The data may not be scientific, but the results of a recent on-line poll by Harrisburg lobbyists Greenlee Partners add to the mounting evidence that transportation infrastructure is emerging as a top public policy issue for Pennsylvania.

The poll posed the following question:  Other than the state budget, what legislation should be the General Assembly’s highest priority before it adjourns for the summer?  A solid majority – 53 percent – chose transportation infrastructure, while 25 percent said energy policy and 22 percent said health care reform.

We’ll be the first to concede that on-line polls such as this one are not statistically valid.  Still, among the Capitol Hill insiders and issue wonks who follow Greenlee’s newsletters and polling questions, the result is worth noting.  Those who follow public policy are certainly well aware of the connection between a sound highway system and economic prosperity, so they would naturally attach a high degree of importance to the issue.

Additionally, the result fits with the statistically significant results from the polling earlier this year by the Transportation Construction Industries coalition.  In March, when TCI asked likely voters whether they support increasing state funding to improve the state’s roads, bridges and highway system, 78 percent said yes.  It was an increase of 14 percentage points from nine months earlier.

“The fact that policy insiders and the public at large seem to agree that the issue is important gives us hope that it will be addressed,” said Jason Wagner, PHIA managing director.  “Policymakers should take note that, increasingly, the public wants, expects and will support a fair and reasonable solution.  Our economic growth and quality of life depend on it.”