A new study found that although Pennsylvania does an excellent job of determining how to improve its roads and bridges, the state does not do enough to fix them.

The study, conducted by the Government Performance Project, analyzed how each state manages its money, employees, overall infrastructure and distribution of information.

Pennsylvania recently received an overall grade of "B" for its entire system.

While the state has been collecting data consistently for roads and bridges for almost 20 years, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) "has $2.3 billion of deferred maintenance for roadways and nearly three times that for bridges," the study said.

It also reported that Pennsylvania might be the only state to accurately and consistently record the condition of its 40,000 miles of roads and 25,000 bridges often.

State College Borough Public Works Director Mark Whitfield said that he did not agree with the what the project's summary said.

Whitfield said primary funding for maintenance of Pennsylvania's roads comes from a liquid fuel tax that is collected when drivers purchase gasoline at a pump, and an increase in this tax would provide more funding for maintenance.

"As a local official, I'm supportive of a fuel tax." Whitfield said.

"The ones driving should be the ones responsible for the money," Whitfield added.

He said roads that are rural and do not experience a lot of traffic tend to be in the worst shape.

On a local level, portions of Whitehall Road and Boalsburg Road need some repairs, he said, and Whitehall Road is currently on a long-term plan to be fixed.

The analysis gave PennDOT credit for assessing all roads in the state every two years by counting cracks, looking at road wear-and-tear and the quality of the ride.

PennDOT spokeswoman Marla Fannin said PennDOT always has more projects to fund than money available to fund those projects.

A committee within PennDOT decides what projects should be completed first and some have higher priority than others do.

"Every county has a maintenance budget," Fannin said.

"Centre County has $12.7 million for both the winter and the summer," she added.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike, which is not funded or controlled by PennDOT, has its own $4 billion road improvement program, which should fix identified road problems within 10 years, said Bill Capone, director of public relations for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission generates its funds from tolls, not from the liquid fuel tax like PennDOT.

"The biggest complaint that we receive is that we're always under construction, which is a double-edged sword," Capone said, referring to the inconvenience of improving the roads.