Jill Avery-Stoss, Director of Operations at The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development.

Jill Avery-Stoss, Director of Operations at The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development.

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WILKES-BARRE — According to Jill Avery-Stoss, Director of Operations at The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development, infrastructure is a foundation for a healthy economy.

”Infrastructure is a broad concept,” Avery-Stoss said. “It encompasses a range of systems. People often associate infrastructure with roads and bridges, but it also involves issues such as energy and connectivity.”

For example, Avery-Stoss said understanding the public’s means of transportation reveals insight into a region’s environmental impact, as well as the impact of its employment dynamics. Like those in the rest of the state, a significant majority of workers in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties commute to work by driving alone.

“The proportion of commuters using alternative forms of transportation, such as bussing and carpooling, has not changed much over the past two decades,” said Avery-Stoss. “Average commute times have trended gradually higher, however.”

Furthermore, Avery-Stoss said increasing trends in traffic volume were observed prior to the pandemic. Daily vehicle miles traveled on major highways in the region grew by about one percent between 2018 and 2019.

However, the traffic volumes in Lackawanna County, Luzerne County and statewide fell by 23%, 13%, and 17%, respectively in 2020. Anecdotal evidence points to rebounding traffic levels in 2021, but it remains to be seen to what extent traffic volume will resume the prior growth trend seen before the pandemic, especially as some workers will continue to work fully or partially from home.

“There is a lot of discussion surrounding the condition of bridges throughout the region and across the state — not to mention the degree to which infrastructure spending might address structural deficiencies,” added Avery-Stoss. “Between Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, 805 bridges were counted in the 2021 National Bridge Inventory. Of those bridges, 22.8 percent and 26.3 percent were classified as poor in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, respectively.”

For both counties, this is a marginal increase from the prior year and considerably higher than the statewide percentage. In Pennsylvania as a whole, there has been a more marked decreasing trend in the share of bridges rated in poor condition.

In terms of energy use and cost, Avery-Stoss said there were notable declines in the price of heating oil and propane, and a smaller drop in the cost of electricity coinciding with the pandemic. Each of these fuel sources rebounded in 2021, however, and they all reached the highest price levels in several years.

The cost of natural gas increased in 2020, but this energy source did not see the rapid price growth in 2021 that the other fuels did. Natural gas continued to have the lowest cost per million BTU of all energy sources analyzed and has remained the most-used home heating fuel over the past decade.

Finally, Avery-Stoss said broadband access remains critical to each county’s economic growth. It is no longer a luxury, and technology gaps were particularly meaningful during the need for remote work and schooling throughout 2020 and 2021.

“The two-county region enjoys nearly universal access to wireless technology and other broadband services, but it is not always affordable,” Avery-Stoss concluded. “Options such as subsidized subscription programs could help mitigate this issue, as could policy that allows municipalities to establish community broadband networks.”

Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.