By Andrew Staub | PA Independent
State lawmakers didn’t get pension reform or liquor privatization finished in the past legislative session, but the General Assembly sure did ceremonially name a lot of roads and bridges — 73 of them to be exact, according to records from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
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There’s nothing wrong with naming infrastructure after a fallen police officer or soldier — it’s a nice way to honor those that served — but state Rep. John Lawrence, R-Chester, would rather legislators tackle more crucial issues.
“I just don’t think it’s a good use of the General Assembly’s time to be focusing on matters like renaming bridges,” he said, noting in a memo the Legislature has started to devote more time to the process.
Lawrence has a solution: Legislation that would allow for the ceremonial renaming of roads and bridges without an act of the General Assembly.
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Patterned off procedures from Missouri, Lawrence’s proposal would allow citizens to propose names directly to the secretary of transportation. They’d need a petition showing local support and a legislative sponsor.
Citizens interested in naming a road or bridge would also have to pay for signs that can cost between $150 and $250.
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The legislation wouldn’t bar lawmakers from introducing their own bill to rename a road or bridge, but it would provide another avenue to accomplish the same goal, all without having lawmakers privately discuss — albeit briefly — such legislation and then vote on it.
“It provides an avenue to honor deserving individuals without needlessly involving the Legislature in the process,” Lawrence said.
Several roads and bridges are often named in the same piece of legislation. While they might not be the most pressing bills around, the gestures do have in impact.
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On Thursday, House GOP spokesman Steve Miskin said other members might disagree with the sentiment that lawmakers have better things to do. He said it is important to remember that every bill “is important to somebody.”
“Bridge namings are important to people; they are about local heroes,” Miskin said on Twitter in September.
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That was after legislation from state Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, renamed a traffic circle in Spring Grove after a police officer who was struck and killed by a distracted driver while investigating a fatal accident.
State Rep. Brad Roae, R-Crawford, has never introduced a bill to name a road or bridge, but he thinks the honor should be relegated to a police officer or member of the military who died in the line of duty.
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Roae also said he wouldn’t have a problem with Lawrence’s legislation, comparing road and bridge-naming bills to the copious amounts of resolutions that name a month after a specific cause. Some months get named multiple times, he said.
“A lot of those resolutions that we do are a waste of time,” he said.
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PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick said the department couldn’t comment on Lawrence’s legislation because a bill hasn’t been introduced yet.
