00:00 - The Capital Blue Cross Forum is sponsored in part

00:03 - by Capital Blue Cross.

00:06 - Good morning.

00:08 - I'm Doug Furniss, and welcome to this episode

00:10 - of the Public Affairs Forum, sponsored by capital BlueCross.

00:14 - Capital BlueCross is a regional Blue Cross plan serving approximately

00:18 - 800,000 members in central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley.

00:23 - Before we get started, I'd like to thank our longtime partner in these broadcasts.

00:28 - PCN Pennsylvania Cable Network has been committed to these broadcasts

00:32 - for many years,

00:33 - and we look forward to a continued partnership for many years to come.

00:37 - Our program remains the same.

00:39 - Our guest will make a brief presentation followed

00:41 - by a question and answer session moderated by me.

00:45 - The whole program will last about an hour.

00:47 - If a member of a live audience wishes to ask a question,

00:52 - please submit

00:52 - it to the Q&A function and we'll ask it of our guests.

00:56 - I'm excited about our program today because our guest is a friend.

01:01 - We go back, more than a few years.

01:05 - More than I would care to admit, actually.

01:08 - But our guest today is the secretary,

01:11 - the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation,

01:14 - Mike Carroll.

01:15 - Prior to assume the position of secretary of Transportation, Mike served

01:20 - in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives between

01:22 - 2006 and 2022.

01:26 - Mike was the Democratic chairman of the House Transportation

01:29 - Committee from 2018 through 2022.

01:33 - So he has deep roots in, and transportation issues,

01:38 - which we'll learn today.

01:40 - Prior to his tenure in elected office, Mike worked as the chief of staff

01:43 - for then representative John Yoo to check.

01:46 - He served as legislative liaison for the for PennDOT.

01:50 - During the Casey administration.

01:52 - That's when Mike and I met.

01:55 - And he's

01:55 - also worked as the office director for former Congressman Paul Kanjorski.

01:59 - He's a graduate of Pittston Area High School.

02:02 - And he is also a graduate of the University of Scranton.

02:06 - Please welcome Mike Carroll, Secretary of Transportation.

02:12 - Thank you Doug.

02:12 - Good morning everyone. It's a pleasure to be here today.

02:15 - As Doug said, I'm Mike Carroll, the PennDOT secretary,

02:17 - and there's a sentence I never thought I would get to say.

02:20 - As I served all those years in the House of Representatives and prior

02:23 - to that, a career that was a traditional staffer career.

02:27 - I'm honored to have been asked by Governor Shapiro to serve in this role.

02:32 - And it is a role that is humbling in so many ways.

02:35 - The responsibilities for PennDOT are vast.

02:38 - To meet the transportation needs of 13 million people

02:42 - and do that every single day.

02:44 - There's the job for PennDOT.

02:46 - That is a tall order.

02:48 - Now, the good news for me is that PennDOT is populated with really talented

02:52 - and capable people across the state, in every single county.

02:56 - 11,000 or so employees.

02:58 - And they're up to meeting that challenge.

03:00 - I'm not sitting here telling you we we deliver perfection,

03:03 - but we do a darn good job.

03:04 - And I'm proud of the work that PennDOT does.

03:07 - So much attention was paid to PennDOT, and our efforts.

03:11 - When the I-95 bridge collapsed and, Philadelphia,

03:15 - the four months after becoming secretary and,

03:19 - the reopening of I-95 and 12 days was a stunning achievement.

03:22 - And it's something to celebrate.

03:24 - What I've come to learn after having been the secretary for three years

03:28 - is that that is not the exception.

03:30 - That is the norm.

03:31 - We have had, 4 or 5 bridge,

03:34 - incidents similar to 95, mostly weather related,

03:38 - where a bridge has been washed away, primarily rain events.

03:42 - And within two weeks, in Lycoming County,

03:45 - in in Lackawanna County and Bucks County.

03:48 - And most recently in Somerset County.

03:50 - We reopened those roads within two weeks.

03:54 - It's what we do at PennDOT.

03:56 - I'm proud of the work that we are able to deliver with our our partners,

04:00 - the consultants and the contractors that we have across the state

04:02 - do a really good job.

04:04 - And when it comes to PennDOT,

04:05 - our motor vehicle and driver licenses, services against scattered

04:09 - across the state, meet the needs of folks when it comes to their vehicle

04:12 - registrations and driver's licenses and real IDs and so on.

04:16 - So the task for us is, is, is a complicated one,

04:20 - but we do a, we worked really hard.

04:22 - I'm proud of the work

04:23 - that PennDOT is able to deliver on behalf of the 13 million Pennsylvanians.

04:27 - And we strive to make sure that we are able to meet the challenge.

04:31 - As I sit here today.

04:32 - We're on the precipice of a snow snow event for most of the state,

04:35 - excluding extreme southeast tomorrow.

04:38 - PennDOT folks will be in preparation today to meet the challenges

04:42 - that are the winter storm.

04:43 - That, is on the horizon for us.

04:46 - And it's not our first storm this year.

04:48 - We have had, lake effect snow events in Erie, already, in the last few weeks.

04:52 - So, we are up to the challenge again.

04:55 - We will do our best to make sure that we meet the transportation

04:58 - needs of all of the folks across the state.

05:00 - And we'll do it as efficiently and capable as we can.

05:04 - When it comes to PennDOT, I'm sure the conversation will evolve to

05:07 - transportation projects, whether they be roads and bridges

05:09 - or transit or the other modes of transportation that we have.

05:13 - Again, the, most people default to PennDOT

05:16 - when they think about, roads and bridges, but the responsibilities for us are best.

05:21 - There are many other modes

05:22 - of transportation that we are responsible to deliver, and oversee.

05:26 - And so, I look forward to the conversation.

05:28 - I especially look forward to the questions.

05:30 - I'd like to have the give and take, that may come with those kinds of questions.

05:33 - And so, Doug, thrilled to be with you today and look forward to a conversation.

05:39 - Thanks, Mike.

05:39 - I appreciate it. And and you know what?

05:42 - Before we got on, on screen, I'll just, just tell the audience a little bit.

05:45 - We had a little bit of a trip down memory lane, and when you go back as far as.

05:50 - As long as you and I do, I tease Mike that,

05:54 - you know, all of a sudden, we became the old guys in town.

05:56 - And when we started, we were really young.

06:00 - So, one of the things I like to do on

06:03 - this program is try to give the audience,

06:07 - a feel for who the guest is. So.

06:10 - And, Mike.

06:11 - Carol, what makes Mike tick?

06:13 - And how did you get started?

06:16 - You know, tell us a little bit about your biography and,

06:19 - and how did it lead you to where you are now?

06:22 - So I was a traditional staffer, congressional staffer,

06:26 - the legislative staffer,

06:29 - gubernatorial staffer, and had a career that was evolving right along those lines.

06:33 - That would be quite predictable.

06:36 - The gentleman who served in the Pennsylvania House prior

06:38 - to my election, was a marine Corps colonel, Tom Tighe.

06:42 - And Colonel Tighe served 26 years as a member of the House of Representatives.

06:46 - And he decided that he wasn't going to seek reelection.

06:49 - And Colonel

06:50 - Tighe called me into the office, and he said, Carol, you're running.

06:53 - And when the Marine Corps colonel tells you to run, you run.

06:56 - And, and that's how I ended up, running in my first election

07:00 - and was successful with his support and to that, as so many others,

07:03 - did that for 16 years, Doug.

07:05 - And, you know, I decided after 16 years I was going to go do something else.

07:09 - I wasn't sure what that something else would be.

07:11 - In fact, I got my emergency teaching certificate, near the end of my,

07:15 - tour as a as a state rep, figuring that I'd be a substitute teacher.

07:20 - Because of the need for substitutes, in high schools

07:23 - in northeastern Pennsylvania, primarily Lackawanna, Luzerne counties.

