Two Pittsburgh-area congressmen hosted the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee yesterday, as they lobbied for increases in long-term federal highway and bridge spending.

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., said he hopes to increase the federal government's five-year spending authorization from its previous $300 billion to $450 billion, starting in 2009. Pennsylvania's slice of that pie would increase from its current $8.3 billion to $12 billion over five years, he said.

Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Swissvale, and transportation committee member Jason Altmire, D-McCandless, joined Mr. Oberstar at a news conference to highlight the state's crumbling road and bridge infrastructure. Mr. Doyle said 39 percent of the state's bridges are structurally deficient and 46 percent of its major roads are in poor condition.

"We literally have disasters in the making all across the Commonwealth," he said.

In the Pittsburgh region, 23 percent of bridge decks are structurally deficient, said PennDOT District 11 Executive Dan Cessna, and 200 miles of its roadways are rated poor.

While the agency has plans to maintain them, "the backlog of challenges of poor roads and bridges far exceeds available funding," he said.

Paying for increased transportation funding, Mr. Oberstar said, could require raising the 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal gas tax, instituting public-private construction partnerships and using federally supported bond measures.

Mr. Oberstar was no fan of cutting gas taxes -- as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., proposed on the presidential campaign trail this month -- saying they were essential for underwriting highway projects.

If Congress suspended the federal gas tax for the summer, as Mr. McCain suggested, the oil companies would pocket the money and keep prices high, he said.

"It's a splendid idea, if you want to bankrupt America," Mr. Oberstar said.