Meeting for Draft of Intercity Rail Plan

Pennsylvania is making a comprehensive rail plan for passenger and freight rail. You can go to the meetings being held statewide and make comments on the draft. Here is an excerpt from the press release:

Three (3) Public Meetings have been scheduled to review the Draft Intercity Passenger and Freight Rail Plan. The draft plan will include goals, objectives, and recommendations (short and long term) for transportation improvements related to rail in the Commonwealth.

The plan will enable PennDOT to implement a more efficient and effective approach to intercity rail transportation within the Commonwealth. Specifically, consideration will be given to more frequent and timely passenger rail service and increased use of the freight rail system for goods movement. In addition, this plan will also aid in prioritizing rail projects throughout the state by identifying those that will provide the most benefit for the limited funding available. Prioritization will take into account multiple factors.

These factors include, but are not limited to; the availability of funding, the ability of the project/improvement to facilitate economic growth, and the minimization of impacts to the environment.

Each public meeting will be held in an open house format so community members can stop by to learn about the plan, ask questions and provide written comments.

Identical information will be presented at each location/meeting.

Monday, September 14, 2009
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
SEPTA, Board Room
1234 Market St.
Philadelphia, PA 19107

Go and let PennDOT know that rail should be restored to the Lehigh Valley.

Specter, LaHood drive talk on transportation

The new secretary of the federal department of transportation came for his first visit to the Lehigh Valley. He mostly talked about roads but the article is below.

Specter, LaHood drive talk on transportation
They meet with local leaders to discuss issues, projects but make no promises for money.

By Dan Hartzell OF THE MORNING CALL

August 25, 2009


Rail advocate Paul Marin chugged along with his ongoing plea for the restoration of passenger rail service to the Lehigh Valley. Airport director George Doughty touted the need for federal funding for the nation's airports. Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski pitched the importance of money for his beloved American Parkway project.

There was nothing new in those appeals, offered at the America on Wheels museum in Allentown Monday. The big difference was on the receiving end: U.S. Transportation Secretary Raymond LaHood was the listener, in person.

Introduced by Sen. Arlen Specter as ''the man with the money,'' LaHood visited the city with Specter after the two made similar stops in Norristown, Elizabethtown and Camp Hill earlier in the day.

The events were part of a kind of summer tour for Specter, a newly minted Democrat who will be opposed in next spring's primary by U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak of Delaware County. In the last three months, Specter has appeared with four other Obama Cabinet secretaries on different stops in Philadelphia and in Somerset County.

In Allentown, Specter and LaHood met with elected officials and transportation planners. In a roundtable discussion that amounted mostly to repeated pleas for more funding from Washington -- or at least to keep expected allocations from being cut -- neither official made significant pledges of new money for specific projects.

Rather, they talked broadly about the vital need for transportation improvements, including American Parkway, the ongoing Route 412 corridor work in Bethlehem, and Route 22 upgrades in the Lehigh Valley.

Participants included U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-15th District; the mayors of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton; executives of Lehigh and Northampton counties; several state House members; and representatives from the state Transportation Department, Lehigh Valley International Airport, Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority, Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and other groups.

Dent joined Pawlowski in support of American Parkway, and was cordial to Specter and LaHood, but took time to criticize an energy ''cap and trade'' proposal that has passed the House, with strong Democratic support, as a kind of back-door gas-tax increase that would provide no money for transportation projects.

In addition to LANTA board member Marin's focus on rail service, which was echoed by state Rep. Karen Beyer, R-Lehigh, state Rep. Jennifer Mann, D-Lehigh, stressed that Pennsylvania, with older transportation infrastructure than many states, can't afford to neglect the needed repairs and replacement.

Reacting to questions from Doughty and LANTA Executive Director Armando Greco, LaHood said the federal Highway Trust Fund ''is just inadequate.'' Declining gas-tax revenue as more fuel-efficient cars hit the highways will mean more stable sources of revenue must be found, he said, while pledging to ''work with Congress to put together a strong bill'' to provide adequate funding.

