TRIP Report Paints Bleak Transportation Picture

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A new report focusing on Pennsylvania's roads, bridges and traffic conditions was released Tuesday morning.

The "Future Mobility in Pennsylvania" report is painting a dark picture of what is yet to come.

"The weather is darkening and funding is becoming more difficult," Joe Kirk from the Mon Valley Progress Council said.

The National Transportation Research Group's TRIP report says to fix all the roads, bridges, cut down congestion and make driving safer in Pennsylvania, it's going to cost big money.

"There's a $3.5 billion dollar backlog in transportation needs," Kirk said.

Because the infrastructure is in such poor condition, it costs drivers an average of $900 a year.

That number adds up to, "$8.2 billion dollars annually in additional operating costs, additional traffic delays and additional traffic crashes," TRIP, Director of Policy and Research Frank Moretti said.

While money may be the root of all evil, it's also the only thing that's going to save the routes and roadways around here.

The state and federal government have rated 58 percent of our roads as poor and nearly half of our bridges as structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

Where's the money to fix this going to come from?

According to the study, in the short-term, nowhere.

"We are looking at a 1.84 billion loss of funding between this year and next year, representing a 29 percent decrease in funding," Kirk said.

A lot of that money was supposed to come from stimulus acts being passed in Washington, D.C., but those funds have already been allocated.

Another stimulus from the government doesn't appear likely at this time, so drivers are forced to deal with the current conditions.