PRINTER'S NO. 2224
No. 348 Session of 2008
INTRODUCED BY SCARNATI, MADIGAN, PILEGGI, ARMSTRONG, ORIE,
WAUGH, PUNT, BRUBAKER, TOMLINSON, M. WHITE, WONDERLING,
RAFFERTY, RHOADES, PIPPY, GREENLEAF, BAKER, REGOLA, ERICKSON,
BROWNE, D. WHITE, McILHINNEY, FERLO, STOUT, MUSTO, KITCHEN,
BOSCOLA, O'PAKE, C. WILLIAMS AND KASUNIC, JUNE 23, 2008
REFERRED TO TRANSPORTATION, JUNE 23, 2008
A RESOLUTION
1 In support of a national transportation system.
2 WHEREAS, A robust national transportation system is essential
3 to greater energy security and broad-based economic growth; and
4 WHEREAS, Achieving these fundamental, interdependent goals is
5 in the national interest; and
6 WHEREAS, The national transportation system is an essential
7 public service; and
8 WHEREAS, Transportation financing has long been achieved
9 through the equitable application of user fees at the Federal,
10 state and local level; and
11 WHEREAS, The public sector recognizes the private sector has
12 much to offer to the delivery of safe, modern and effective
13 transportation options; and
14 WHEREAS, Public-private partnerships can play a role in the
15 enhancement of existing public infrastructure and provide new
16 options and unconventional alternatives to traditional funding;
1 and
2 WHEREAS, Technological applications, like open road tolling,
3 can greatly enhance safe and efficient transportation; and
4 WHEREAS, Federal, state, provincial, commonwealth and
5 territorial governments must play a central role in funding
6 surface transportation; and
7 WHEREAS, The broad social, economic and environmental
8 requirements for a mobile society demand the provision of
9 effective and efficient multimodal transportation infrastructure
10 and remain a core function of national, state, provincial and
11 local governments; and
12 WHEREAS, The Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is
13 alarmed at the Federal Government's determined effort to reduce
14 the Federal role in surface transportation investment; and
15 WHEREAS, Transportation professionals indicate that
16 maintenance applications are critical at certain points in the
17 infrastructure life cycle and thus the nation must invest now to
18 ensure that critical structures such as transit facilities,
19 freight systems, highways and bridges can be maintained before
20 inflation and engineering decay are such that it becomes cost
21 prohibitive to make a sustainable investment; and
22 WHEREAS, A national policy of disinvestment in surface
23 transportation imperils major investments in much-needed
24 upgrades to the nation's freight delivery systems on the
25 Interstate Highway System and efforts to battle urban congestion
26 and improve rural economic opportunities; therefore be it
27 RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
28 urge the Congress of the United States to consider the
29 immeasurable value of a national transportation system and thus
30 to summarily reject a strategy of disinvestment in the nation's
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1 transportation infrastructure and, as has historically occurred,
2 embark on a joint venture with the states to create a
3 sustainable surface transportation system; and be it further
4 RESOLVED, That this resolution be sent to the President of
5 the United States, the leadership of the Congress of the United
6 States and relevant transportation oversight committees, the
7 Governor and the Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation.
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