Local officials have long complained of PennDOT ignoring their concerns.
Now, a state lawmaker wants to create a database to track how quickly the Department of Transportation responds to municipal leaders, and how – or if – they resolved the problem.
“Every municipality has the same issue, and it’s PennDOT response,” said Rep. Tarah Probst, D-Stroudsburg. “They don’t respond back.”
Probst, the former mayor of Stroudsburg, told The Center Square that problems – like repeating work on a local bridge and poorly striped parking on Main Street – were fixed by the borough because PennDOT ignored their complaints.
“Every municipality has a complaint about PennDOT,” she said. “They have no accountability to anybody. They just need to be held accountable for the work that they do, and they need to be responsive.”
Probst has introduced House Bill 671, which would require PennDOT to track complaints from municipal leaders in a database, the agency’s response, and the status of the complaint – including as to whether it has been resolved.
Officials from PennDOT said the agency already responds to these complaints.
“PennDOT works closely with municipalities to address concerns and issues, both proactively and when a concern is brought to our attention, both by the municipality or by a customer who reports a municipal issue,” Press Secretary Alexis Campbell said. “No matter how the concern is shared with us, PennDOT staff responds immediately to safety concerns and works to resolve any other concerns as quickly as possible.”
Campbell said the agency’s Customer Care Center accepts complaints from the public; its municipal service representatives cover more than a dozen districts statewide; its Local Technical Assistance Program offers technological training to local officials; and the Municipal Advisory Committee meets quarterly with statewide municipal groups to discuss issues.
Still, the frustration lingers. When towns and boroughs have troublesome roads owned by the state, instead of under local control, the aggravation worsens.
“You call about the massive potholes and they’re not fixed – people’s cars are going out of alignment hitting these potholes,” Probst said. “They call and they call and they call – and nothing gets done.”
On some occasions, Stroudsburg filled some potholes on their own to get things done, though they aren’t supposed to do so.
“Make no mistake: It’s not their workers. Their workers are not the problem … it’s the higher-ups at PennDOT,” Probst said. “I just think that it’s time. Everybody else is held accountable under a certain standard, and it’s time that they are, too.”
On Twitter, Pennsylvanians complain more than most other states about potholes, and “oil and chips” fixes that use tar and small rocks also tend to kick up complaints.
The focus of the state agency, as Probst sees it, favors industry over residents.
“It’s all about truck traffic,” she said. “They don’t care about people, they don’t care about towns, they don’t care about places – all they care about is how fast can we get these trucks through our highways.”
“It’s bad, and when you call PennDOT, they don’t care,” she said. “It is nothing but frustration all the way around.”
