Dush Urges County and Local Governments to Apply for Available Bridge Rehabilitation, Replacement Funding

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Rep. Cris Dush (R-Jefferson/Indiana) is encouraging District 66 townships, boroughs and county commissioners of Indiana and Jefferson counties to add their respective bridge rehabilitation or replacement projects to pending legislation that would authorize additional funding.

In the near future, the House Transportation Committee will be introducing Bridge Bill #14 to add projects, both state and local, to the existing list of bridges authorized for design and construction. Bridge Bill #14 will be financed through the Highway Bridge Improvement restricted account in the Motor License Fund, primarily from the diesel fund tax, general obligation bonds backed by the Motor License Fund, federal augmentation and local government participation.

Bridge Bill #1 was Act 235 of 1982, the “Highway-Railroad and Highway Bridge Capital Budget Act” and the General Assembly has adopted Bridge Bill Capital Budget authorizations supplementing the original act ever since.

“The best thing about this infrastructure improvement funding is that it is already available for local and county governments to supplement their most important bridge construction, rehabilitation or replacement projects,” said Dush. “As I and other members of the Common Sense Caucus have successfully identified for the past two budget cycles, a significant portion of available revenue was squirrelled away in hidden special funding accounts. Our mission is to drive all of these non-performing taxpayer dollars back to our communities. It’s up to local elected officials to let my office know what specific bridge projects they would like to see funded.”

In order to determine project eligibility, local government officials must contact Dush’s Punxsutawney district office at 814-938-4225 to begin the application process. The application deadline is Friday, April 26.