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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 31, 2022 09:44 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Tim Hennessey and Rep. Mike Carroll |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Local Bridge Trust Fund |
| In the near future we plan to introduce legislation to allocate $500 million of American Rescue Plan funds to assist in the repair of locally owned bridges in the commonwealth. Utilizing the ARP funds for local bridge infrastructure will help begin to address the Commonwealth’s significant local bridge repair or reconstruction backlog. As of March 2021, there were 6,663 locally-owned bridges in the Commonwealth, with 26% of those considered to be in need of replacement. That number is increasing primarily due to delays in making repairs because of a lack of available funding. The estimated cost to replace the 1,755, structurally deficient, locally- owned bridges is more than $2B. Recently, organizations representing local governments across Pennsylvania suggested the creation of a “Local Bridge Trust Fund” as a way to help counties and municipalities address this issue. Included in the meeting were the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Municipal League, the Pa. State Association of Township Commissioners, the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors and the Pa. Boroughs Association. The Local Bridge Trust proposal would provide grants and technical support for bridge replacement projects to local governments that apply. The Trust would be administered by the Commonwealth’s CFA program. An authority would be created to administer the Trust Fund. Projects recommended for funding would require approval of the Authority. The objective is to fund bridges that are in the worst condition while maintaining a balance between projects located in urban areas (higher traffic volume) and rural areas (longer detour). The Bridge Trust would give priority to shovel ready projects as long as the projects met program standards. The Trust would also provide advance funding to smaller communities to assist them to get projects to the shovel ready stage. We know that there has been some desire to save this federal allocation as a hedge to avoid future state budget deficits, but we should consider using some of the remaining $5 billion in ARP dollars as a potential funding source for an already existing problem. We hope you will join us in sponsoring this legislation. |
Introduced as HB2557