HARRISBURG - The state Transportation Commission today approved an update to the 12-Year Transportation Program that reflects an expected 24-percent reduction in funding for improvements for highways, bridges, transit, aviation and rail freight. The new plan anticipates $51.6 billion being available over the next 12 years, well below the $67.9 billion outlined in the 2009 plan update.

Among the Pocono area projects cut from the plan:

• Reconstruction of Interstate 84, from between Routes 390 and 739, in Pike County
• Replacement or repair to seven bridges in Monroe County

Uncertainty about the future direction of federal funds, as well as the effects of inflation and the lack of additional resources, has squeezed the latest update to the program, Biehler noted. Congress has yet to enact a new six-year authorization bill to pay for transportation in Pennsylvania and across the nation. The 12-Year Program update assumes 1-percent growth in federal funds in 2011 and 2012 and 4 percent in 2013-14. Further cuts may be needed depending on funding levels in the new reauthorization bill. The federal government also rejected Pennsylvania’s request to toll Interstate 80, leaving a roughly $500 million- a-year hole in the state’s transportation budget.

In the 12-Year Program, which takes effect Oct. 1, highway and bridge projects in the first four years total $10.2 billion, compared to $12.2 billion in the 2009 Program. Public transit is in line for $6.3 billion compared to the current $7.5 billion; aviation, $602 million compared to the current $604 million and rail freight, $228 million compared to the current $234 million.

“The message Governor Edward G. Rendell is delivering around the state is right on the mark,” said PennDOT Secretary Allen D. Biehler, P.E., who also is commission chairman. “Pennsylvania is falling far short of making the needed investments just to keep our system in a state of good repair. The reductions outlined in the new 12-Year Program are a dramatic example of where we are headed.”