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Highways and Transit
- In his first 5 years in office, Governor Rendell increased state investment in roads and bridges by 33 percent to address Pennsylvania’s huge backlog of needed road and bridge repairs.
- During this period, annual investments in bridge repair rose to three times the level in place when Governor Rendell took office.
- During this period, new investments in road repair brought pavement conditions on the state’s major roadways to their best level in a generation.
- In July 2007, after years of debate, passage of Act 44 of 2007 will allow an even greater level of investment. It will boost state investment by $940 million per year over the next 10 years, with 56% of the total going to roads and bridges and 44% going to transit.
- The transit funding included in Act 44 will increase state support for transit by 43%.
- These funds will make possible a major new effort to reduce the backlog of repair projects, particular among the state's nearly 21,000 bridges. These investments are desperately needed, in part because Pennsylvania leads the nation in the number of bridges that are 75 years old or more.
- In addition, Governor Rendell is pursuing a possible lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to generate even more funding for infrastructure repair.
Freight Rail
Since taking office, Governor Rendell has doubled funding for both state programs that fund improvements to the state’s network of freight rail lines.
Aviation
Since taking office, Governor Rendell has doubled the size of the state’s aviation funding program.
Ports
Governor Rendell has worked since taking office to gain approval for a project to deepen the shipping channel in the Delaware River to 45 feet. After years of deadlock the project is now close to final approval. Once underway, this will allow for a significant expansion of the Port of Philadelphia.
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