Notice
Shapiro Administration Announces Annual Liquid Fuels Distribution to Municipalities to Support Local Roads and Bridges
March 3rd, 2023Harrisburg, PA– The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced today that it has committed $470.2 million in liquid fuels payments to help certified municipalities maintain their roads and bridges. This year’s allocation is approximately 3 percent higher than last year’s. Fixing and maintaining Pennsylvania’s roads, highways and bridges is a top priority of the Shapiro administration. Today’s announcement builds on Governor Shapiro’s commitment to ensuring Pennsylvanians can travel across the Commonwealth safely.
“We have the fifth-largest state-maintained road system in the country, and there are even more locally owned roads and bridges,” said Acting PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll. “These critical investments help keep our communities safe and connected.”
PennDOT’s annual distributions assist with municipalities’ highway and bridge-related expenses such as snow removal and road repaving. The formula that determines the allocation a municipality will receive is based on its population and miles of locally owned roads. To be eligible for liquid fuels, a roadway must be formally adopted as a public street by the municipality, meet certain dimension requirements, and be able to safely accommodate vehicles driving at least 15 mph.
“We appreciate that PennDOT recognizes that local government is an important partner of the transportation network in Pennsylvania, being responsible for 2/3 of the road miles in the Commonwealth,” said Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors Executive Director David Sanko. “This liquid fuels distribution is an integral part of local funding, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with PennDOT to help ensure that local governments are able to cover the costs of building and maintaining our portion of the network.”
“The Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs commends the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for recognizing borough governments as important partners of the statewide transportation network,” said Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs Executive Director Chris Cap. “These liquid fuels allocations are an essential funding component for preserving this vast network of locally maintained roads, which are so vital to the continued economic viability of this Commonwealth.”
Act 89 of 2013 made more funding available for locally owned roadways. Before the law, municipalities received $320.8 million in liquid fuels payments.
There are 120,596 miles of public roads in Pennsylvania. Some 2,560 municipalities manage an estimated 78,000 linear miles of roadway and more than 6,600 bridges longer than 20 feet.
In addition to PennDOT’s annual liquid fuels distribution and various grant opportunities, local officials can act on several options available to them to help improve locally owned infrastructure. For example, counties can implement a $5 fee for each vehicle registered to an address within the county and use the funds on locally owned infrastructure. To date, 27 counties have implemented this fee. From December 2015 through December 2022, $218.5 million has been collected and distributed to the respective counties.
Additionally, local governments and other eligible entities may apply for low-interest loans from the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Bankwhich helps fund and accelerate transportation projects as well as spur economic development.
For the complete list of municipal liquid fuels payments, visit PennDOT’s Municipal Liquid Fuels Programpage.
