PHIA News Digest – Vol. 4
There’s some bipartisan support for an excellent and timely idea: Raise the federal gas tax and replenish the Highway Trust Fund
The Highway Trust Fund is supposed to be funded by the federal gas tax, but that hasn’t worked out so well in recent years for various reasons. First, our fleet is getting better mileage. Second, the trend in miles driven is undergoing its slowest growth in the history of the data (dating to the 1970s). If you’re one of those people who’s driving less and doing so in a higher mpg vehicle, give yourself a pat on the back. Those are both good things for the environment.
A diet you can live with
A typical road diet takes a segment of four-lane undivided roadway and reconfigures it into three lanes with two through lanes and a center two-way left turn lane. Often, a road diet creates space for bicycle lanes. The newly configured stretch improves safety by including a protected left-turn lane for motorists, reducing crossing distance for pedestrians, and lowering travel speeds with very little increase in travel times.
EIA Says 2015 Average Household Gasoline Costs Could be Lowest Since 2004
The average U.S. household is on course to spend about $550 less on gasoline in 2015 than it spent in 2014, the Energy Information Administration said, with the annual bill for gasoline and motor oil spending to reach its lowest level in 11 years.
Record number of travelers expected on Pa. Turnpike
More than 4 million vehicles are expected to use the Pennsylvania Turnpike between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission reported.
