BETHLEHEM — The Shapiro administration announced that an estimated $775 million in roadway projects will be expedited across Pennsylvania.
Approximately $250 million will be pushed out by the end of 2026 for Rapid Deployment Projects in 44 counties, including Butler, Cambria, Crawford, Mercer, Montour, Northumberland and Union counties.
The full scope of the spend on state-owned roads will reach all 67 counties within 18 months, according to Gov. Josh Shapiro and PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll.
The money comes from Pennsylvania’s Motor License Fund. Shapiro and state lawmakers have worked to decouple state police funding from the fund for road work.
An interactive map of the projects is available at www.pa.gov/rapidroadrepair.
“We want to make sure this work happens right now,” Shapiro said Thursday near a work site along Route 378 in Lehigh County.
According to Carroll, the initial push includes 79 projects along 400-plus miles of roadway beginning faster than initially planned. Some work is already underway, he said, noting the Lehigh County project and work along a 6-mile stretch of Route 77 in Crawford County.
All counties will see projects accelerated between now and November 2027, he said, adding that it will free up PennDOT maintenance crews and prior funding allocations for different use.
“That is the beauty of this because it has a cascading, positive effect for the entire region,” Carroll said, specifically of the Lehigh Valley but which could apply statewide.
Shapiro highlighted the Lehigh County project as an example of the need for infrastructure upgrades in relation to major economic development projects. He cited a $3.5 billion project to build a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility for Eli Lilly, along with the development of a $1.2 billion dairy plant for Chobani.
According to Shapiro, since he took office in 2023, more than $11 billion has been invested in road and bridge repairs: 21,800 miles of road work and repairs or replacement of more than 2,000 local and state bridges. Among the bridges, he said 304 were structurally deficient.
“That is more than any other state in the entire country,” he said of work on degraded bridges.
Senate Republican Majority Leader Joe Pittman said his caucus in the upper chamber “did the hard work of identifying (that) PennDOT was sitting on $3.3 billion in the Motor License Fund and could not explain why the money wasn’t being used for important road projects.”
“Earlier this year, recognizing the need to support local roads and to quickly improve highway infrastructure, Senate Republicans fought to make sure an additional $775 million from the Commonwealth’s Motor License Fund is directed to three- and four-digit road projects throughout Pennsylvania, as part of the 2026-27 state budget. The first $250 million of this funding is now being deployed, which is great news for Pennsylvanians. A robust transportation infrastructure is vital for communities in every corner of the Commonwealth,” Pittman said.