PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AND TRAFFIC CONGESTION

As your Commissioner, the best thing I can do is work in cooperation with our public and private stakeholders to improve our pubic transportation and congestion issues.  Both problems have been years in the making and won’t be fixed overnight. Decades of development without consideration for what our roadways can handle has helped to create the problems of today.

In 2022, I stood in opposition to the tolling of the I-83 Commuter Bridge that connects Cumberland and Dauphin Counties. Tolling that bridge would have been financially catastrophic for our residents, and detrimental to the traffic flow on our already congested roadways. From children crossing streets in Camp Hill, to bicyclists in Lemoyne, to bus drivers in Wormleysburg, the tolls would have been a massive issue. Instead, I have been advocating for PennDOT to use federal funding to repair Pennsylvania’s bridges, including the I-83 project.

I’m also thrilled to support the county in it’s efforts to create a planning environment that promotes walkability, bike lanes, population depth and live where you work, play and go to school neighborhoods.

Our private sector is actively engaged in what it can do to move employees to and from work with flexibility.  I look forward to working in cooperation with our businesses to combat our transportation issues. 

Congestion and traffic on Interstate 81 is creating an environment that is dangerous for motorists, detrimental to our small businesses and destroying our air quality. I can’t change the fact that our area is the northeast transportation hub and will continue to be so. But as your Commissioner, I will continue to work with our federal and state officials to move I-81 improvement plans forward.  I’d also like to see a greater use of our railroads to alleviate congestion on I-81.