Audit discovers billions in PennDOT road and bridge funds transferred to state police

Updated May 27, 2019

construction conesWhen the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) was audited recently, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale discovered that more than $4.25 billion in Motor License Fund money that was supposed to go toward the repair, construction, reconstruction, and maintenance of roads and bridges had been transferred to the state police, beginning in the 2012-13 fiscal year, Transportation Today News reports.

The General Assembly, reportedly, has not put a cap on the amount of money being transferred to the state police, having transferred $789.6 million during the 2017-18 fiscal year.

“More than 2,800 state-maintained bridges across Pennsylvania are structurally deficient, and our bridges average over 50 years in age—beyond what they were designed to last,” DePasquale said, according to the news agency. “That $4.25 billion could have cut that list in half, and if PennDOT could use all of the gas tax money for roads and bridges, we could get that number to zero in about five years.”

Pennsylvania’s gas tax is 57.6 cents per gallon of gas, the highest in the nation, but people are frustrated with paying that much and not seeing the roads and bridges being repaired.