PennDot seeking public comments on transportation future

Now through April 30

• Scott LaMar/WITF
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Scott LaMar was formerly the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
  
  Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
  
  In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
  
  The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
  
  LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
  
  A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.

 Keith Srakocic / AP Photo

Airdate: March 16th, 2023

Pennsylvanians certainly have opinions have about the state’s roads. We all do.

But how should roads, bridges, bike paths, mass transit, airports and transportation overall be improved or updated?

Now through April 30 is the time to let the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation know. PennDot is soliciting comments on the future of transportation in the state.

To participate in PennDot’s survey and make comments, go to talkpatransportation.com.

On The Spark Thursday, PennDot Deputy Secretary of Planning Larry Shifflet talked about what kind of suggestions they’re looking for from the public,”If there’s a safety concern, if there’s a known issue, if there’s a really good idea on where an improvement could help. Accessibility, mobility, congestion relief. Those are the types of things we want to hear from the public…a stop sign that maybe isn’t functioning the way it should, and maybe it’s a roundabout or a traffic signal that might help improve safety or might help improve mobility around that intersection.”

Shifflet was asked what are PennDot’s priorities,”Safety is always number one. And if you take a look at the website in the survey, that’s one of the components. Mobility. Accessibility certainly is another one that we’re always concerned about. You mentioned climate change. Resiliency is another one where we we need to be adaptive in our design, adaptive in our ability to address more emergencies from slides and the like. And then again, just making sure that we’re being good stewards of the taxpayer dollars, putting the money where the needs are, knowing that we don’t necessarily have all the money to address every every need that’s out there.”

In answer to a question from a listener about how rough I-81 near Carlisle is, Shifflet indicated most Pennsylvania interstate highways need a new “foundation,”That means you’re not coming out milling off the surface and putting down two or three inches of asphalt and thinking that’s going to solve the problem. That means there’s been enough wear and tear on that road that you have to tear the whole road up, put new stone, new foundation down, and then concrete, asphalt, whichever the the surface might be moving forward. So it’s basically a full reconstruction.”