07:26 - Then,

07:28 - you know, I offered my name to be considered with the Shapiro

07:31 - administration.

07:32 - It was formed as a result of the November election.

07:35 - And, to my great surprise, the governor, asked me to consider,

07:40 - you know, be, consider being the secretary of transportation.

07:43 - Now, the fact is, when I was in the house, Doug,

07:46 - I had said many times that positively, the secretary should be a civil engineer.

07:50 - No doubt about it. I'm officially over that.

07:53 - You know, I'm not a civil engineer.

07:55 - I as I, as I said during our conversation earlier,

07:58 - I do, I do retail, as House members do.

08:01 - When you've run over two years into retail.

08:03 - And so I sort of, brought that retail, mentality to PennDOT.

08:08 - You know, not that I'm running, for, state rep anymore,

08:11 - but in so many ways, you want to be the face of PennDOT,

08:14 - and you want to tell the PennDOT story and like an insurance company.

08:17 - Sometimes it's easy to pick on an entity like PennDOT or capital.

08:22 - You know, when you're the butt of a joke,

08:24 - you know, I have to take a day off to go to the driver's license center.

08:27 - That's mostly blowing your in and out of there in about a half an hour.

08:30 - And, you know how many people can sleep in a crew cab?

08:33 - You know, they get to have lunch.

08:34 - And so, you know, they get to sit there to have their lunch.

08:36 - And so, you know, big entities, often are the butt of jokes.

08:40 - And, you know, the reality is, is that what PennDOT does,

08:44 - you know, tonight, you know, when the snow starts in Western PA

08:47 - at two in the morning, our folks will be out there.

08:49 - The men and women of PennDOT, northwest PA and Western PA, they'll be out there.

08:54 - You know, Thanksgiving weekend,

08:56 - during the, lake effect, a lake effect snow of McNary.

09:00 - They're out there.

09:00 - So we take the jokes because it's, you know, it's sort of the world we live in.

09:04 - It's not just PennDOT.

09:05 - All the state dots have that, but, you know, it's it's,

09:09 - it's an opportunity for me to do what I did, which is do retail.

09:12 - And, you know, the governor's,

09:14 - asked me to serve as the secretary of transportation.

09:17 - And, you know, the conversation, I think, was that, PennDOT relationship

09:22 - with, with the Senate Republican caucus primarily was, not great.

09:26 - During the beginning of the Shapiro administration.

09:29 - And, because I don't design bridges as,

09:32 - because I'm not a civil engineer, I was responsible for,

09:35 - know, sort of building a bridge with the Senate Republicans, primarily.

09:38 - There was, quite, quite a bit of consternation over the

09:42 - my predecessors decision to do, tolling of nine bridges.

09:46 - That sort of set the world on fire.

09:48 - I will defend her briefly by saying that she used the tools she was given.

09:52 - And when she used that tool that she was given

09:54 - those that gave her the cool tool in many ways did not like that.

09:57 - And so, you know, we reset with respect to the tolling of the nine bridges when

10:01 - it was actually reset in the final year of the Wolf administration.

10:04 - But, you know, it's it was an opportunity for me,

10:08 - on behalf of the, the administration, to repair relations with the House

10:12 - and Senate generally itself, after having served for 16 years.

10:15 - And I had good relationships with all four caucuses, in the House and Senate.

10:19 - It was an opportunity for PennDOT to, to,

10:22 - you know, advance their message, in more of a retail manner and.

10:25 - Right, and right in my wheelhouse, so to speak.

10:28 - Have you thought, or have you found,

10:31 - because I'm, I'm I'm commenting on your,

10:34 - your statement that the secretary of Transportation should be an engineer.

10:39 - Have you found that?

10:43 - Your were both

10:45 - political animals to a degree that that not being an engineer

10:50 - and having the sensitivities of

10:54 - to the elected branch

10:56 - has helped you in this job because you're sensitive to,

11:00 - the the transportation questions that come in to,

11:04 - legislative offices and you understand the pressures that they face.

11:10 - And, and so that maybe you're able to,

11:15 - you know, not only speak

11:17 - civil engineer to the PennDOT folks, but you speak state rep or state

11:22 - Senate to those folks, and you're able to, to navigate that a little better.

11:26 - You totally accurate.

11:29 - When I became the secretary, I will not name names, but,

11:32 - one of the civil engineers in southeast PA, in the Philly area,

11:36 - who had befriended during the 95 project.

11:38 - In a moment of honesty, he said, Mike, he said, I really don't know

11:41 - if this is going to work as you as a secretary.

11:43 - And I said, well, I said, Lou.

11:45 - I said, I think it's going to be okay, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

11:48 - And then, 3 or 4 months later, I ran into him again and he said, Mike,

11:51 - he said, I figured it out and it's going to work just fine.

11:54 - And I said, what did you figure out?

11:56 - And he said, you do all the things the engineers hate doing.

11:59 - And, and so it's sort of that mentality that,

12:03 - the, the engineers dug

12:06 - know that two plus two is always for engineers know this.

12:11 - They do math all day long.

12:12 - Now, as a former legislator, two plus two is not always four.

12:15 - Sometimes it's little less than four.

12:16 - Sometimes it's a little more than four.

12:18 - Sometimes we need a study.

12:20 - And so the legislators come from a different perspective.

12:23 - And it's a little bit more reflective of the populace as a whole because,

12:27 - the engineers, and thank God they do math really well.

12:30 - And then I pick on them because I can.

12:32 - But, when it comes to dealing with legislators in particular,

12:36 - I have also come to the conclusion, under no circumstances

12:38 - should a legislator and a civil engineer be in the same room alone, ever.

12:42 - And, because they just don't speak the same language.

12:45 - And so I have the ability to bridge that conversation between legislators

12:49 - and the public, and our engineers that, you know, are highly skillful.

12:54 - And, they do a really good job, especially when there's math involved.

12:58 - Outstanding.

12:59 - And stay.

13:00 - Well, I, I think, governor

13:03 - made a a very, excellent choice.

13:07 - I've always found you to be a practical,

13:10 - when you served in that in the legislature, a very practical,

13:13 - practical, legislator,

13:16 - speaks his mind and always attacks the problems in a very.

13:19 - Make sense.

13:21 - Direction.

13:21 - So I kudos to the governor for picking it.

13:24 - So hopefully you're enjoying it.

13:25 - But now let's try, if we don't mind, let's transition

13:28 - into the some of the,

13:31 - the stuff that you get asked about all the time.

13:34 - And, and you mentioned the I-95 project and, you know,

13:40 - and I hadn't written that down, and that's a mistake on my part,

13:43 - but can you can you just

13:46 - briefly just talk about

13:50 - how that all came about, if you like, lift the curtain and and share

13:55 - with people how that all came about and, and the response and how it worked.

13:59 - And, just to kind of illustrate

14:03 - there government working and working quite well.

14:06 - Sure.

14:07 - And I could spend the next hour on 95 and we will not do that, but

14:10 - I so I'll condense the answer, to say this, Doug, that

14:14 - the first thing to

14:15 - recognize was a gentleman lost his life that morning.

14:18 - You know, a truck driver doing a job on a Sunday morning in June

14:21 - that not many people want to do delivering gasoline to, to service stations

14:25 - in southeast in Delaware.

14:27 - Jersey, lost his life.

14:28 - And and that's tragic.

14:30 - The events that unfolded after that was a,

14:34 - casebook study on, coordination and competent governance,

14:40 - the coordination of state and local and federal agencies.

14:44 - Too numerous to mention.

14:45 - But I will call out the Philadelphia Police

14:46 - Department of Fire Department for their skillful work.

14:49 - The governor's, quick and speedy declaration.

14:53 - An emergency, so that we were able to, attack the,

14:57 - the rebuild, in the speediest possible fashion.

