Robert Latham, executive vice president of Associated Pennsylvania Constructors, said legislation introduced by Rep. Keith McCall (D-Carbon County) would provide $650 million per year for public transit through the Real Estate Transfer Tax, along with $400 million for highway construction by lifting the cap on the Oil Company Franchise Tax.

Additionally, Latham said, McCall’s legislation would provide $100 million for funding local road maintenance and construction, which essentially provides for immediate property tax relief.

Latham urged the commission to proceed cautiously with privatization. While the trade association supports exploring the privatization of portions of Pennsylvania’s highway system, policy makers should not spend the proceeds of highway assets on non-highway projects, he said.

In Chicago, for example, $1.8 billion in proceeds from sale of the Skyway Bridge was used to pay for a variety of non-highway items.

“Our major concern is with placing the proceeds in the General Fund and using them to fund operations or shortfalls in other programs,” Latham said. “The billions of dollars that could be raised from the sale of a highway asset must be earmarked for improving highways and bridges.”

Latham also said that policy makers should make certain they protect the state’s 70,000 highway construction jobs by retaining the competitive bidding process. Pennsylvania contractors, suppliers, equipment dealers and consultants must be assured that they are on equal footing with firms from outside the state in competing for design and construction projects, he said.

While acknowledging that mass transit also is an essential component of the state’s transportation infrastructure, Latham urged the administration not to force highway construction projects and mass transit to compete for the same scarce resources. Last year, the state diverted $412 million in federal highway funds to subsidize mass transit systems across the state.

“These funds only temporarily satisfied the needs of transit,” Latham said. “Repeating this action will exacerbate the funding issues surrounding our road and bridge programs, where there is already a $1 billion annual shortfall.”

He said the state should move aggressively to provide the funding necessary to bring Pennsylvania’s bridges and highways up to an acceptable maintenance standard, and also expand the system’s capacity to accommodate increased traffic. Doing so will enable Pennsylvania to compete with other states in providing the tools necessary for economic vitality.

Latham noted that Pennsylvania’s deteriorating bridges and highways are also a problem for mass transit. Last week, PennDOT banned buses from the Paxton Street Bridge in Harrisburg after an inspection revealed significant structural problems with the 70-year-old span. The ban caused changes in several bus routes.