Pennsylvania's leading farm advocacy group is applauding the passage of a $2.3 billion transportation funding plan by the state Legislature.
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau president Carl Shaffer says the transportation department's added weight restrictions to bridges in August forced some farmers to drive longer routes to deliver corn and soybeans during the fall harvest.
Gov. Tom Corbett plans to sign the measure Monday morning at a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall along Route 322 in Centre County.
Shaffer says the longer routes increased farmers' fuel costs and cut into their profit margins on the crops. He also says dairy farmers footed the bill when some milk haulers had to find alternative routes to processing facilities.
The highway and bridge work will be paid for by higher fuel taxes and motorist fees.
