The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation distributed $487.5 million from its municipal liquid fuels program to local governments on March 2 to help fund highway and bridge-related expenses such as snow removal and road repaving.

[Above photo by PennDOT.]

“We have the fifth-largest state-maintained road system in the country, and there are even more locally owned roads and bridges,” Yassmin Gramian, acting secretary for PennDOT, noted in a statement.

“These investments help keep our communities safe and connected,” she said.

The agency said there are 120,596 miles of public roads in Pennsylvania and 73,037 of those miles owned by municipalities and eligible for financial assistance from the liquid fuels program.

To be eligible for the program, a roadway must be “formally adopted” as a public street by the municipality, meet certain dimension requirements, and be able to safely accommodate vehicles driving at least 15 mph.

The formula used to calculate payments from the fund is based on a municipality’s population and miles of locally-owned roads, PennDOT added.