April 26, 1973
Urba n term Students
Attend PennDOT Semina r
by Mike Dini
Recently, a group of students
of the Urban Term attended a
seminar at the Pennsylvania
Department of Transportation
(PENNDOT). They spoke with
Mr. Louis Keefer, Director of
Advanced Planning for the
department
Mr. Keefer cited the
development of the department
and the role his division plays
relative to transportation in the
Commonwealth. He stated that
the Transportation Department
covers a myraid of areas
including: highways, mass
transit, air, port and rail
facilities, ecological and
environmental problems and
other related transportation
concerns.
An important legislative guide
to transportation in the
Commonwealth, the 1962
Highway Act was noted as
originating the present
department from its predecessor
the Pennsylvania Department of
Highways. This new name for
the department signifies the
change and direction of the
Commonwealth to all matters of
transportation besides the area
of highways. The Act also called
for the establishment of
transportation studies (i.e., the
Harrisburg Area Transportation
Study (HATS) which covers an
area of about 50,000 people, of
which there are eleven such areas
in the Commonwealth. Other
examples of the surveys include
Philadelphia (the Delaware
Valley Regional Planning
Authority) and Pittsburgh (the
Southwestern Regional Planning
Authority).
The department has been
developing a statewide highway
planning program integrated
with urban and aviation
planning. Many areas are
developing and planning regional
airports (i.e., the
Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Airport at
Avoca). Rail planning is also a
major concern of the
department. It was noted that
Pe nnsy Iva nias three major
railroads are bankrupt. One
suggestion was to urge the
Public Utilities Commission
(PUC) to prohibit further rail
bankruptcies on environmental
grounds.
Budgeting is a very important
segment of the departmental
program. PENNDOT subsidizes
the Port of Philadelphia and Erie
among others. The entire
Department is responsible for an
$8 Million planning budget for
the year. Some 20,000
PENNDOT employees manage
44,000 miles of the
Commonwealth's 116,000 mile
highway system. Mr. Keefer also
pointed out that the
Commonwealth has 32,000
secondary roads. Of major
importance was the fact that the
federal government does not
fund the state for the
maintenance of roads. The total
system of highways in the
Commonwealth is more than the
total highway systems of the
states of New York, New Jersey
and all of the New England
states combined. As a part of the
Commonwealth Budget,
transportation ranks with
welfare and the biggest
expenditure education.
Transportation is definitely a
major concern in the state and
the nation.
Mr. Keefer also discussed
planning at PENNDOT. He
noted the cooperation of many
diversified groups. These
included the department's staff,
professional consulting firms,
interaction with federal, other
state and local municipality
governments and civic groups.
He noted that there are special
committees whose job it is to
determine the need and
feasibility of transportation
goals, policies and objectives.
These committees include: a
Coordinating Committee of
various state and local officials, a
Technical Commiteee of state
and local transportation
professionals, a Local
Government Advisory
Committee made up of local
municipaltiy officials and a
Citizens Advisory Committee
composed of publicly minded
local individuals. These
committees reflect the direction
of transportation planning for
their respective area or region.
A discussion topic centered
around two areas which Mr.
Keefer referred to as "systems
planning" where the
responsibility of the planners is a
complete network or region over
which they are responsible and
"project planning." where a
certain specific project falls
under the domain of the District
Engineer, (Harrisburg is under
the direction of the District Bth
Engineer).
A surprise to many of the
students in attendance was a
comment by Mr. Keefer that the
present Secretary of PENNDOT,
Mr. Jacob Kassab, had appeared
at hearings in Washington where
he advocated the breakup of the
federal "Highway Trust Fund."
This position
_..seenls,. to be
gathering additional supporters,
among them President Nixon.
A question and answer period
followed during which time
several transportation issues
were raised. The recent
developments of a creation of a
Cumberland-Dauphin and
Harrisburg Mass Transit
Authority was discussed. Mr.
Keefer noted that major
problem with mass transit in
Harrisburg or any other urban
area was the fact mass transit
could not sustain its heavy
operating losses. The
governmental problem was the
inability or undesireability of
local municipalities to subsidize
operating losses of the mass
transit companies.
