The Pennsylvania State Transportation Commission (STC) is comprised of 15 members and is chaired by the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT). As the board of directors to PennDOT, the STC is charged with the high-level evaluation of Pennsylvania's transportation system and provides policy-driven direction with respect to the development of the Twelve Year Transportation Program.
Leslie S. Richards
Secretary, PA Department of Transportation
Chairperson, State Transportation Commission
The Twelve Year Transportation Program (TYP) is Pennsylvania’s official mid-range planning tool used to identify and prioritize transportation projects. It is the outcome of a collaborative effort between the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), State Transportation Commission, its Planning Partners and the public. The TYP represents all modes and means of transportation including highways, bridges, public transit, aviation, and rail, as well as non-motorized transportation such as bicycling and walking.
Pennsylvania's TYP is required by Act 120 of 1970 and must be submitted to the State Transportation Commission every two years. The TYP is a dynamic schedule of agreed-upon projects that PennDOT, with its various partners, will work to accomplish over a 12-year period.
The Twelve Year Transportation Program is separated into three four-year periods. The first four years corresponds with the federally required Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) and regional Transportation Improvement Programs (TIPs).
Transportation projects are listed on the TYP based upon delivery schedules, regional and statewide goals and targets for infrastructure performance and condition, and expected funding availability. Projects are organized by the associated Planning Partner and further delineated by transportation mode and county.
Transportation project costs are allocated over one or more four-year periods based on the anticipated schedule of the project. The TYP also includes line items by funding category which are typically seen in the second and third four-year program periods. As new projects are identified, the line items are adjusted to reflect the detailed phases and costs associated to advance the project, all within fiscal constraints.
What is the Twelve Year Program?
The TYP is a multimodal, fiscally-constrained program of transportation improvements spanning a 12-year period. Multimodal means that the TYP includes all travel modes, including highways, bridges, public transit, aviation, rail, freight, and bicycle and pedestrian facilities.
The first four years of the TYP is the federally-required Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). The STIP includes the 24 individual regional TIPs representing each Planning Partner and one independent county (Wayne County). In Pennsylvania, MPOs and RPOs update their TIPs every two years during the TYP update process. Public involvement activities are required when developing these programs, which are specified in the regional Public Participation Plans designed and adopted by each MPO and RPO.
The federal government requires MPOs to prepare a Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) to receive federal funding for transportation projects. The LRTP includes a list of transportation projects that must be fiscally constrained and based on the amount of funding the MPO expects to receive over the next 20 years. The LRTP is updated every four or five years to reflect new data and changes to regional priorities for transportation investment.
The STC reviews the TYP every two years. After STC approval, the STIP (the first four years of the TYP) is sent to the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency for review and approval prior to the start of the federal fiscal year on October 1.
Transportation Program Development Process - Twelve Year Program Cycle
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Four Years (TIP & STIP) | 2nd Four Years | 3rd Four Years | |||||||||
| Twelve Year Program (TYP) | |||||||||||
Public involvement is an important part of the TYP update process. It is through the STC’s Public Participation Process that all transportation stakeholders, especially the members of the public, communicate and provide feedback on local, regional and statewide transportation issues. This feedback and input plays a key role in the decision-making processes for programming and funding transportation projects.
Following the biennial release of the PA Transportation Performance Report, which assesses the condition of the PA transportation system with available resources, PennDOT, the STC and regional Planning Partners across the Commonwealth conduct extensive outreach to collect public feedback which is compiled, documented and analyzed for use in the TYP, regional TIPs, and regional Long Range Transportation Plans (LRTPs).
Click below for details on each process
The STC and PennDOT actively engage the citizens of Pennsylvania in the TYP Update process to better understand the Commonwealth’s transportation needs and priorities from the perspective of the system users. Throughout this process, the transportation stakeholders, particularly members of the public, interact, communicate and take part in the decision-making process regarding the identification and prioritization of transportation projects. The 2019 TYP public outreach process, which received national recognition, consisted of three primary tools to give the public convenient and user-friendly opportunities to provide feedback; namely:
A significant milestone was achieved by PennDOT and the STC in 2017 with national recognition of its outreach program by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Transportation Research Board (TRB).
AASHTO recognized the campaign as part of its TransComm Skills Contest in the ‘Public Outreach Approach’ award category. Pennsylvania was also one of five successful states, out of 41 total, competing in TRB’s 11th annual John and Jane Q Public communications award competition. "Communicating the Value of Long-Term Transportation Planning" was the theme for the 2017 TRB competition, and as one of the four runners-up, the PennDOT team was invited to deliver a formal presentation and participate in a poster session at the January 2018 TRB Conference.
The STC and PennDOT are committed to sustaining an effective and inclusive public outreach process and have continued to evaluate and improve the program’s effectiveness since the initiation of its modernization effort in 2013.
Several weeks after the release of the 2017 Transportation Performance Report in mid-February, the public comment period was announced and the new customized online transportation survey was launched on. The open public comment period ran for a 45-day time frame from March 6 through April 19, 2017.
The public feedback collected by the STC was summarized and shared with regional Planning Partners in advance of the development of their regional TIPs. Several STC members attended regional Planning Partner public meetings to present and receive additional feedback on the statewide and regional transportation survey results.
On March 21, 2017, PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards, PennDOT executive staff and members of the STC conducted a one-hour interactive online public meeting. Two-hundred fifty participants pre-registered online to attend the webcast; 124 live streams were documented with over 90 users documented streaming the meeting in its entirety from beginning to end. Secretary Richards opened the meeting with a review of the highlights from the 2017 Transportation Performance Report.
Participants were invited to respond to poll questions pertinent to the topics of discussion to actively engage the live audience during the presentation period. The responses were tallied live and reported back to the participants as a part of the presentation. The second half of the meeting was dedicated to a live Q&A session. Participants submitted their questions through the meeting software or social media and the panel responded on-air to as many questions as possible during the last 30 minutes of the meeting. Written responses were provided to each of the participants who provided an email address including those whose questions were answered on air. A transcript of the questions asked and answers provided was also compiled and posted on www.TalkPATransportation.com.
The new customized online transportation survey was designed with a diverse public in mind, and for accessibility via mobile devices, tablets, and desktop computers. The purpose of the survey was to gather feedback from the public on a variety of transportation topics and to establish a baseline on the general participant demographics for future use.
The survey consisted of five distinct sections: demographics, modes of transportation, transportation priorities, budgeting, and mapping transportation concerns.
The hallmark of the survey was the mapping exercise. The mapping feature was linked to PennDOT’s MPMS IQ (now PennDOT One Map) – a web-based GIS mapping application for accessing highway and bridge project data for the Commonwealth.
Over 5,000 survey visits were documented; and of those, nearly 4,000 visitors completed the survey from beginning to end.
Transportation projects on the TYP utilize a combination of federal, state, and local funds. The available funding levels over the twelve years reflect a reasonable estimate of anticipated funding, based upon authorized funding levels, actual and anticipated budgets and historical trends.
Federal funds are distributed to states through authorizing legislation that determines funding categories and amounts. The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, was passed in December 2015 and authorized a total of $305 billion through September 30, 2020 for Federal highway, transit and rail programs.
State funds for highways and bridges are provided through revenues received from sources such as the Gas Tax, registration and titling of vehicles. These revenues are placed in the Motor License Fund (MLF). The annual state budget process determines amounts available for highway and bridge projects on the TYP as well as for other uses such as highway maintenance and Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) operations. State funds for transit are supplied through various sources, most notably the Public Transportation Trust Fund. State funding levels for transit, rail and aviation projects are determined during the annual state budget process. The Multimodal Fund was created by Act 89 of 2013, which directs over $76 million annually in grants to aviation, freight and passenger rail, ports, and bicycle/pedestrian activities.
Funds in the TYP may also be provided by local municipalities, private entities, toll authorities, and transit operators. These funds are most often included when a match is required for state or federal funds.
2019-2030 Twelve Year Transportation Program Funding Level Summary ($ millions)
The 2019 TYP contains over $63 billion worth of projects involving all modes of transportation and intermodal connections. The table below shows the distribution of funding in millions of dollars for the first four years, the second four years, and the third four years, and the total TYP.
| Program | 1st Four Years 2019 - 2022 |
2nd Four Years 2023 - 2026 |
3rd Four Years 2027 - 2030 |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highway/Bridge | 11,530 | 11,697 | 11,393 | $34,620 |
| Aviation | 128 | 128 | 128 | $384 |
| Multimodal | 319 | 348 | 391 | $1,058 |
| Rail Freight | 228 | 229 | 229 | $686 |
| Transit | 9,616 | 8,333 | 9,253 | $27,202 |
| Total | $21,821 | $20,735 | $21,394 | $63,950 |
The Twelve Year Program list of projects has been broken up by county to make searching easy. Please click on a county below to view the list of projects for that county. The Interstate and Statewide projects are grouped separately and can be viewed from the buttons below. Search and click the list to view funding details. Other resources for exploring transportation projects include: PA Transportation Projects and PennDOT One Map.
PennDOT has deployed several online interactive tools to map and provide information on its various transportation projects throughout the Commonwealth. Through the PA Transportation Projects, PennDOT One Map and the Open Data Portal system websites, PennDOT is helping customers locate projects and stay engaged.
PennDOT’s Center for Program Development and Management (Program Center) under the Office if Planning is responsible for developing, managing and updating the Commonwealth’s Twelve Year Program for highways and bridges, mass transit systems, airports and rail freight. It also coordinates with county and regional agencies on transportation long-range planning and short-range programming (Transportation Improvement Program/Statewide Transportation Improvement Program) issues. Members of the Program Center also serve as the Executive Staff to the State Transportation Commission.
General Inquiries:
(717) 783-2262
RA-PennDOTSTC@pa.gov
Thank you to all who participated in the 2019 TYP update. Our website, www.TalkPATransportation.com, contains many resources about transportation planning.
If you have any questions or comments, please use the email address or phone number listed above to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you again during the 2021 TYP update.
