Feb 05, 2021
The I-80 bridge over Route 54 in Valley Township in Pennsylvania recently underwent a $500,000 emergency repair after two beams were damaged when struck by an over-height vehicle.
Photo credit: PennDOT
Faced with an annual $8.1 billion funding gap for its interstate system, Pennsylvania transportation officials are proposing replacing critical, aging bridges with toll bridges.
The proposal is part of a search for additional,
alternative funding as the state faces dwindling gas-tax revenues, less federal funding than expected and interstate bridges that are nearing the end of their useful lives. The
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation receives $6.9 billion a year in funding and estimates it has $15 billion in needs for the interstates for the 2020-2021 fiscal year.
Freight Operations Resume in Snow-Smothered Northeast States
A worker clears snow from a New York City street after a severe winter storm set in.(Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg News)
Freight operations in the Northeast are proceeding after a massive snowstorm walloped the region, resulting in temporary restrictions on commercial vehicle travel.
Leaders in several states established truck travel restrictions as a Nor’easter moved in Feb. 1. According to the National Weather Service, the storm dumped 17.4 inches of snow in New York City, 16.6 inches in Norfolk, Conn., and 14.5 inches in Scranton, Pa.
Rhode Island Trucking Association President Christopher Maxwell expressed frustration with the state’s travel restriction, noting snow had not accumulated in his area by late morning Feb. 1. Rhode Island’s ban prohibited all tractor-trailers, except those carrying emergency supplies, from traveling on state roadways. Rhode Island Department of Transportation spokesman Charles St. Mar
Capitolwire
HARRISBURG Charging tolls to help pay for selected interstate highway bridge projects under Pennsylvania’s Public-Private Partnership Transportation Program was the subject of a Senate Transportation Committee public hearing Monday.
The P3 Board voted in November to give the green light to planning for major bridge projects that rely on user fees or tolls for revenue. Major bridges are those of significance based on physical size, location and cost to replace or rehabilitate.
PennDOT is evaluating five to 10 bridge projects on interstates across the state as potential candidates for tolling, Transportation Secretary Yassmin Gramian said. She indicated the list could be available by mid-February.
Pa. truckers to state: We should be on high priority list for COVID-19 vaccine
Updated Dec 18, 2020;
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Truck drivers should be included in the high priority list for the new COVID-19 vaccine, trucking associations are arguing as the new Pfizer vaccine is making its way across the country to healthcare workers via its drivers.
Earlier this month, the head of the American Trucking Associations requested the CDC, President Donald Trump and president-elect Joe Biden place drivers on the priority list for the vaccine. Now, the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association is asking the same of state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine.