Ad campaign prods Pa. on $3.5 billion transportation projects

    If recent flood damage to the Pennsylvania’s roads and bridges didn’t lend some urgency to the issue of transportation funding, one coalition is hoping a new ad campaign will.

    The “BetterSaferRoads” campaign is the brainchild of a variety of groups representing Pennsylvania’s highway construction industry.

    The ads endorse recommendations offered by the governor’s Transportation Funding Advisory Commission, which suggested ways to find part of the $3.5 billion needed for transit systems.

    The train is leaving the station on transportation funding, said Dave Kilmer, director of the Red Rose Transit Authority in Lancaster and the Pennsylvania Public Transportation Association.

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    “We need to do it this fall and I think that’s why we’re doing this now,” he said. “There’s a very short legislative session this fall where we can really get to the meat of the problem here and get it fixed.”

    Gov. Tom Corbett’s spokesman disagreed with the notion the problem absolutely needs to be solved before the end of the fall session.

    He says the governor has already had preliminary discussions with legislators about recommended solutions for the funding gap.

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