Governor urges compromise on key transportation bill

Appearing under a major bridge that almost fell down and while holding a chunk of another bridge in dire need of repairs, Gov. Tom Corbett this afternoon urged Pennsylvania legislators to compromise on differences that have held up a proposed transportation funding bill.

At a press conference under the Birmingham Bridge on Pittsburgh's South Side, Mr. Corbett said public safety and the state's economy depend on increased funding for roads, bridges, transit and other transportation modes.

"I'm urging members of the General Assembly to approach this issue in a true spirit of compromise that will bring that bill to my desk this year," he said.

Mr. Corbett embraced a proposal backed by House Republicans to raise the threshold for requiring union-level prevailing wages on projects from $25,000 to $100,000, meaning lower wages could be paid on jobs costing less than six figures. Democrats and several major unions have balked at the change.

Noting that the threshold hasn't been raised since 1961, Mr. Corbett said if it had kept pace with inflation, it would be nearly $195,000 today. 

He called the proposed increase "abundantly reasonable in my mind." It would help local governments cut costs and reduce pressure on local officials to raise property taxes, he said.

It would not affect the $1.5 billion to $2 billion in annual contract work that PennDOT awards, because only a handful of state projects cost less than $100,000, the governor said.

"No side in this bill can get everything that it wants," he said.

A section of the Birmingham Bridge shifted and dropped eight inches, landing on a concrete pier, in February 2008. A transportation funding bill would allow a $33 million rehabilitation project to move forward on the bridge, which was built in 1976 and is showing signs of rust, state Transportation Secretary Barry Schoch said. The bridge carries 23,000 vehicles per day between the South Side and Oakland.

The concrete chunk the governor brandished came from the Koppel Bridge in Beaver County, for which no rehabilitation funding is available. An upgrade to the bridge could begin as soon as 2015 if the Legislature passes a funding bill, Mr. Corbett said.

The House has yet to vote on a Senate-passed bill that would provide up to $2.5 billion in new funding by raising the tax on gasoline wholesalers and increasing vehicle fees. It may do so when it returns to session Nov. 12 and 13.

Bill Patton, a spokesman for House Democrats, said the caucus remains opposed to lifting the prevailing wage threshold.

"We feel it's an issue that should be considered separately" rather than being attached to the ransportation bill, he said.

Source: Post-Gazette