15:01 - And, you know, that emergency declaration allowed us to,

15:04 - sidestep some of the usual procurement rules

15:06 - that would have slowed things down, otherwise,

15:09 - and then the just the, the just the capable work

15:12 - that was done by folks wearing hard hats and steel toed boots, for those 12 days,

15:18 - you know, they worked really hard, and,

15:20 - those were 12 hour shifts, two shifts a day.

15:23 - So 24 hours a day.

15:25 - For the 12 days straight, the only, suspension of the work

15:28 - was for about a 2.5 hour, thunderstorm that went through the one day.

15:32 - And other than that, it was just a grind.

15:35 - And then, you know, the Pennsylvania, ingenuity,

15:39 - the recycled phone glass aggregate that we used to build a temporary roadway,

15:43 - and just the reopening of the road in 12 days.

15:45 - It was an opportunity for people

15:47 - to celebrate the success of government, which does not happen often.

15:51 - But in this case, it was such a highly visible episode.

15:54 - You know, I-95, Northeast Philadelphia, 160,000 vehicles a day.

15:59 - And the, the addition of a live stream camera gave people

16:03 - the ability, from their desktop to look and see how are they doing today?

16:07 - What is what progress has been made?

16:10 - They were able to check on us in real time.

16:13 - And, you know, there was a little bit of, just, stubbornness

16:16 - when it came to

16:16 - some of the workers with respect to having that camera,

16:18 - but it turned out to be a really smart move

16:20 - because it gave people the ability to see what was happening.

16:23 - Now, I was a little nervous about having that kind of scrutiny, but, you know what?

16:27 - There were drones flying over the project every day.

16:30 - There were helicopters and news helicopters in Philadelphia

16:33 - that flew over it, plenty of sidewalk superintendents.

16:35 - So what was another camera?

16:37 - And it turned out to be the right move.

16:40 - Well, I tell you what, it it really shined

16:42 - a, a very positive, light on Pennsylvania, during that period.

16:48 - And so kudos to, to you and your team and everybody involved,

16:52 - with that project because that, quite impressive actually.

16:56 - So let's transition a little bit

16:59 - to some of the priorities.

17:00 - Where are the top priorities for PennDOT?

17:03 - Over the next several years?

17:05 - And, how will

17:07 - state funding be allocated among roads, bridges and mass transit?

17:12 - So when it comes to PennDOT funding, you have to remember,

17:15 - and this is nuance, but it's an important nuance

17:18 - that, PennDOT has a motor license fund, which is the moneys

17:21 - that have come into PennDOT from gasoline taxes and driver's license

17:24 - and vehicle fees that goes into the motor license fund.

17:27 - And that is constitutionally, siloed.

17:30 - That can only be used for roads and bridge projects.

17:33 - No, none of that money could be used for transit.

17:35 - Transit is funded in Pennsylvania, out of the Pennsylvania General Fund,

17:38 - which is the fund that uses, that, you know, supports, all state government,

17:43 - you know, think, in terms of state

17:44 - police or, human services or public education and so on.

17:48 - So when it comes to transportation funding and there are some nuances

17:52 - when you get to aviation and, and rail and so on.

17:55 - But for the sake of the conversation,

17:56 - you know, roads and bridges, motor license fund,

17:59 - and we have some challenges there,

18:01 - the proliferation of electric vehicles and the declining revenues

18:04 - that are on the horizon for motor fuel, the taxes,

18:08 - and then on the transit side, there's been a ongoing conversation that,

18:12 - I would assume

18:13 - everybody is aware of relative to the need for additional, public transit funding.

18:18 - Primarily, the conversation is focused on southeast PA and Septa,

18:22 - but the reality is, is that in part in Allegheny County and frankly,

18:26 - in every single county in the state, there is a transit entity,

18:31 - and they all are in need of additional funds.

18:34 - And so, there is an ongoing conversation.

18:36 - It's, you know, one of the reasons

18:37 - why we probably had a late budget this year, the, the struggle

18:40 - trying to figure out a, solution set for, transit funding, out of the general fund.

18:45 - And, you know, sadly, that didn't make it to the finish line this time.

18:48 - There were some, steps that were taken by the governor to, to,

18:51 - you know, buy some time for the General Assembly to, to reconsider,

18:55 - some of the options before them.

18:57 - So a conversation relative to,

19:00 - transportation funding on the highway and bridge side is important.

19:03 - And on the, on the transit side is important.

19:06 - What most people don't realize about PennDOT and our roads and bridges.

19:09 - And, you know,

19:10 - it's pretty easy to pick on PennDOT again, you know, we have one of the highest

19:13 - gas taxes in the nation.

19:15 - How could PennDOT be, you know, in need of additional funds for roads and bridges?

19:19 - What the average person does not recognize is that PennDOT has an inventory

19:22 - of roads and bridges that far exceeds almost any state in the nation.

19:26 - In fact, PennDOT has more roads and bridges than New York,

19:29 - new Jersey, and all the New England states combined.

19:32 - And that is because PennDOT has, many four digit roads.

19:37 - And I'll explain that in a second.

19:39 - Everybody would know that I-80 or I, 95 or 78 or state highways,

19:44 - almost everybody would know that U.S 11 or U.S 15,

19:48 - U.S 219, you know, the shielded roads, those are state highways.

19:52 - And people are familiar with the, the three digit roads that exist,

19:56 - in every county in the state.

19:59 - Because they're PA route one, two, three.

20:01 - So, so to speak, the challenge for us are the four digit roads.

20:05 - I'll pick on two, two counties in my home area, in Pike County

20:09 - and extreme northeast PA, Pond Road is a half mile dead and dirt road,

20:14 - and that is a state highway and a Luzerne County.

20:18 - The old Boston Road, in Jenkins Township is three quarters of a mile.

20:22 - It's paved, and it's a dead end, and it's a state highway.

20:26 - And we have those showers, the four digit roads in every county in this state.

20:30 - And so the challenge for us is to,

20:33 - meet the challenges of the interstate network

20:36 - and the three and, 2 or 3 digit road network.

20:39 - But at the same time, when it snows tonight in Pike County,

20:42 - that some PennDOT truck will push the snow up on that road,

20:45 - just as we are in I-84 for, and all the other roads in Pike County.

20:48 - So the, you know, the it's not an apples to apples comparison when you say,

20:52 - well, look at, New York or look at Ohio, like everything else.

20:56 - And people

20:57 - that deal in insurance, I'm sure, know this, that there's nuances galore.

21:01 - And just because you have one state doing one thing over here doesn't

21:04 - automatically mean every single state should do the same thing.

21:07 - The rules of engagement are different,

21:10 - depending on the rules and the laws that exist.

21:12 - State to state.

21:13 - And I know

21:15 - the challenge that you face, you know, is that you

21:19 - that everybody has got a project that is absolutely essential

21:23 - in every community from every corner of the state.

21:26 - And so, you know, the impossible question

21:29 - that I'm going to ask is, how do you

21:33 - it's two parts.

21:34 - One, what are some of those essential projects that you see from,

21:39 - you know, road, new road construction,

21:44 - new road renovation, bridge construction and bridge renovation.

21:48 - What are those?

21:51 - Projects one and two.

21:52 - How do you make that call of picking one over the other?

21:57 - Just curious.

21:58 - So on the picking, decision,

22:01 - there, PennDOT has planning partners, across the state.

22:04 - These are, regional folks from various counties.

22:08 - Some are multi-county, jurisdictions, others single county jurisdictions.

22:13 - And these planning partners help

22:14 - set the, sequence of projects that we will deliver.

22:18 - PennDOT does not sit in the ivory tower and decide, these are the ten, 20 projects

22:22 - that we're going to do across the state in any given year.

22:25 - The funds are allocated,

22:29 - statutorily across the state to these planning partners.

