Liquid Fuels Payments Increase Locally

Pennsylvania’s transportation plan, Act 89, will allow the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to distribute nearly $445.3 million in liquid fuels payments to certified municipalities on March 1 to help them maintain their roads and bridges.

This distribution marks a $64 million, or 16 percent, increase over the $381 million distributed in 2015.

For example, 45 Armstrong County municipalities split more than $4.3 million in funds.

Cowanshannock Township received the largest allocation - more than $294,000 - based on nearly 80 miles of roads.

The local municipality with the highest-municipal population, Kiskiminetas Township, received the second-highest allocation of more than $248,000.

East Franklin Township received the third-highest allocation of more than $207,000 based on about 44.5 miles of roads.

In 2013, before Act 89 was enacted, municipalities received $320.8 million in liquid fuels payments.

“While Pennsylvania has the fifth-largest state-maintained road system in the country, we also have a vast network of locally maintained roads,” PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards said. “These funds are essential to communities across the state as they preserve and improve these vital connections to the state highway and bridge network.”

Liquid fuels allocations are annual payments to municipalities to help pay for highway and bridge-related expenses such as snow removal and road repaving.

There are 120,039 miles of public roads in Pennsylvania, with 72,759 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 mph.