Pennsylvania commission adopts new 12-year transportation plan

The Pennsylvania State Transportation Commission yesterday adopted an updated 12-year program (TYP) to improve roads, bridges, transit systems, airports and railroads.

State officials predict $84 billion in funding will be available to fund the improvement projects over the 12-year span.

The TYP is a multimodal, "fiscally constrained" planning tool for identifying and prioritizing the state's transportation projects, commission officials said in a press release. State law requires the commission to review and update the TYP every two years.

The new program takes effect Oct. 1 and incorporates funding from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by Congress in November 2021.

In the new plan's first four years, state officials anticipate funding availability of $16 billion for state highway and bridge projects, $11.4 billion for public transit, $331 million for multimodal projects, $232 million for freight rail and $168 million for aviation.

The TYP was developed in partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, 19 metropolitan planning organizations and an independent county. The plan still needs to be reviewed and approved by the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration in accordance with air quality requirements from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, commission officials said.