22:32 - They essentially decide which projects are going to go in order,

22:36 - and we deliver about $3 billion a year in such projects.

22:41 - And again, all of those projects are the result of coordination

22:45 - among planning partners, public input.

22:48 - You know, we are able to, help

22:51 - highlight the need, for example, to replace a certain bridge,

22:55 - in a particular community that is, needs to be replaced.

22:59 - But at the end of the day, the projects that we deliver are

23:01 - because of the work of our planning partners,

23:04 - the really capable work, by the way, of our planning partners.

23:07 - And making sure that we are able to meet the needs of that community,

23:11 - as exhibited by the, the work of the planning partners,

23:14 - when it comes to, you know, the the the first question

23:18 - and I'll ask you to repeat it, Doug.

23:19 - So I just get the answer just right for you.

23:21 - It's just about, you know, we talked about your the priorities

23:24 - of PennDOT, and, and I'm just curious what kind of projects,

23:28 - this program is being watched right now

23:31 - by employees of capital BlueCross, but PCM will broadcast it statewide.

23:36 - And so people are going to be around, the whole state will be watching this.

23:41 - Just curious if you can identify,

23:45 - a couple projects here or there that,

23:48 - that, you know, are coming, that people might be interested in.

23:51 - So there are 11 PennDOT districts across the state,

23:54 - as we said, here in Harrisburg, we're in PennDOT district eight.

23:57 - And generally speaking, in each of the districts,

24:00 - there is a signature high profile project, for example, in Center County,

24:05 - the connection of I-90 nine and I-80 with new high

24:09 - speed ramps to move people on and off 90, 99 and 80, in Erie.

24:13 - The Bayfront Parkway project, in Pittsburgh,

24:17 - the Commercial Street Bridge project.

24:19 - And I won't go through the entire state, but every every region

24:23 - has a signature, expensive project, to be frank.

24:27 - And then coupled with that, we have what

24:29 - I would count as sort of garden variety PennDOT projects.

24:32 - You know, the replacement of us of a 20ft bridge that goes over a random

24:36 - creek in a county, the resurfacing, of a particular road in a community,

24:42 - and the totality of all that constitutes the $3 billion,

24:46 - in terms of project delivery.

24:47 - And then on top of that, we have to deliver maintenance,

24:50 - across the state, both in the summer and in the winter.

24:53 - It's plainly obvious to everybody that winter maintenance includes,

24:56 - you know, dealing with snow and ice.

24:58 - But summer maintenance is the, the work that our PennDOT crews do,

25:03 - in coordination and sometimes with the support of contractors

25:06 - to do, asphalt paving or to do some shoulder work or some,

25:09 - you know, water work, whether it's swales or ditches and so on.

25:13 - So the totality of all of that is, is what PennDOT does.

25:16 - And so, there's tremendous planning that's put into the decision

25:20 - making with respect to the delivery of those projects on the maintenance side,

25:24 - and on the construction side, and things do not happen by accident.

25:28 - Things happen because there's a plan.

25:31 - And, you know, I'll end by saying this with, with

25:33 - with this part of the conversation,

25:35 - you know, the the political decision to have PennDOT shift,

25:38 - you know, billions of dollars to help fund the state police came at a price.

25:43 - And to be fair, I voted for that when I was in the House

25:45 - in the absence of anything better.

25:46 - But, you know, PennDOT, when the governor

25:49 - was elected, was shifting $500 million a year

25:53 - to help fund the state police to relieve pressure on the general fund.

25:56 - Now, 500 million is a big number, and the average person has a hard time

25:59 - grasping that.

26:00 - But here's what $500 million is for PennDOT.

26:03 - That's $0.08 a gallon on the gas tax.

26:05 - That's a substantial amount of money.

26:08 - Not to be fair.

26:09 - PennDOT at or high water mark was shifting $800 million a year to the state police,

26:13 - and that had been whittled down to 500 million by the time,

26:16 - Governor Shapiro was sworn in, in the, the three years that,

26:20 - the governor has been in office, that 500 million is now 250 million.

26:25 - So $250 million has been preserved in the motor license

26:29 - fund for PennDOT to do additional projects across the state.

26:32 - And that has been, you know, a positive development for all 67 counties.

26:38 - There's an effort that's underway that, hopefully will reduce that $250

26:42 - million that we support the state police with to an even lower number.

26:46 - You know, in the next year or two, and I look forward to that.

26:49 - And so, but over the course of time, dating back,

26:53 - you know, probably 12, 15 years, you know, PennDOT has, siphoned,

26:58 - you know, 5 to $7 billion to the state police.

27:01 - And that has resulted in projects across the state that that did not get done.

27:06 - You know, and that was done to relieve pressure on the general fund, as I said.

27:10 - And so the PennDOT had the responsibility of helping to fund, the state police

27:14 - and the turnpike had the responsibility of borrowing $8 billion and supporting

27:19 - transit across the state for the time that, act 44 and act 89 were in play.

27:23 - And so, you know, both agencies, PennDOT in the Turnpike, now were supportive of,

27:29 - the general fund in a way that prevented an income tax or sales

27:33 - tax increase for all those years.

27:36 - Outstanding.

27:37 - That's very interesting.

27:40 - Now you talk about your your agency,

27:45 - as all agencies are, is so dependent on, on the revenue stream

27:49 - that brings in the resources and you face some challenges.

27:53 - Obviously, the one you mentioned just briefly is the electric vehicle piece.

27:58 - And I'd like I'd like for you to, to to get into that a little bit.

28:02 - What does that look like moving forward?

28:05 - What are some possible options?

28:08 - Because if you get more electric vehicles just for the audience,

28:11 - they're not buying gas.

28:12 - And so how do you how do you manage, that decline

28:16 - or potential decline in, in, gas tax revenue?

28:19 - But on the flip side,

28:21 - on another side,

28:23 - the the Biden administration passed,

28:26 - a groundbreaking infrastructure law and,

28:31 - and some of that is there's some challenges,

28:33 - understand, with our federal partners, if you could get into,

28:38 - and explain to the audience what the relationship is between a state,

28:42 - between the state and the federal government in terms of that funding?

28:47 - You know, what they send us and

28:49 - and that kind of thing and their role in the whole project piece.

28:54 - And what does that look like moving forward?

28:56 - I know that's a kind of complicated question, but it basically is tell us

29:00 - how that funding piece works for you and what does it look like in the future.

29:05 - So the Biden administration, to their great credit, had to signed

29:09 - the IJA, the or the bill, depending on which acronym you like the most.

29:14 - Essentially it was the federal transportation bill,

29:16 - and that directed, billions of dollars

29:19 - to all 50 states for additional transportation projects,

29:22 - both on the highway and bridge side, the transit side and the other modes.

29:27 - When it comes to Pennsylvania and PennDOT and the highway and bridge side,

29:31 - the number for us was about $700 million a year additional

29:35 - that, was embedded that is embedded in that $3 billion that I mentioned.

29:39 - So prior to IJA, PennDOT program,

29:42 - our annual program was about 2.2 or $2.3 billion.

29:47 - The passage and enactment of the the federal transportation bill

29:50 - raised that to $3 billion.

29:52 - And that's how we got there. So critically important.

29:55 - And it's important to note, that the IJA,

29:58 - authorization expires next year, in 2026.

30:02 - And so the U.S.

30:03 - Congress will have their hands full, reauthorizing that.

30:06 - I am certain that all 50 states are eager to see that reauthorized.

30:11 - There's, that is one thing that all 50 states will agree on.

30:14 - They don't agree on everything, but that's one they will agree

30:16 - on reauthorization of that because of the importance of transportation,

30:20 - across the nation, the IJA to transition to electric vehicles,

30:24 - also included something called Navy, which was the National

30:28 - Electric Vehicle Initiative.

30:30 - And that put money on the table for all 50 states to do charging stations.

