Release of federal funds for Pennsylvania doesn’t include money for transportation projects

The release of $2.1 billion in frozen federal funds that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro engineered from the White House does not include money for three major transportation projects.

Shapiro’s office clarified Tuesday the release does not include more than $700 million the state had been awarded under former President Joe Biden to expand passenger rail service, build electric charging stations and replace the Interstate 83 bridge near Harrisburg.

Those transportation funds weren’t part of the state’s lawsuit because they technically weren’t frozen. But the state has been reluctant to spend that money on the chance it will be cancelled after review.

Shapiro will continue lobbying for reinstatement of those funds, which now are officially listed as under review by the Trump administration that took office in January. Those reviews are expected to last until late spring.

The state filed a lawsuit against the federal government Feb. 13 after lobbying efforts with the new administration failed to release funds in other areas that previously had been awarded. A lot of the money was earmarked for environmental projects, including three years of grants worth $785 million for mine reclamation work.

But Shapiro said Monday in remarks announcing the release of frozen funds that he continued to meet with White House officials, including Friday while he was attending a governors’ conference in Washington, D.C. That additional work resulted in the release of the funds, he said.

“As a result of our lawsuit – and our continued pressure on and engagement with the Trump administration in which we demanded the administration comply with the legal injunctions currently in place and made clear that we were ready to seek immediate relief from the courts — every dollar we identified at the filing of our lawsuit is currently unfrozen and once again accessible to Pennsylvania state agencies, in accordance with legal injunctions currently in place,” the governor said.

Shapiro, the state’s former attorney general, stressed that the state’s legal argument was based on “basic stuff” that grade school children know about how the federal government works. That includes that Congress passes laws and appropriates funds administered by the administration, which had signed agreements with the state authorizing the funds the state would get.

“Those agreements are binding,” Shapiro said. “To put it simply: A deal is a deal. The Trump administration is legally required to provide these funds.”

The funding for transportation projects Shapiro continues to work on includes more than $143 million for passenger rail projects, about $50 million for 59 more electric charging stations and $500 million to replace the I-83 bridge in Dauphin County.

The Federal Rail Administration awarded a $143 million grant to the state to pay part of $200 million of work for Norfolk Southern to make improvements to allow Amtrak to add a second daily trip between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. Norfolk Southern, which owns the tracks, has started work on side tracks and other items while Amtrak is upgrading stations along the route with a goal of beginning service in 2026.

Western Pennsylvanians for Passenger Rail, a strong advocate for the second Amtrak trip, said it has reached out to PennDOT for clarification on whether that project will continue. The state previously had said it could pay for the work without federal assistance.

The Biden administration also had authorized funds to study a new rail route between Scranton and New York City and reinstituting service between Reading and Philadelphia, which ended more than 40 years ago. Those funds remain under review.

Biden had initiated a program to install electric vehicle charging stations every 50 miles along interstate highways and special transportation corridors. That was part of reaching his goal for half of new vehicle sales to be electric vehicles by 2030 to reduce pollution and promote manufacturing of electric vehicles.

Trump canceled that program on his first day in office. Pennsylvania has 91 of its 150 authorized stations under construction in its $171.5 million program, but 59 of the stations and more than $50 million remain in limbo.

Replacing the South Bridge on I-83 was considered so important and so expensive that four years ago the state Department of Transportation considered establishing tolls to pay for the $1.2 billion project. The bridge is considered a key East Coast route for freight trucks.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced a $500 million grant in July to help pay for the project, which is scheduled to begin construction in 2026. That grant also is under federal review to see whether it meets the priorities of the Trump administration.

Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll has said the state would find a way to pay for the work if the grant is canceled. He had hailed the grant – the largest the state has ever received for a single project – as an opportunity to spend an additional $500 million on other state road and bridge needs.