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Scarnati Sets Record StraightSenate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, today, addressed some issues in regard to the transportation funding plan recently enacted for the Commonwealth. "One issue that is not debatable in Pennsylvania is the fact that our transportation needs have been vastly under funded and there are thousands of roads and bridges which need attention now, not later," Scarnati explained. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation there are nearly 6,000 bridges which are structurally deficient and approximately 9,000 miles of road in poor condition throughout the state. "Unfortunately, Congressmen Peterson and English did not have enough clout in the United States Congress to get Pennsylvania its fair share of federal transportation funding. Therefore, the state legislature was forced to take action to resolve the problem," said Scarnati. Under the last transportation funding legislation passed by Congress in 2005 (SAFETEA-LU-1), Pennsylvania received the smallest increase of any state in the country, just 19%. The average state received a 30% increase. The largest funding increase went to Colorado at 47%. Congressmen Peterson and English both voted in favor of the measure. "It is troubling to me that our Congressmen would cast a vote to send our constituents’ hard-earned tax dollars to Colorado and other states when we have so many roads and bridges in dire need of repair here at home," Scarnati stated. In 1998 both Congressmen also voted for the legislation which gave federal authorization to toll I-80 (TEA-21), in fact Peterson was a cosponsor of the bill. "Now they have even come up with a plan to tax the millions of dollars the state will be using to pay for needed transportation projects in our region and send the money to other states," Scarnati stated. Act 44, the transportation funding plan passed by the state legislature earlier last month provides over $75 million in funding for 30 bridge and 42 road projects in the 25th senatorial district. "Under the Congressmen’s proposal none of this critical rehabilitation and replacement work will take place," said Scarnati. "It’s unfortunate the Congressmen only seem interested in being obstructionists, rather than working with us in finding solutions to address this crisis." The long list of road and bridge improvements planned for the region, which the Congressmen are trying to thwart, contains several major bridge replacement projects including:
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