30:34 - That would be privately owned,

30:36 - the first on the interstate network or interstate look alikes,

30:40 - and then subsequently and ultimately, community charging stations.

30:44 - I am really proud to report that Pennsylvania is the leader

30:47 - among all 50 states when it comes to the spending, of the,

30:51 - Navy funds, Pennsylvania was the recipient of about $170 million.

30:56 - The PennDOT team, was quite skillful,

31:00 - with respect to a build out of the charging network

31:02 - along the interstate corridor so that there will be a build out,

31:06 - that has gaps no greater than 50 miles on the interstate network.

31:11 - And, that, project, we have 30 of those stations already opened.

31:15 - So many more under construction, or have notice to proceed.

31:19 - And so we have received,

31:21 - approval by our federal partners

31:23 - now to move to the next level, which is charging stations on,

31:27 - corridors not named I-80 or I-70 nine,

31:31 - but instead think in terms of some of our other routes, like route 6 or 15,

31:36 - and so on, and then ultimately community charging.

31:39 - So, that whole levy,

31:42 - supported transport and transportation dollars,

31:45 - Pennsylvania, leader among the 50 states when it comes to electric vehicles.

31:49 - Doug, what your listeners and viewers need to know is that

31:52 - there will be more electric vehicles tomorrow than there are today.

31:55 - And electric vehicles are either hybrid or, you know, plug in electric.

32:00 - And that combined with more fuel efficient,

32:04 - internal combustion motors that are in the newer vehicles,

32:07 - the the essence of all of that, results

32:10 - in a you know, fewer gallons of gasoline being purchased,

32:13 - which is the direct, you know, PennDOT siloed motor license fund,

32:17 - three quarters of those dollars, 75% is motor fuel taxes.

32:22 - The other 25% would be travel and motor vehicle fees.

32:25 - So as fewer gallons of gasoline are purchased in the future,

32:28 - it will drive down the, amount of money available

32:31 - in our motor license fund for road and bridge projects.

32:34 - And so, the governor, advanced a proposal.

32:38 - The General Assembly agreed

32:40 - and enacted it where we have a, electric vehicle registration fee.

32:43 - That's an enhanced fee, above and beyond what?

32:46 - Somebody who drives a, traditional sedan.

32:49 - May pay.

32:51 - So $250 a year, additional,

32:55 - registration fee on top of the reg

32:57 - fee that they pay now, which is like 40 bucks or so.

33:00 - And so when you do the math on,

33:02 - an average driver in an average vehicle number of miles per year,

33:07 - the average person pays about $300 a year in gas taxes.

33:10 - Of course, you know, people who drive

33:11 - less, less, and people drive more and more.

33:13 - So the the effort was and the theory was, let's have the electric vehicle owners,

33:18 - pay their fair share into the motor license fund because absent that reg fee,

33:21 - they really were not participating in the support of the

33:24 - the highway and bridge network that they use every day,

33:27 - just like all the other vehicles.

33:28 - So, lots to unpack there.

33:31 - I'm really proud of the work that was done with respect

33:34 - to the charging stations and the work that continues.

33:37 - And, there will be a conversation and it will affect all 50 states.

33:42 - As the electric vehicle fleet expands, across the nation,

33:46 - in Pennsylvania, and almost every other state,

33:50 - to a degree or, primarily less than Pennsylvania,

33:53 - but still highly reliant on the motor fuel taxes that are collected to be able

33:58 - to meet the, you know, the highway and bridge program in various states,

34:01 - as as these electric vehicles populate, our federal partners will the Federal

34:06 - Highway Trust Fund is relying on gasoline taxes and diesel taxes.

34:10 - They will have a policy decision to make,

34:13 - as will Pennsylvania and all 49 other states with.

34:16 - How do we support and how do we pay for our transportation network,

34:19 - with the decline, in other fuel taxes?

34:24 - Well, that is a lot to unpack.

34:26 - And, and, you know, just just moving forward,

34:31 - you know, what are the challenges

34:33 - that you see in the, down the road?

34:37 - I mean, you're obviously dealing with the day to day.

34:39 - You got a snowstorm coming, tonight.

34:42 - But obviously you're looking at what does all of this look like in the future?

34:46 - You mentioned we had a,

34:49 - you know, a late budget and a and some of that may have been attributed

34:52 - to the, to the mass transit issue

34:56 - a couple of years ago or several years ago.

34:58 - It was roads and bridges.

34:59 - And what do you see as the challenges moving forward

35:04 - for from the person sitting in your spot?

35:07 - From a funding perspective?

35:09 - Well, the the, the challenge for us primarily, is a bridge problem.

35:13 - Doug, Pennsylvania has 25,000, PennDOT has 25,000 bridges.

35:17 - Our county and local partners have a, have thousands of bridges.

35:21 - And so, you know, so many of our bridges are reaching the end of their useful life.

35:26 - So many of them are, you know, between 50 and 75 years old, you know, and,

35:31 - you know, we can't expect these bridges to last forever.

35:33 - I mean, we do the best job we can to maintain them,

35:35 - but at some point, they're going to have to be replaced.

35:38 - Some of the bridges get to be really expensive.

35:40 - And, you know, our, our,

35:41 - our friends in Allegheny County and the city of Pittsburgh,

35:44 - primarily have tremendous challenges with the bridge assets

35:48 - that they have over the three rivers in that region of the state.

35:52 - And so,

35:53 - the challenge for us, in addition to maintaining the network

35:56 - we have in meeting the growth needs in certain regions of the state,

35:59 - is to try and deal with the,

36:02 - the challenge of maintaining an inventory of bridges that are safe.

36:06 - And, you know, we post them if we have to.

36:08 - We close them when we need to,

36:11 - and trying to reconcile the available funds

36:14 - with the need to do the bridges, along with all of the other things that we do,

36:18 - is the real challenge.

36:19 - And so the General Assembly in Pennsylvania and our partners in the U.S.

36:23 - Congress will have to, take a stark look at how we fund transportation.

36:28 - And, you know, as somebody who was in the house

36:30 - when, the last two transportation bills ran, you know,

36:34 - during Rendell, it was, at 44 and during the Corbett administration was at 89.

36:39 - You know, those are not easy assignments to be able

36:42 - to generate additional funds for roads and bridges and for transit.

36:46 - But I can tell you that the average person, at least I used to represent,

36:49 - they may not, you know, celebrate, you know, a,

36:53 - you know, a fee increase of any sort.

36:55 - But if they know that those dollars

36:56 - are going to a transportation network that they rely on every single day,

37:00 - then they, they accept it because they know that the,

37:04 - you know, the replacement of a bridge

37:06 - means that that bridge, the new bridge will meet the needs of that community

37:09 - for the next 50 or 75 years.

37:11 - So, you know, in in so many ways, the transportation

37:14 - network is one that every single Pennsylvanian relies on every day.

37:18 - As I said, my open,

37:19 - you know, you leave your driveway, you're you're on the transportation network

37:22 - or if you're on a transit vehicle, whether it's a train or a bus,

37:26 - you're, you're in the world of, of PennDOT.

37:28 - And so, you know, unlike a lot of other agencies,

37:31 - every Pennsylvanian intersects their life, intersects with PennDOT,

37:35 - you know, normally within a few moments after they leave the driveway,

37:39 - 100%.

37:40 - And I

37:41 - think, you know, we talked a little bit at the beginning about the I-95 piece,

37:45 - and you mentioned that, you know, the the live stream and the drones

37:49 - in some odd way that, that may help you long

37:52 - term to ask citizens because we see what the money goes for.

37:57 - And 100% if you, you know, if I'm paying taxes

38:01 - and I can see the results of that, you know, I'm, I'm,

38:05 - you know, nobody wants to pay taxes, but I'm more inclined to be okay

38:08 - with something if if there's a tangible result.

38:13 - If you don't mind, let's talk a little bit about,

38:16 - you mentioned a couple times mass transit.

