HARRISBURG - Gov. Tom Corbett's recent move to join the long-simmering debate over additional transportation funding puts a focus on how the Department of Transportation shuffled money to reopen flood-damaged roads and bridges in Northeast Pennsylvania while a legislative stalemate sank a flood-aid package this past legislative session.
PennDOT has spent the past 15 months since the floodwaters receded from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee in September 2011 fixing washed- out roads and erecting bridges, sometimes on a temporary basis, to make sure traffic and commerce got moving again throughout the region.
The department reallocated money from the pot of $5.3 billion in federal and state funds available annually for road and bridge work in Pennsylvania to tackle flood repair projects. While this went on, thousands of state-owned bridges are classified as structurally deficient or posted for weight limits, and major construction projects to ease traffic congestion remain stalled due to a squeeze in transportation revenues.
Much of the basic flood repair work has been done, although portions of five roads remain closed with detours or open to local traffic only in the region. An undetermined number of longer-term structural repair projects remain to be undertaken.
Luzerne, Wyoming, Bradford, Susquehanna, Sullivan and Lycoming counties were among the hardest hit, but flood damage extended throughout the Susquehanna and Delaware River watersheds.
"We used resources from other parts of the state," said department spokesman Steve Chizmar. "We were fortunate we had a mild winter."
A status report from PennDOT on several projects shows where things stand.
- A $2.6 million contract was awarded in September to replace the Route 187 bridge in Windham Twp., Bradford County. Completion is slated for October 2013. A temporary span is in place now.
- Portions of Route 3001 in Forkston Twp., Wyoming County, remain closed, and detours are set up while work on longer-term repairs is scheduled for bidding.
- Repairs have been made to reopen Route 2003 in Sullivan County in most spots, while a new coat of asphalt still has to be applied.
Elsewhere, sections of Route 2006 in Monroe County, Route 2001 in Lehigh County and Route 1013 in Lycoming County remain closed.
It's not just a state concern. Federal and local officials are involved with repair projects, too.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is providing $6.9 million to help replace a steel bridge on Route 3001 over Mehoopany Creek in Forkston Twp. that was destroyed during Hurricane Irene, said U.S. Sen. Bob Casey on Friday. The federal money represents 75 percent of the total $9.2 million project.
"Rebuilding the bridge in Forkston is a major step forward in Wyoming County's recovery from the flooding, but there's still a long way to go," said Mr. Casey.
In Luz-erne County, a temporary access road has been built to the Tilbury Terrace Development in Plymouth Twp. Tropical Storm Lee washed out parts of Tilbury Road, the only access to the development. FEMA is providing funding for this project, too. Township supervisors plan to put out bids for repairs to Tilbury Road next month.
This work has gone on while the Republican-controlled General Assembly didn't approve any bills to authorize the 25 percent state share of disaster aid to augment federal dollars for damaged roads and bridges, water and sewer systems and flood control projects during the 2011-12 legislative session.
The Senate approved a $150 million recovery bond issue to underwrite the state's share, while the House approved no-borrow aid bills that drew money from the existing Motor License Fund and other transfers. The two chambers needed to agree on a joint bill for it to reach the governor's desk. These bills died when the session ended Nov. 30.
A House bill authorized $67.6 million worth of highway projects spread across 24 counties while another bill authorized $49.5 million worth of bridge projects.
"That is the point of having a bond issue," said Sen. John Yudichak, D-14, Nanticoke, "That you not be robbing from your operating budget to respond to a natural disaster."
Moving money from the operating budget has negative consequences for local projects to build road capacity, such as the South Valley Parkway, said Mr. Yudichak. This project isn't scheduled for bidding until 2015, and any anticipated spin-off in economic benefits will have to wait, he added.
Lost in the debate over a transportation funding shortfall is that the department still has roughly $6 billion annually to work with, said Rep. Matthew Baker, R-68, Wellsboro, who sponsored the highway project authorization bill.
"They always have that pool of money," he said. "They reprioritized projects based on need."
Mr. Baker and Rep. Tina Pickett, R-110, Towanda, said they will weigh what priority is given to flood repair work in any debate over a transportation funding bill next year.
Should new funding become available, a flood repair project shouldn't necessarily get priority over a project to replace a key bridge that was already structurally deficient before the flood hit, said Rep. Mike Carroll, D-118, Hughestown, a member of the House Transportation Committee.
But he said there are cases where floodwaters made an already deficient bridge even weaker, thus resulting in lower weight limits.
Mr. Corbett is expected to unveil a transportation plan early next year. He is considering proposals to lift the cap of the state oil company franchise tax, which a gubernatorial commission has endorsed, and create private/public partnerships authorized under a new state law to undertake projects.
Washington's rejection of a provision under a 2007 state law to toll Interstate 80 and declining revenue from the state gasoline tax at the pump have created the shortfall that amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
Lawmakers will need first to see the details of the governor's transportation plan, said Sen. Lisa Baker, R-20, Lehman Twp. There are no indications yet of a specific provision in that plan to address flood repair projects, but that's possible, she added.
Approval of a transportation funding bill will depend on public disclosure of which projects will be undertaken with the new revenue, said Mr. Carroll. "I think 2013 is the year," he added.
Contact the writer: rswift@timesshamrock.com