Pennsylvania has some of the oldest bridges in the country, and state funds for county and municipal bridge repair are essential to the repair and maintenance of 6,400 bridges on locally owned roads throughout the Commonwealth. Under Act 13 of 2012, specific funding contributed by the Marcellus Legacy Fund to the Highway Bridge Improvement Restricted Account is restricted to funding the cost of replacement or repair of locally owned at-risk deteriorated bridges. This restriction, however, leaves no room for these funds to be used once a county has completed all repairs possible on at-risk deteriorated bridges.
 
The proposed legislation is a companion bill to Senate Bill 1070, which would permit counties to use the funding established under Act 13 to improve any county or municipal bridge in accordance with federal and state law and regulation. This will allow counties to utilize bridge repair funding as needed. If a bridge project under the Marcellus Legacy Fund has money left over, we should enable counties to use that overage on other bridge maintenance projects in the county.
 
Please consider co-sponsoring this legislation to grant counties the tools they need to most effectively designate funding for bridge repairs, without unnecessary limitations. This will make for a more efficient use of funds and will improve the lives of the residents of this Commonwealth.