HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania’s far-reaching transportation plan, Act 89, will allow the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to distribute nearly $466.2 million in liquid fuels payments to certified municipalities on March 1 to help them maintain their roads and bridges.
This distribution marks a $20.9 million, or 5 percent, increase over the $445.3 million distributed in 2016. In 2013, before Act 89 was enacted, municipalities received $320.8 million in liquid fuels payments.
“The funds received through liquid fuels payments are critical to the preservation and improvement of our vast network of locally maintained roads,” said PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards.
“They are essential to communities for the upkeep of these vital connections to the state highway and bridge network.”
Liquid fuels allocations are annual payments to municipalities to help pay for expenses such as snow removal and road repaving. There are 120,091 miles of public roads in Pennsylvania, with 72,856 of those miles owned by municipalities and eligible for liquid fuels. The formula for payments is based on a municipality’s population and miles of locally-owned roads.
To be counted as 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 miles per hour.
For the complete list of local payments, visit the “Municipal Liquid Fuels Program” page at www.penndot.gov under the “Doing Business” Local Government page.