38:18 - And, you know, I live in the mid-state,

38:21 - and I don't have I really don't interact with mass

38:25 - transit directly very much.

38:28 - But what are the challenges facing the state's,

38:32 - public transportation mass transit systems?

38:36 - So almost everybody

38:37 - defaults to the two cities when transit comes up.

38:40 - And, you know, we're in Septa, you know,

38:43 - 800,000 people a day rely on the trains and busses,

38:48 - that constitute the Septa network, the economy of Pennsylvania.

38:52 - Doug, you know, those five counties in southeast PA.

38:55 - And if you add Allegheny, they, you know, home to the city of Pittsburgh,

38:58 - those urban centers constitute nearly 50% of the state's budget.

39:03 - And so,

39:04 - you know, when the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce says we really do

39:07 - need transit funding, you know, I don't count the Philadelphia Chamber

39:10 - as a left, you know, a left leaning organization.

39:13 - Right?

39:14 - They understand the importance of transit for the economy of southeast PA

39:18 - and, frankly, the economy of southeast PA in Allegheny County.

39:21 - I have a tremendous effect.

39:23 - Positive effect on the economy of the entire state.

39:26 - We you know, we have many rural counties.

39:27 - I won't name anyone.

39:29 - But, you know, we have counties with 3 or 4000 people.

39:32 - You know, those are very nice counties.

39:33 - I've been to them all.

39:34 - But the the, the transportation needs in those counties

39:38 - hinge on the success and economic activity in southeast PA, in Allegheny County.

39:42 - So, the transit exists in southeast PA for those 800,000 people,

39:47 - a lesser but still substantial number in Pittsburgh.

39:50 - But what you need to know is we have transit in every county in this state,

39:54 - including the most rural counties.

39:55 - I mean, Sullivan County is a beautiful county in north central PA.

39:59 - Eagles mare is a wonderful town.

40:01 - If you haven't been there, you should go.

40:03 - But there is transit in Sullivan County for their 3500 people.

40:07 - Primarily shared ride which exists again in all 67 counties.

40:11 - And, in Sullivan's case, it's,

40:13 - the best transportation network, which is Bradford Sullivan, Tioga.

40:17 - And they do a really good job.

40:19 - But, when transit agencies like Best and Westmoreland,

40:24 - and Fayette and Washington say that, you know, we really do need more money

40:27 - to meet the the fixed route, systems that they have in places like Washington,

40:31 - PA, or the shared ride services that exist in every county.

40:35 - I take them at their word.

40:36 - And so,

40:37 - you know, in places like Fayette County and it's not, too uncommon,

40:41 - the folks that use transit in those rural counties,

40:44 - 80% of them say they have no other choice.

40:46 - And how they're going to get to where they need to go,

40:48 - whether it's to the store or doc's office or whatever or to work.

40:51 - So they're transit in some ways

40:55 - is, you know, is is treated as a stepchild sometimes,

41:00 - sadly,

41:00 - by some in state government because the conversation

41:03 - just defaults to Septa and part, which is Pittsburgh.

41:07 - But the importance of transit in the urban centers should never be minimized.

41:12 - But the importance of transit in the other counties, including the most rural

41:15 - counties, equally shouldn't be minimized.

41:20 - Outstanding.

41:21 - And now, on a an additional question.

41:25 - Are there any initiatives,

41:28 - under consideration anywhere, whether it's at the state,

41:30 - at the federal level to increase passenger rail service

41:34 - between Philly and Pittsburgh or different parts of the state?

41:38 - I know Pennsylvania has a rich history, rail history.

41:42 - And I'm curious if we're, thinking about something like that,

41:46 - not just thinking about it, implementing it.

41:48 - The additional second Pennsylvanian from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh,

41:52 - should become a reality in the next year or so.

41:55 - That has been,

41:57 - advocated for by folks from, Harrisburg

42:00 - to Pittsburgh, including communities like Altoona and Johnstown and Latrobe.

42:04 - That has been an ongoing conversation for a long time.

42:08 - PennDOT, along with our federal partners,

42:11 - have made improvements to the Norfolk Southern rail line

42:14 - that exists from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh to accommodate additional passenger

42:17 - rail service.

42:18 - So that is going to become a reality.

42:20 - Beyond that, Doug, the Redding to Philadelphia passenger rail initiative,

42:25 - as well as to Scranton to New York passenger rail initiative, both,

42:30 - pretty far down the tracks or give the pun with respect to implementation.

42:34 - Still some hurdles to go.

42:36 - The Scranton initiative, does not require coordination

42:39 - with, the class one railroad, Norfolk Southern or CSX.

42:43 - They folks in, in northeastern PA, to their great credit,

42:47 - have preserved the lines from Scranton to the Delaware River.

42:50 - And then the folks in, in Berks and in Montgomery,

42:54 - and in Chester County, have done a really good job,

42:59 - with respect to the Redding to Philadelphia corridor.

43:02 - And now there's an important issue with Norfolk Southern that will have to,

43:05 - that will have to be successful to accommodate this

43:08 - additional passenger rail service with, commercial freight.

43:11 - But I'm optimistic that the parties are working

43:14 - closely to try and meet that challenge.

43:16 - And so, I'm going to be optimistic that, we have

43:19 - passenger rail service expanded from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh.

43:23 - We have robust passenger rail service, Harrisburg to Philadelphia,

43:27 - and of course, to Septa and passenger rail service

43:30 - that is regional rail or Amtrak, is

43:33 - robust in, especially in southeast PA,

43:36 - but the Redding, to Philly and Scranton to New York, I'm a believer

43:41 - that we will all see that happen, sometime in the next number of years.

43:45 - Substantial amounts of dollars will have to be dedicated

43:48 - from our federal partners to meet some of the infrastructure challenges.

43:51 - But I'm.

43:52 - I'm very, very, optimistic about passenger rail, in Pennsylvania going forward.

43:58 - Outstanding.

43:59 - That's exciting. That's exciting news.

44:02 - Let's transition a little bit.

44:03 - There's a lot happening.

44:04 - And I know we've talked about roads and bridges

44:06 - and we've talked about mass transit.

44:11 - What's the department

44:12 - doing to explore, implement, smart transportation technologies,

44:17 - connected traffic signals, autonomous vehicle testing?

44:21 - I know, you know, I'm an insurance guy.

44:23 - And, you know, years ago we were involved in the autonomous vehicle piece.

44:27 - From an insurance perspective, I'm curious,

44:31 - what can people expect in the autonomous vehicle space in the next five years?

44:36 - Next ten years?

44:37 - And what kind of that's one question.

44:40 - And the second question is, is, you know, what role is technology

44:44 - going to play in, in making our,

44:48 - you know, like

44:49 - connected traffic signals and, and, and our experience on the roads better.

44:54 - So what folks need to know

44:56 - about autonomous vehicles, driverless vehicles is that Carnegie

44:59 - Mellon University in Pittsburgh is a national leader in this space.

45:03 - The work that is being done by the professors

45:06 - and the engineers at Carnegie Mellon is meaningful.

45:09 - And it's substantial.

45:10 - I'm proud that PennDOT and the Turnpike,

45:13 - partnered, to help fund a new test

45:16 - track for autonomous vehicles in Westmoreland County.

45:20 - The, contractor was,

45:22 - selected, just a few months ago.

45:25 - And there will be a test track, constructed for the continued

45:29 - development and testing of autonomous vehicles.

45:32 - In, in southwestern PA led,

45:34 - of course, by, our friends at Carnegie Mellon.

45:37 - When you think about autonomous vehicles across the board,

45:41 - there are autonomous vehicles.

45:43 - Think in terms of Waymo, for example, as one, in Phoenix and Los Angeles

45:47 - and now expanding to other cities, I suspect that, that there will be Waymo,

45:53 - or other type,

45:55 - entities that will provide autonomous services

45:58 - sometime in the not too distant future in Pennsylvania.

