PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll not fearful of federal transportation funding changes under Trump

After 16 years as a state legislator and two as secretary of the state Department of Transportation, Mike Carroll has learned nothing if not patience with the process of government.

Under the Biden administration, the federal government made unprecedented funds available for transportation projects to start rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure. The state received more than a billion dollars to build roads and bridges, expand broadband, upgrade locks and dams, and build more electric charging stations.

With the administration in Washington, D.C., changing to Republican Donald Trump, Carroll is taking a wait-and-see attitude about potential changes in federal transportation policy. Rather than fret about something out of his control, he’s ready to enter the new year touting his department’s accomplishments and plans for the future.

Strong accomplishments

PennDOT received national accolades for improving or replacing more than 200 bridges that had been rated in poor condition, more than any other state. The state is in the top five for the number of bridges it owns and the number in poor condition, but it has cut that latter number from more than 6,000 in 2008 to just under 2,300 today.

This year, the state also paved more miles of roadways than it has in the past 10 years. That’s because of additional federal funds and more state money available for roadwork because the cost of state police patrols on highways is being transferred from PennDOT to the state general fund budget over several years.

The department also was among the first to open a series of electric vehicle charging stations under the federal program to have them available about every 50 miles along interstate highways. Over the next three years, the state expects to open 150 stations at a cost of $171.5 million.

Carroll is quick to point out that work has been done on a state system of roads and bridges that is among the country’s largest, bigger than New York, New Jersey and Ohio combined.

“I’m proud of the work we’ve done,” Carroll said in a recent interview, noting the department is solidly in line with Gov. Josh Shapiro’s mantra to “get [stuff] done.”

In the Pittsburgh area, major projects underway include rebuilding the Parkway East from Churchill to Monroeville, replacing the Commercial Street Bridge on the Parkway East just before the inbound Squirrel Hill Tunnel, and paving McKnight Road from Pittsburgh’s North Side to McCandless.

Other authorized projects under design include a series of projects along the Parkway East: installing flood control measures for the area known as “the bathtub” along the Monongahela Wharf in Downtown Pittsburgh, creating a traffic control system to ease inbound congestion and reduce accidents between Monroeville and Squirrel Hill, building a bus lane between Monroeville and Edgewood on the shoulder of the roadway, and controlling landslides and improving bridges on the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway.

Federal changes coming?

Even before he’s taken office, Trump has said he plans to turn more programs back to states so they can choose which ones to fund themselves. One already on the ropes is the federal income tax incentive for those who purchase electric vehicles, a program President Joe Biden considered key to addressing climate change and creating new jobs manufacturing the vehicles and building and installing charging stations to support them.

Additionally, the federal transportation bill that funds many of those programs is up for renewal in two years.

Carroll said he isn’t ready to concede the federal role in any of those programs.

“You campaign in poetry, but you govern in prose,” Carroll said. “When you actually have to govern, it’s different. We shall see.

“Don’t forget, Congress has a role here. I can tell you, there’s near unanimous support among the states for a federal role in transportation.”

Carroll said as each year goes by, the need for a national change in how transportation is funded grows greater.

Many states, especially Pennsylvania with a level above 70%, rely heavily on the gasoline tax to fund road and bridge work. With electric vehicle use expanding, the amount of money raised from the gas tax has plateaued and eventually is expected to decline, which is a real problem during high inflation.

Pennsylvania has enacted a $200 annual charge for electric vehicles beginning this year. Eventually, states are expected to switch to an annual fee based on how many miles a vehicle is driven, but Carroll said all states would have to participate and it likely would take more than five years for a complete changeover to vehicles with equipment to calculate how much each owner should pay.

Carroll said he is sure things will work out and his department will continue to “provide what 13 million Pennsylvanians need every day” in transportation services.

“That is a monstrous job, but it is one that we will continue to do,” he said. “What PennDOT does is on full display. I have heard nothing from the Trump administration about cutting back.”