained for local uses other than property taxes.

I can't remember if the Marcellus or Utica shales are below the SE part of the state where I reside. No matter, they are too deep to be economical to develop at this point. Probably better, there's no guarantee the fracking fluids won't poison the local aquifers at some point in the future (and it will probably be impossible to assign blame for that to one company over another).

In the end, the natural gas "boom" is probably going to play out like the coal, iron and oil extraction industries in PA. Abandon structures leaching bad stuff into the environment for centuries. Some of us will be stuck with legacy environmental degradation for generations (and the rest of us will be stuck with the cleanup bill).

[Deminpenn]

9. Agree with your assessment of how the future of fossil fuels will play out

We actually have a huge Shell ethane cracker plant rounding the bend to completion and we also get some impact fee money from the fracking that goes on in the rural parts of Beaver county. The state spent so much money and tax breaks/incentives for Shell to build a plant here. The construction has been a boon, but most of that workforce will leave once the plant is complete. The initial promise was for 600 permanent jobs and now down to 500. If the local nuclear power plant closes, which seems probable in the near future, then net jobs will be about 0. The money could have been so much more wisely spent on renewable energy and a big recycling operation, but people here just can't come to grips with the idea that neither coal nor the mills are coming back.