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Pennsylvania

The Rural Context For Transportation Consultations

Pennsylvania is the 33rd largest state in the U.S. in land area, 6th largest in population, and 10th most densely populated. However, approximately 40 percent of Pennsylvania's population and jobs, and 92 percent of the land, is non-urban. Approximately 71 percent of Pennsylvania's roads are located in rural areas. Federally owned lands are not a major factor; they amount to only two and a half percent of the state's land area.

Pennsylvania is a slowly growing state with a slowly growing rate of employment. The portion of the state's jobs that are in the uniquely rural agriculture and mining sectors is small (3 and 1 percent, respectively). Most jobs in Pennsylvania's rural areas are in sectors also common in urban areas: construction, transportation & utilities (14 percent); manufacturing (25 percent); business & trade (25 percent); and services & government (32 percent).

Demographically, Pennsylvania's non-urban population is predominately white (98 percent). Compared to the other states, the proportion of Pennsylvania's non-urban adults who did not graduate from high school is near the middle (18th highest), as is the proportion who did graduate from college (23rd highest). The 10 percent of Pennsylvania's non-urban people who are poor is lower than in most other states. About 40 percent of the state's non-urban population is in non-working age groups (26 percent 18 years or younger, and 15 percent 65 years or older).

Governmentally, Pennsylvania is diverse. It has 67 counties, 56 cities, 963 boroughs, 1,548 townships and 1 town for a total of 2,655 general-purpose local governments. This is among the highest number of local governments in any state. Pennsylvania does not have any federally recognized Indian tribes.

In addition, the 1997 U.S. Census of Governments has identified 148 independent, special-purpose governments in Pennsylvania that have transportation responsibilities. This number is larger than in many other states. These special-purpose governments include 7 for highways, 35 for airports, 65 for parking facilities, 3 for water transport, and 38 for transit. Pennsylvania also has 21 other public transit providers serving rural areas and an additional 74 organizations that provide specialized transit services to elderly and disabled populations in those same areas.

Pennsylvania has 10 regional councils that cover approximately 85 percent of the state, and 15 MPOs, including the Hagerstown Eastern Panhandle MPO which only includes a very small portion of Pennsylvania. These regional units help to coordinate the large number of other local governments and play a direct role in rural transportation programs as described below.

Of Pennsylvania's 119,381 miles of roads, approximately 37 percent are state-controlled, while less than one percent are federal.

Processes For Consultation And Cooperation With Local Officials In Non-Metropolitan Areas

For many years Pennsylvania's 6 Local Development Districts (LDDs) have had transportation planning responsibilities. These LDDs are among the "regional councils" cited above. PennDOT has recently reengineered its statewide, metropolitan and rural transportation planning and programming processes. The LDDs and the remaining rural independent counties are under contract to PennDOT, and they function similar to MPOs. PennDOT provides the LDDs and the rural independent counties with state and federal planning funds (which require a local match) to enable their participation in the intergovernmental transportation planning and programming processes in all consultation/decision-making.

Each LDD/independent county is charged with developing a transportation planning work program that includes: developing a long-range transportation plan; prioritizing capital projects; developing and helping to implement the county/regional transportation improvement program (TIP); identifying and developing proposed projects; collecting and analyzing data; and promoting system maintenance and preservation. In applicable situations, the LDD/independent county and PennDOT will consult and coordinate with federal land management and resource agencies on planning issues and individual projects that may affect federal lands or resources or the policies of federal land management or resource agencies.

Each LDD/independent county has a transportation policy/advisory committee. [The state encourages local elected officials to participate in planning through both voting and non-voting representation on their LDD/independent county committee. The transportation policy/advisory committees address all modes of transportation in the LDD or independent county and also consider economic development, land use, environmental and other issues. Policy/advisory committee members include: a county commissioner from each represented county; each county's planning director; a representative from PennDOT central office and another from the PennDOT engineering district(s); a representative of the LDD/independent county staff agency; a citizen advisor; and a representative from each applicable mode of transportation (e.g., rail, air, transit). Each member has one vote. Rural officials are responsible for bringing a prioritized list of projects from their respective counties to their LDD transportation planning committee for possible inclusion in the TIP.

The reengineered transportation planning and programming process in Pennsylvania has changed the way programs (prioritized, financially constrained lists of projects) are developed. All guidance (general/procedural, financial and schedules) are jointly developed and approved by all metro and rural partners before a program update cycle begins. Each rural county/region develops its multi-modal, four-year TIP collaboratively between PennDOT, the policy/advisory committee, local elected officials and the general public. Each LDD and independent county has its own unique process to locally review and prioritize candidate projects for possible inclusion in the draft TIP. The draft TIP is finalized via a series of working meetings with the policy/advisory committee and PennDOT. These individually-approved TIPs are submitted to the state and rolled up without changes to form the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), which is then approved by USDOT. This process also helps to satisfy the state mandate to develop a 12-Year Transportation Program.

The State Transportation Commission (STC) is responsible for developing the 12-Year Transportation Program. This process and the schedule for updating the 12-Year Transportation Program are integrated within the update process for developing the STIP. Consequently, the STC allows for additional consultation with rural elected officials and the general public as the update process begins. The update cycle in Pennsylvania occurs every two years; however, the Commission also holds quarterly meetings at which time program adjustments are made in coordination with the state's planning partners (PennDOT, MPOs, LDDs and independent counties).

Pennsylvania's long range transportation plan is called PennPlan MOVES. It was cooperatively developed with the LDDs and independent counties and in consultation with rural local officials and the general public, as well as with the MPOs. The long-range plans of the LDDs and independent counties were integrated into the state's long range plan. Both PennPlan MOVES and the county/regional plans serve as the "gate keepers" for short-range programming decisions.

Transportation funds-from TEA-21 as well as state and county sources not earmarked for specific purposes-are designated by a number of formulas for use in MPO, LDD and independent county areas. These formulas are mutually agreed upon by all partners before a program update cycle begins. The process for developing the financial guidance allows the opportunity for input from rural local officials and the general public.

Pennsylvania uses these practices:

State Hearings: The State Transportation Commission (STC) routinely holds a series of public hearings on priorities for the 12 Year Transportation Program. These STC hearings receive a large volume of testimony from rural areas of the state.
Processes for Interactive Exchanges of Views with Local Officials: PennDOT (central and engineering districts) is represented on each LDD/independent county transportation policy/advisory committee.
Roles of RPOs: The LDDs/independent counties serve a similar role as the MPOs in Pennsylvania.
State Policy-Making Bodies: State Transportation Commission in consultation with PennDOT.

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