The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees
transportation issues in the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, currently Yassmin Gramian. Presently, PennDOT supports over of state roads and highways, about 25,000 bridges, as well as new roadway construction, the exception being the
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, although they currently follow PennDOT policies and procedures. In addition, other modes of transportation are supervised or supported by PennDOT. These include
aviation,
rail traffic
Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas:
Rapid transit
A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid accelerati ...
,
mass transit
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...
, intrastate highway shipping traffic,
motor vehicle
A motor vehicle, also known as motorized vehicle or automotive vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on Track (rail transport), rails (such as trains or trams) and is used for the transportation of pe ...
safety & licensing, and
driver licensing
A driver's license is a legal authorization, or the official document confirming such an authorization, for a specific individual to operate one or more types of motorized vehicles—such as motorcycles, cars, trucks, or buses—on a public r ...
. PennDOT also supports the Ports of
Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh, and
Erie. The current budget is approximately $3.8 billion in federal and state funds. The state budget is supported by the motor vehicle fuels tax which is dedicated solely to transportation issues.
In recent years, PennDOT has focused on
intermodal transportation. This is a broad attempt to enhance both commerce and public transportation.
PennDOT employs approximately 11,000 people.
PennDOT has extensive
traffic camera
A traffic camera is a video camera which observes vehicular traffic on a road. Typically, traffic cameras are put along major roads such as highways, freeways, expressways and arterial roads, and are connected by optical fibers buried alongside or ...
s set up throughout various parts of major cities in the state, such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh,
Harrisburg,
Erie,
Allentown (
Lehigh Valley), and
Wilkes-Barre/
Scranton. The latter's cameras are fed through to a
television channel for
Service Electric cable customers in Wilkes-Barre. These cameras are primarily installed for
ITS purposes, not for law enforcement (as opposed to
speed cameras).
History
![PennDOTinspection](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/PennDOTinspection.jpg)
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation was created from the former Department of Highways by Act 120, approved by the legislature on May 6, 1970. The intent of the legislation was to consolidate transportation-related functions formerly performed in the Departments of Commerce, Revenue, Community Affairs, Forests and Waters, Military Affairs and other state agencies.
PennDOT is responsible for constructing and maintaining a system of roads at the sole expense of the state. It controls more than of roadway. Townships control approximately of roads and streets; boroughs, and cities . In all, there are more than of public roads, streets and toll roads in the Commonwealth.
Greatest growth in the state highway system occurred in 1931 when of rural roads were taken over by the Commonwealth. At that time, the Department of Highways, at the direction of Governor
Gifford Pinchot, embarked upon an extensive program of paving rural roadways, well known as the "get the farmer out of the mud" program.
The Federal Government in 1916 instituted grants to the states for highway construction. These grants continue today and now comprise the key element in determining the size of the state's roadbuilding programs.
State payments to local communities for road maintenance also have continued to expand so that they average approximately $170 million annually.
The agency went into well-noted organizational decline. An effort to bring
quality management principles to PennDOT over an extended period—four changes of state governor—accomplished a great deal.
Department organization
PennDOT is organized into five deputates which oversee various transportation functions.
Highway Administration
The Highway Administration deputate oversees of roadway and 25,400 bridges in Pennsylvania which comprise the
Pennsylvania State Route System. The deputate is made up of over 9,300 employees in design, construction, maintenance, materials testing, environmental review, safety, and traffic engineering. There are eleven engineering districts located throughout the state.
Driver & Vehicle Services
![PennDOT Driver License Center in Huntingdon Valley PA](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/PennDOT_Driver_License_Center_in_Huntingdon_Valley_PA.jpeg)
PennDOT is responsible for motor vehicle titles and registration, along with issuing
driver licenses through the Driver & Vehicle Services deputate. Somewhat uniquely, PennDOT does not operate typical DMV offices, such as those that exist in other states. Rather, they operate "Driver and Photo License Centers," for full service regarding drivers licenses. This includes activities like taking driver's tests, getting driver's license photographs taken, or requesting a replacement for a lost drivers license. In addition to this, the department also operates "Photo License Centers" which solely take photographs for drivers licenses. There are 75 Drivers and Photo License Centers and 26 Photo License Centers operated by PennDOT. Transactions relating to motor vehicles, such as
vehicle title transfers or replacing a lost
registration plate
A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate (British English), license plate (American English), or licence plate ( Canadian English), is a metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identificat ...
, which would typically be handled by a DMV office in other states, are handled by a network of private businesses called "messenger services," which contract with the department. They operate by charging service fees on top of the fees that PennDOT charges. Some messenger services also have a limited ability to perform driver's license services, such as changing a driver's license address or renewing a driver's license, but not taking the associated photo. An exception to this method of operation is at the PennDOT headquarters in
Harrisburg, which has a large room for all motor vehicle transactions and drivers' license transactions, with a separate room for photographing and issuing licenses to motorists.