46:01 - And, you know, the, the development beyond,

46:04 - into commercial activities, I think will continue to unfold.

46:08 - They, like every other technology, these,

46:12 - autonomous vehicles are being perfected day over day.

46:15 - And, and the leader on the radar and the cameras that are being deployed,

46:20 - will result in advancing

46:22 - and perfecting the technology when it comes to PennDOT.

46:26 - No, the challenge for us, again,

46:28 - I hate to distill everything down to dollars and cents, but,

46:31 - for the autonomous vehicles to talk, so to speak, to the pavement

46:35 - markings and the signs, you know, I'll steal the line

46:38 - and I'll use it here that the secretary of transportation in Tennessee,

46:42 - when he answered

46:43 - this similar question, his response is, we're going to need way more money.

46:46 - And, and, you know, it's a it's a it's a glib line,

46:50 - but the truth is that for the autonomous vehicles to be, as successful

46:55 - as they need to be,

46:56 - there will likely have to be some improvements made to pavement markings.

46:59 - You know, you can't have the lines.

47:01 - It can't be seen by the by the cameras on the radar.

47:04 - Same with our traffic signals, or with the, the road signs, so to speak.

47:09 - And so, and it gets complicated quickly.

47:12 - And the folks that work in your world, insurance would get this,

47:14 - you know, traffic signals, everybody would just default to what the PennDOT,

47:18 - their PennDOT is.

47:19 - Well,

47:19 - the reality is they're not they belong to every local government in the state.

47:23 - And I'm not sure how you know, who's in charge of,

47:25 - telling a township with 500 people that that traffic light that they have,

47:29 - that one single traffic light is going to have to be replaced.

47:32 - And so there's complexities and nuances when it comes to all of this.

47:36 - And, you know, the good news is that we don't have to solve this one today.

47:40 - You know, the technology will continue to, to ripen,

47:43 - and the, you know, the deployment of additional, assets

47:47 - when it comes to pavement markings and signs and traffic signals,

47:51 - you know, that will, that will develop, hopefully

47:54 - close to the need for the autonomous vehicles.

47:58 - But what the viewers need to know is the autonomous vehicles.

48:02 - Most everybody watching this show will see an autonomous vehicle

48:06 - on the road if they haven't already seen one, living their life.

48:09 - And you know, when and again, you know, Pennsylvania's

48:13 - normally not at the front of the line for change.

48:14 - It's, you know, I often say that Pennsylvanians are allergic to change

48:18 - in so many ways, but when it comes to autonomous vehicles,

48:21 - you know, the good news

48:22 - is that autonomous vehicles don't have these autonomous vehicles.

48:26 - Don't have distracted driving.

48:29 - And so some of the tremendous, tremendously,

48:32 - problematic driver, errors that are made, can be solved by autonomous vehicles.

48:37 - So there's an opportunity somewhere in the future for the, you know,

48:41 - the accidents that result in fatalities in Pennsylvania, about a thousand a year

48:45 - could be driven down to a much lower number.

48:47 - And again, I'm not going to declare that autonomous vehicles

48:49 - are going to be perfect and accidents will go away forever.

48:52 - But, you know, we have horrific, challenges when it comes

48:55 - to some driver behaviors that, you know, DUI and distracted driving come to mind.

48:59 - And and if we can, you know, autonomous vehicles help meet that

49:03 - that challenge, and reduce accidents and injuries and fatalities.

49:07 - That would be really good news.

49:10 - That's,

49:11 - you give me another question to ask you

49:15 - just to dovetail off what you finally said about about safety.

49:19 - What do we have any initiatives?

49:21 - What other initiatives is PennDOT advocating for?

49:24 - Driver safety, roadway safety to reduce fatalities

49:28 - and distracted or impaired driving?

49:31 - So, just recently in the last year, the governor signed,

49:34 - the, Paul's law, Paul Miller's law,

49:38 - which was the, the Pennsylvania's,

49:41 - legislative step to, put phones down.

49:45 - And so the,

49:47 - that resulted from a tremendous lobbying effort from a woman

49:50 - and husband in Scranton who lost their son in a tragic accident, in the Poconos

49:55 - on route 33 as a result of a distracted driving situation.

49:58 - The passage of that bill and the signature by Governor Shapiro,

50:03 - enacted Pennsylvania's distracted driving law, which is hands free.

50:07 - We don't want folks manipulating a phone while they're driving.

50:11 - That is just a recipe for disaster.

50:13 - And so, the,

50:14 - you know, that enactment in Pennsylvania was a long time coming,

50:17 - Doug, to me, to be frank.

50:18 - And, when I was in the house, I advocated for that bill for a long time,

50:22 - and we couldn't

50:23 - get, the legislative support necessary to get it across the finish line.

50:27 - And in this last session of the General Assembly that came to be.

50:29 - And so we have a distracted driving law in Pennsylvania now that, that,

50:33 - you know, sets the parameters for folks to put the phone down

50:36 - while they're driving.

50:37 - There's some really simple steps folks can do, you know, put the seatbelt

50:41 - on, put the phone down, and, you know, of course.

50:44 - No, no drinking and driving.

50:45 - You know, if folks just did those three things,

50:48 - we'd have a much safer network and much safer outcomes when it comes to,

50:53 - you know, traffic accidents across the state,

50:55 - those are really three commonsense, important things that can be done

50:58 - and the addition of distracted driving.

51:01 - You know, law, makes a big difference there.

51:03 - So, and when it comes to PennDOT, of course, our,

51:05 - you know, our number one concern is safety.

51:08 - We want everybody to be able to get where they're going safely.

51:10 - And so, you know, the, those things combined with smart decisions

51:15 - with respect to speed, primarily, you know, we have,

51:19 - certain places on the interstate network that allow 70 mile an hour speed limit.

51:23 - I would offer that 70 as fast enough, and that,

51:26 - you know, people that want to push that to, an unsafe number really take their,

51:31 - they take an unnecessary risk not just for themselves,

51:35 - but for the others that are sharing the road with them.

51:37 - And so, there's some commonsense things that folks can do to be helpful here.

51:41 - And our law enforcement partners,

51:44 - have another tool with respect to the distracted driving bill

51:46 - that was recently enacted and signed by Governor Shapiro.

51:50 - Outstanding.

51:52 - I'm just looking at the clock here.

51:53 - We've got I think we've got time for a couple more, questions that,

51:56 - I'm curious, like I said, were

51:59 - the the the audience for this is statewide.

52:02 - And so I'm curious, what efforts,

52:07 - is PennDOT making, to

52:10 - ensure equitable transportation access

52:13 - for underserved or low income communities around the state?

52:17 - It's really important.

52:18 - And we take that responsibility seriously.

52:20 - And it starts with our planning partners.

52:23 - You know, the communities of color and communities of economic challenge

52:27 - have a voice when it comes to a project that that will or won't happen

52:30 - in their community.

52:32 - And so, again, PennDOT is not in an ivory tower, deciding

52:35 - which projects we're going to do, and pay no attention to,

52:39 - to those, important, you know, considerations.

52:42 - Our planning partners and the seats at the table and the public

52:45 - input that we get for every project, is meaningful, in so many ways.

52:49 - That was on full display,

52:51 - in southeast PA, near the Walt Whitman Bridge in 95 and 76.

52:55 - And, you know,

52:56 - PennDOT activities with respect to improvements, to that roadway area,

53:01 - you know,

53:02 - resulted in a tremendous, participation from, local folks.

53:07 - And that will continue over the next

53:08 - 3 or 4 years for a project that 7 or 8 years down the road.

53:12 - And so when it comes to, what we have done,

53:17 - I'm proud of the fact that we are, we have a cap project

53:20 - that's been completed in Pittsburgh to reconnect communities.

