Help PennDOT plan to spend our money
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Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation has completed a draft of its long-range plan. It includes goals, objectives and recommendations based on department research and public input from more than 2,500 citizens. That sounds like a lot of public participation, but our state has 12,702,000 residents. That means that only one out of every 5,000 residents bothered to offer their two cents’ worth to PennDOT when invited to do so. The other 4,999 people just complained to each other, apparently.
But we still have a chance to offer our opinions on how our tax dollars should be spent in coming years. Feedback will be accepted through Dec. 15. In addition to commenting online at www.PAOnTrack.com, citizens can email comments to ra-PennDOTLRTP@pa.gov or by mail to PennDOT’s Center for Program Development and Management, c/o Statewide Long-Range Planning, P.O. Box 3365, Harrisburg, PA 17105-3365.
The draft plan is also available to view at www.PAOnTrack.com. It is filled with useful statistics, some of them surprising. Here are a few:
• Pennsylvania’s population has grown at an annual rate of roughly 3 percent since 1970, while the national growth rate has been nearly 12 percent annually.
• There are more than 2 million people in the state over the age of 65, and by 2040 nearly one of every four people will be 65 or older.
• Of those employed, 76.4 percent drive alone to work.
• Average travel time to work is 25.7 minutes.
• Only 4.5 percent of Pennsylvania households have no motor vehicle; 32 percent have three or more vehicles.
• There are nearly as many airports available to the public (141) as there are rail stations (154).
• The state is responsible for maintaining 25,000 bridges and 41,166 miles of road.
• Greene County is one of the few counties with no rural transit system.
• Washington and Greene counties are excluded from the intercity bus system and have no access to passenger trains.
• Freight tonnage by truck in Pennsylvania is expected to increase 74 percent by 2040.
If you happen to think that the powers that be should be paying more attention to pedestrian and bicycle traffic instead of making everything more convenient for motorists, or if you have been stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic and noticed that everyone else on the road was in his or her car alone but going to essentially the same place, here is your chance to offer suggestions.