Politicize the Bridge – You Betcha !

Providence Township was established in 1729.  It straddled the Perkiomen Creek until 1805 when it was split into Upper Providence and Lower Providence.  The Perkiomen (a tributary of the Schuylkill that merges near Valley Forge) would probably be a river in the west or south, but with all the waterways we have here the Perk only made the cut as a creek. 

But back in 1805 fording the Perkiomen Creek was probably deemed too much of a pain to deal with – so they split Providence.  There are a couple of places to make the crossing from one town to the other: Arcola Road, Egypt Road and the Perkiomen Bridge at Collegeville (Route 29 will get you across).

Last Friday, after years of not maintaining the structure at Arcola properly, PennDOT closed the Arcola Road Bridge.

If there is a situation that needs to be politicized, it is this one.  On one side we have Democrats who have screamed for years that our infrastructure will fall apart if we do not update it.  The GOP screeches back there are too many taxes.

The economics are simple here.  Fixing these bridges quickly means jobs.  We get the resources to fix this stuff with taxes.  Once rebuilt, these structures allow commerce to flow freely – then other folks can make money so that we can have a functioning economy.  (Capitalist Systems require a flow of capital in order to function properly - government investment gooses that flow.)

Here is where the politicization comes in.  Since 2006 the Arcola Bridge has been on the board with PennDOT.  2013 – 2006 = 7.  That means 7 years residents of the township formerly known as Providence have been waiting around for this to get done.  Yes, it has been Democratic and GOP Governors here in the last 7 years, but it has always been a GOP dominated State House, State Senate, County and Local Governments that has let this fester.

To those who say we don’t have the money to do this now – we had a pretty good economy in 2006 and did nothing.  When the Obama Administration took over in 2009 they were handed an economy without an engine.  They wanted a Reinvestment Act to fix the roads and bridges, but were slowed by the GOP trying to do everything on the cheap.  Paul Krugman (some guy that has a Nobel Prize for Economics) has been on the record as saying we covered maybe one third of what was needed to get the job done right.

But, Tea Partiers got their way in 2010 and we have a cut and burn on the government.

So when the bridges start falling down or need to be closed, yes it is a partisan issue.  It was only last year that we got a Democratically controlled Board of County Commissioners.  It has taken a little bit of time for them to get their feet under them.  But they are serious about this infrastructure stuff.

Yes - kudos go to GOP State Senator John Rafferty who is on the Transportation Committee for doubling the Transportation funding for the state from what the GOP REALLY wants to do.  (The GOP would do well to consider jettisoning Tom Corbett next year in favor of Senator Rafferty in the Governor’s race.)

But all of this still leaves us without a bridge.  GOP Rep Mike Vereb estimated it could be as late as 2015 that the shovel could go into the ground to fix this.  Later, he revised his date to late 2014.  It is understood the 15-18 month time frame starts with that first shovel going into the ground.  So some quick math from December of 2014 plus 15 months = February 2016.  We are in August of 2013 – right?  And the heads up was in 2006?

So with State GOP Legislative control (the legislature controls PennDOT) it takes a decade to get a bridge fixed.

Don’t get me started on the 422 Bridge at Betzwood to get to Valley Forge…