53:24 - We have one under construction, a major cap project.

53:27 - And it's essentially a, connecting of downtown Philadelphia with the waterfront.

53:32 - And, so we are going to have,

53:34 - you know, parks and, assets that will allow for people to get

53:38 - from the waterfront, in Philadelphia to Center City, over the cap.

53:43 - It is a project that, I'm proud of, and it speaks to Pennsylvania's,

53:48 - commitment to making sure that we reunite communities.

53:51 - And there's a stitch project, that people in Philadelphia

53:54 - would be familiar with in the Chinatown area.

53:57 - That does, something similar.

53:58 - So, again, so many of the,

54:02 - the transportation network and the, the placement of,

54:05 - interstate highways was where decisions that were made decades and decades ago,

54:10 - and, you know, you know, sadly, some communities were affected

54:13 - in a negative way as a result of the placement

54:15 - of some of the interstates, across the state.

54:18 - And so, you know, we cannot solve all of the sins of the past.

54:22 - But we are doing our level

54:23 - best to try and make sure that we're sensitive to the impacts that,

54:27 - that some of the interstates have, with communities,

54:31 - and the, the, the cap project in Pittsburgh and the one in Philadelphia,

54:36 - that, one on one Pittsburgh completed it, one to Philly under construction.

54:40 - And you really can't miss it if you go on 95, near the waterfront near

54:43 - Chestnut Walnut Street. You can't miss it.

54:46 - It's it's a colossus.

54:47 - And, it will be money well spent to reconnect those communities.

54:52 - And that's very interesting.

54:54 - And I do have the final.

54:56 - I think we have.

54:56 - The final question is, comes from the audience.

55:00 - And like I said, we're a we're a mid state,

55:04 - health insurance company.

55:05 - So the folks want to know about the five 8183 Eisenhower Interchange.

55:10 - What's that? What's happening?

55:12 - What's that all going to look like?

55:13 - And how long is it going to take?

55:15 - It's it's it's the parts that are done people are familiar with

55:18 - in the Colonial Park area, in Union Deposit.

55:21 - What the what the totality will be like that it's going to take us a while.

55:25 - It's going to take us years, the projects that are under construction

55:29 - now that you can see on the East Shore, you know, those are substantial projects

55:34 - and a widening of 83 and the replacement

55:36 - of some of the local bridges that carry, you know, 13th Street, the 19th Street.

55:40 - So on.

55:41 - And then, of course, we have to build a bridge over the Susquehanna River.

55:45 - And that's, you know, a project that we'll let, we'll put out for bid next summer.

55:50 - It will take us, you know, north of five years to complete that project.

55:54 - It will that one bridge does get any associated

55:56 - ramps on either side over in Lemoyne and on the Harrisburg side.

56:00 - You know, about

56:01 - 1.2 or $1.3 billion for one bridge.

56:05 - Now, we were, really thrilled that, PennDOT

56:09 - received its largest ever discretionary grant from Washington.

56:12 - As a result of the transportation bill, $500 million,

56:16 - was awarded for that project.

56:17 - The 83 bridge over the subsequent river.

56:20 - And so, you know, I'm proud of the effort dependance team

56:23 - you did to, advance that application.

56:26 - Of course, proud support from our federal partners.

56:29 - Every member of Congress from Pennsylvania supported that application.

56:32 - And so, when it comes to the 83 investment,

56:35 - including the Eisenhower interchange, that is in so many ways even more complex

56:39 - than the actual construction

56:41 - of a bridge over the, Susquehanna River because of the associated ramps

56:45 - up to Hershey and over to the, to the airport and so on.

56:48 - It's a project that's going to be measured in years,

56:52 - and it's going to be measured in billions of dollars.

56:54 - But like the Colonial Park Union deposit section, once it's done,

56:58 - it will be really safe and spectacular and meet the needs of this region

57:02 - for a long time.

57:02 - And so, yeah, people can see the progress,

57:07 - you know, when you're disrupting communities,

57:09 - you know, there's a lot of takings to get the right of way that we need.

57:12 - That's always disruptive.

57:14 - And then just trying to manage the cash flow and the reconciling,

57:17 - you know, the billions of dollars of investment, and that corridor

57:21 - with all of the other needs in that capital region,

57:24 - and then, you know, that reconciling that even further

57:26 - with all of the investments across the rest of the state.

57:29 - It's it's a tall order, but, I think people can expect

57:34 - to see, construction on the 83 corridor and the west shore.

57:38 - On the shore for many years to come.

57:40 - But there will be incremental improvements as we complete sections,

57:43 - like we did with Union Deposit in Colonial Park.

57:46 - Wow. Exciting times. You got a lot of.

57:48 - Yeah, you have a lot of irons in the fire, don't you?

57:52 - Yeah.

57:54 - That ends, you know, that that ends the program.

57:57 - But what I always do is I give our guest, you get the last word.

58:02 - So you're speaking to the people of the Commonwealth.

58:04 - What's a parting message you'd like to give to them?

58:07 - I'd like to thank them.

58:08 - I want to thank Pennsylvanians for being our partner.

58:11 - You know, the people that work for PennDOT are your neighbors.

58:14 - And they're your family members.

58:16 - You know, when I travel to any one county, if I go to Elk County in north west PA,

58:21 - the PennDOT folks,

58:22 - there are members of the community in Saint Mary's and Brockway and so on.

58:26 - And so I want to thank Pennsylvanians for being our partners.

58:29 - You know, it's in our collective interest to, you know, get where we need to go

58:34 - safely, whether you take a train or whether you ride, drive your car.

58:37 - And PennDOT will do our part to try and have a network that,

58:41 - that safe and efficient.

58:43 - And people are investing in us by virtue of their driver's license

58:47 - and motor vehicle fees and the purchase of gasoline

58:49 - or paying their electric vehicle registration fee.

58:52 - I want you to know that we're smart, and frugal.

58:55 - But the projects that we do are expensive.

58:58 - As I said,

58:58 - you know, one bridge over the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, over $1 billion.

59:02 - And so we take the responsibility that we have seriously,

59:06 - I have, done everything I can to make sure that the people at PennDOT

59:11 - know that our 13 million partners in this state, have an important voice.

59:16 - Certainly we cannot please all 13 million every single day.

59:19 - But we're going to try.

59:20 - Doug, and, you know, we're going to set the bar as high as possible,

59:24 - and do our level best to clear it, because we want folks

59:27 - to have the, ability to navigate their lives in a safe and efficient way.

59:31 - And one of the ways they can do that is to have a transportation network

59:34 - that they can be proud of.

59:35 - Whether you ride a bus or a train or drive your car, ride your bike, or walk,

59:40 - or all the other modes, we're there to support the 13 million Pennsylvanians.

59:44 - We're there to support the economy of this state.

59:46 - And we're there to make sure that they are able to live their life to the fullest.

59:51 - Thank you.

59:52 - Outstanding.

59:53 - And I can, I'll just say,

59:55 - after this conversation over the last hour, the governor

59:58 - 598 made the right choice, picking you for Secretary of Transportation.

01:00 - 04.634 This is a public affairs forum.

01:00 - 06.636 Like, thank Mike Carroll for joining us.

01:00 - 08.137 Today was outstanding.

01:00 - 12.342 Please stay tuned for the next episode of the Public Affairs Forum on Thursday,

01:00 - 16.446 where we will have David Merritt from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association,

01:00 - 19.816 who will talk to us a little bit about what's going on in Washington

01:00 - 20.783 about health care.

01:00 - 22.652 You know, something like that.

01:00 - 24.587 So thank you, Mike.

01:00 - 27.156 My Carol and, everybody have a good day.

01:00 - 30.159 Thank you.

01:01 - 00.723 The Capital

01:01 - 04.794 Blue Cross Forum is sponsored in part by Capital Blue Cross.