Planning
The Planning deputate develops the Twelve Year Transportation Program in collaboration with the federal government and local planning organizations, which guides improvements to transportation in Pennsylvania. It is also in charge of the cash flow from the federal and state governments to fund improvement projects along with working on long-range research and map making.
[
]
Multimodal Transportation
The Multimodal Transportation deputate oversees aviation, rail freight transport, public transportation, ports, and pedestrian
A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In modern times, the term usually refers to someone walking on a road or pavement, but this was not the case historically.
The meaning of pedestrian is displayed with ...
and bicycle
A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bic ...
transportation. The deputate oversees airports in Pennsylvania
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfac ...
, which includes 127 public airports, 243 private airports, and 280 private heliports. Multimodal Transportation also looks over 65 railroads which operate over of track in the state. PennDOT oversees bicycle routes across the state, including the state-designated BicyclePA bicycle routes and the portions of the federally-designated United States Bicycle Route System
The United States Bicycle Route System (abbreviated USBRS) is the national cycling route network of the United States. It consists of interstate long-distance cycling routes that use multiple types of bicycling infrastructure, including off-road ...
located within Pennsylvania.[
PennDOT provides the primary funding for two Amtrak trains in Pennsylvania that operate along the Keystone Corridor. The '']Keystone Service
Amtrak's ''Keystone Service'' provides frequent regional rail, regional passenger train service between the Harrisburg Transportation Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, running along the Philadelphia to ...
'' runs between Harrisburg and New York City via Philadelphia and offers multiple daily departures. The ''Pennsylvanian Pennsylvanian may refer to:
* A person or thing from Pennsylvania
* Pennsylvanian (geology)
The Pennsylvanian ( , also known as Upper Carboniferous or Late Carboniferous) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS geologic timesca ...
'' runs between Pittsburgh and New York City via Philadelphia and operates once daily in each direction.
The Mulitmodal Transportation deputate supports public transit authorities in Pennsylvania, which consists of 34 agencies providing fixed-route and demand responsive transport to urban and rural areas and 18 agencies providing demand responsive transport only. The deputate also supports intercity bus service in the state.[
]
Administration
The Administration deputate is in charge of various bureaus that overlook fiscal management, computer systems, mobile applications, telecommunications, contract compliance, training, employee safety, human resources, office services, facilities management, quality improvements, partnerships with other government agencies and communities, and employees engagement activities. The deputate is also in charge of Pennsylvania Welcome Centers located along major highways entering the state.[
]
Bridges in Pennsylvania
According to a 2011 study by Transportation for America
Transportation for America (or T4A) is an American policy organization that supports progressive transportation and land use policy. The transportation program of Smart Growth America, T4A supports reforming transportation policy at the federal, ...
, 26.5% of Pennsylvania's bridges were structurally deficient and the state led the United States with six metropolitan areas with a high percentage of deficient bridges. These figures would have been higher, but the state had recently undertaken a program to quadruple state funding for bridge repairs.
Across the United States, 61,000 bridges are "structurally deficient," which means they need repairs, contain a piece rated as "poor," and might also have a weight limit. The term ''structurally deficient'' does not mean a bridge is unsafe for travel. In Pennsylvania, eight of the top ten most traveled structurally deficient bridges are located in Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania has the highest number of structurally deficient bridges in the U.S. Overall, the state has 25,000 bridges excluding privately owned bridges, which is the third-largest number of bridges in the U.S. Pennsylvania has launched a program called the Rapid Bridge Replacement project to increase the number of bridges it fixes. The project is a public-private partnership between PennDOT and the private firm Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners. The project fixed almost 700 bridges in 2014.
Districts
Administratively PennDOT is divided into engineering districts to localize engineering and maintenance. The following is a table of the districts and their associated headquarters. The statewide headquarters for PennDOT is located in the Commonwealth Keystone Building in Harrisburg.
Criticism
PennDOT has received criticism over the years regarding the quality of the roads in the Commonwealth, as Pennsylvania has previously ranked among the worst maintained road systems in the United States.10 States With The Worst Roads And Bridges
Business Insider (August 13, 2010). Retrieved on 2013-07-23.
See also
* List of Pennsylvania state agencies
* List of State Routes in Pennsylvania
* Keystone Marker
*Vehicle registration plates of Pennsylvania
The U.S. state of Pennsylvania first required its residents to register their motor vehicles in 1903. Registrants provided their own license plates for display until 1906, when the state began to issue plates.
, plates are issued by the Pennsylva ...
References
External links
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation – PennDOT
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pennsylvania Department Of Transportation
1970 establishments in Pennsylvania
Government agencies established in 1970
Transportation in Pennsylvania
Transportation
State departments of transportation of the United States
Motor vehicle registration agencies