With a Sunday deadline for the state budget fast approaching, state Department of Transportation Deputy Secretary for Planning James D. Ritzman told the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce members Wednesday that transportation funding should be a priority for both Republicans and Democrats in Harrisburg.
"This isn't just a Republican issue. This isn't just a Democratic issue. Roads and bridges aren't Republican or Democrat," Ritzman said Wednesday as the guest speaker for the chamber's luncheon at Roman Delight in Orwigsburg.
Since January 2007, Ritzman has directed the activities associated with the Center for Program Development and Management, the Bureau of Municipal Services and the Bureau of Planning and Research. He is responsible for overseeing the state's planning and programing functions, such as PennDOT's long-range plan/comprehensive freight movement plan, 12-Year Program development and the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.
Ritzman said the goals of transportation in Pennsylvania have always been public safety and commerce. According to PennDOT, there are more than 4,000 structurally deficient bridges in the state and 1.5 million students travel those roads in school buses daily.
In Schuylkill County, there are 342 state-owned bridges. About 25 percent of those, or 85 bridges, are structurally deficient, Ritzman said.
"You have a big bridge problem in Schuylkill County today after we have made incredible progress over the last couple years. We have dropped from over 6,000 to under 4,400 (structurally-deficient bridges in the state) right now and you are still in miserable shape."
Ritzman also pointed out that these statistics don't include the 157 locally owned bridges. He said in the district, more than every other locally owned bridge is structurally deficient.
Another problem in Schuylkill County is road quality. PennDOT characterizes roads as excellent, good, fair or poor. In Schuylkill County, 28 percent of the roads are poor and another 21 percent are fair.
"Every time that you post a bridge and the detour has to go somewhere else, those detour miles are probably on less safe roadways than the regular miles are," Ritzman said. "So every posting has another consequence of compromising safety and increasing costs for the marketplace."
Modernization is also a priority for PennDOT.
Ritzman said Gov. Tom Corbett's annual report included 39 modernization items that were put into effect without the need of legislation.
"I'll give one example of modernization which is just very simple in nature but very evident of us just continuing to ask ourselves why we do what we do," Ritzman said.
Ritzman said each state is required by federal law to review outdoor advertisements. PennDOT has reviewed billboards and other outdoor advertisements every year. After checking with other states, Ritzman said most practice that every other year. PennDOT then changed its practice to every other year.
"That allows us to direct resources somewhere else," Ritzman said. "It's a very simple thing but it's an example of employees challenging the process and asking why we are doing this."
Ritzman said PennDOT may soon involve itself in traffic signal management. Traffic signals are owned by municipalities. There are just under 14,000 signals in the state and 98 in Schuylkill County.
"This is one area where PennDOT can really improve its game," Ritzman said. "Signals are so critical to traffic flow, we need to get engaged and part of what we are going to try to do is to encourage investment in that. If you see a decade of investment happen, you would see a much more proactive role in PennDOT."
PennDOT is also listening to the ideas of its employees.
Ritzman said PennDOT has about 12,000 employees and has received about 1,000 ideas for change. He said PennDOT Secretary Barry Schoch has implemented about 200 of those ideas so far.
"He reviews the response to every letter," Ritzman said. "If he doesn't like it or it doesn't make sense, it gets changed."
PennDOT is responsible for more than 40,000 miles of roadways in Pennsylvania. More than 20,000 miles have more than 2,000 vehicles travel on them daily, Ritzman said.
Corbett's transportation plan decreases the flat tax by nearly 17 percent, generates $1.8 billion in its fifth year, uses public-private partnerships projects and ends contributions from the Pennsylvania Turnpike in its 10th year.
Ritzman said infrastructure is vital for economic competitiveness as about $500 billion worth of goods and services travel on state roads annually. Investment in infrastructure will also create 50,000 jobs as opposed to inducing 12,000 job losses, Ritzman said.
Ritzman said not funding transportation projects now will only result in increase costs down the road. He said taking detours around closed bridges only increases the costs of the goods being transported. If not funded now, Ritzman said it only "kicks the can further down the road."
"I think the actual question is do you want to pay more for something that helps the problem or do you want to pay more for something and have things get worse," Ritzman said.