Michael Rebert, PennDOT's regional district executive, pitched in for his own plea, citing anticipated future funding shortfalls, particularly if the federal government does not approve the implementation of tolls on I-80. Specter declined to predict what the proposal's chances might be.

Lehigh Valley Planning Commission Executive Director Michael Kaiser stressed the importance of widening Route 22 from four to six lanes, a plan recently shelved by PennDOT for lack of funding.

''That's the most dangerous stretch of road around, right?'' Specter replied, but again, made no commitment to the widening.

LaHood at one point complimented Specter, who became a Democrat in April, for his ''very courageous vote'' in support of the federal stimulus bill, but Sestak in a later phone interview questioned Specter's commitment to stimulus spending, particularly early this year, when he was still a Republican.

In February, Sestak said, Specter voted for a bill sponsored by Republican Sen. John McCain that would have provided economic stimulus strictly through tax cuts. Had that bill ultimately succeeded, Pennsylvania would have received no transportation stimulus money, Sestak said.

LANTA Gives Support to Passenger Rail Study

The Morning Call ran another article today about the fact that LANTA has finally endorsed the study for returning passenger rail to the Leigh Valley. It's good to see that change is finally coming to the organization. The some board members seem to view it as more of a pipe dream.

LANTA gives support to passenger-rail study
The transportation authority won't necessarily endorse conclusions to be reached

By Dan Hartzell OF THE MORNING CALL

August 13, 2009

The Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority has endorsed a study aimed at determining the feasibility of restoring passenger-rail service between the Lehigh Valley and New York City.

The $250,000 review isn't new. In fact, LANTA board member Anne McHale said Tuesday she'd seen colleague Paul Marin's presentation about it so often that she hoped he wouldn't mind if she left the room next time he gave it.

''I don't need to see it again,'' she said with a laugh.

But after Marin's report, McHale, who as a Northampton County councilwoman supported the county's $75,000 contribution to the study, suggested LANTA should formally endorse the study. Her motion to that effect was approved by voice vote, without dissent, at the authority's monthly meeting in Allentown on Tuesday.

Executive Director Armando Greco said the vote represents LANTA approval of the study, though not necessarily any conclusions it might reach.

Marin, who also serves as treasurer of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., which contributed $100,000 to the study, said it should be completed by February. Lehigh County also allocated $75,000 to the consultant's review. LANTA has contributed no money.

Through the years, area political leaders have offered mixed views on whether passenger trains can, or should, return to the area after vanishing decades ago.

Some, including Lehigh Valley Planning Commission Executive Director Michael Kaiser, have said the area's population, despite rapid growth, isn't nearly dense enough to support rail financially.

A year ago, Kaiser said that if a related study by New Jersey Transit recommends extending its Raritan Valley commuter rail line by about 21 miles from High Bridge to Phillipsburg, he'd reconsider the viability of a final link from there to the Valley. The Raritan line runs to Newark, N.J., where passengers can transfer to trains into New York.

Asked for an update Wednesday, Kaiser didn't exactly withdraw last year's comment, but he remained skeptical about passenger rail returning to the Valley.

''There will probably be further studies after this study,'' he said of the transit study and its local addendum.

Many significant obstacles remain, he said: ''I learned my skepticism early in life, and I don't consider that a bad thing. My job is to look at the facts and try to make decisions based on that.''

Marin and other rail proponents insist the time is right to push for passenger trains, particularly with Washington stoking the ailing economy. Rail projects can qualify for $8 billion in stimulus funding, Marin said, adding that 275 ''pre-applications'' for the money already have steamed into Washington, representing more than $100 billion in project proposals.

''What's beginning to happen is, there are signs of political will changing in Washington,'' Marin said. Passenger-rail restoration ''is going to happen through federal funding and leadership; we are at the front end of creating a national rail network'' not unlike the development of the interstate highway system 50 years ago, he said.

At its July meeting, the board welcomed two new members. Michelle Griffin Young replaced Donald J. Mahoney as a Lehigh County representative, and Lazaro G. Fuentes replaced Timothy J. Brady as a member from Northampton County.