It was also noted that the
federal government has various
formulae whereby federal and
state funding of highways are
determined. Currently the
federal government subsidizes
the construction of Interstate
Highways by 90% to the states
10%. The federal government
also subsidizes Non-Interstate
Highways by 50% to the states
50%. A change may be
forthcoming this summer when
the 90-10 formula becomes
70-30.
Mr. Keefer states that
political involvement and
intrigue in highway development
and construction and
right-of-way is much less than
the general public believes. He
further pointed out that
environmental impact
statements are required by the
federal and state governments to
aid the development and
planning of new highways
relative to the impact these
highways would have on the
environment and the people
which inhabit it. He spoke of
travel corridors (strips of land
about one half to one mile wide)
where highways are planned due
to high density transportation
use.
The cost of regional and area
urban studies has been about 2-4
dollars per person. These studies
are generally conducted over a
period of some five years. The
recent Harrisburg Area
Transportation Study cost
approximately $700,000. Mr.
Keefer said he envisioned
transportation planners as sort
of "defacto" city planners, both
working for specific areawide
goals and objectives utilizing
such information as land use
surveys, employement figures,
density of population figures,
and other related topographical
and geopolitical statistics.
One of the most important
aspects of planning noted by Mr.
Keefer was the impact the
people have on transportation
planning. It would seem that the
public does have a voice in the
needs of the city or regional area
in which they reside. The
Harrisburg River Relief Route is
an example of this very fact.
While discussing the affects of
highways and their use, it was
noted that vehicular travel
increases rather closely with
economical growth. Thus the
THE CAPITOLIST
question, do highways go were
people are or do people go
where highways are?
An area which has recently
received much public interest
has been the question of an
"Energy Crisis." The question of
a possible shortage of fuel,
minerals and metals has a great
affect on the nation's
(aut o mobile ) transportation
industry and the affect it will
have on the development of
highways of the future. Has the
American automobile industry
gone overboard in its
manufacture of "big" cars? Has
the time come for a re-evalution
of our transportation priorities?
Is mass transit the answer to
many of our urban based
transportation problems of the
present and of the future? These
are many of the questions which
were discussed and continue to
be discussed throughout the state
and the nation.
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PHOEBE'S PHOODS
special article for those special people
if you are going to give up meat, it is best to do it gradually while
learning how to prepare other basic foods. the reasons for this are: 1.
you won't be forced to work with an unfamiliar subject. 2. there is
always something to fall back on (meat) 3. you can take your time
and learn the full importance and ramifications of your diet. 4.
cooking takes time to learn and complementary proteins will be
rather foreign.
a good protein source is important and easy to find if you know
what you're looking for. an excellent guide and cookbook is Frances
Moore Lappe's "Diet for a Small Planet". it is very important, and
usually unknown that most of your body's oil is supplied by the fa
in meat. so to ease digestion and to keep your skin young use lots of
oil and butter.
roasted sunflower seeds
oven 275 degrees; 1 lb. sunflower seeds; 1 / 4 cup olive oil; sea salt.
put seeds in bowl, stir in oil (all seeds should shine), add salt,
bake 10-20 min. 'til brown.
some great soup
1. saute lots (or any of ) onions, celery, peppers and carrots in
soup pan.
2. add water - when vegies are fried
3. add any combination of the following: cabbage, tomatoes,
tomatoe paste, potatoes, brown rice, dulce, sea salt, beans, etc.
beans, etc.
4. cover and cook on a medium low flame
sesame-rice fritter puffs
(from "Diet for a Small Planet")
two-thirds cup brown rice (cooked); 1 tsp. sea salt; '/4 cup
sesames: 1 / 4 cup milk; 2 separated eggs: 2 Tsbtbs. pepper; oil.
1. toast sesames 11l golden.
2. mix milk, yolks, flour in salt.
3. combine milk mixture, sesames 'n rice mix well.
4. fold in stifffly beaten egg whites.
5. drop by tablespoonfuls on hot oiled pan- fry 'IA brown. good
with curry rice.
i have made something similar with separated eggs and rice- oh, so
good.
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