The proposals to toll Interstate 80 and lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a private operator remain just proposals.

But the findings of a state Legislative Budget and Finance Committee study has prompted recommendations that the state Department of Transportation would do well to implement, regardless of the eventual fate of the two major highway issues.

And, PennDOT should begin looking into the study's suggestions for improving its operation without delay.

While installing the recommendations will take time and require some revisions to a department mind-set excessively dependent on work by private contractors, failure to make important changes as quickly as possible will unnecessarily limit the amount of work PennDOT will be able to accomplish in the years ahead.

Meanwhile, costs will continue to increase and PennDOT will be unable to address some badly needed road and bridge deterioration.

When there are the means and procedures available to allow more work to be done, it is unacceptable for PennDOT to inhibit those accomplishments by failing to discard outdated, inefficient ways of doing business.

Among what the Budget and Finance Committee study determined was that it takes about 324 days to finalize a contract after the department advertises for bids. That's much too long.

Then, the study found, more than half of the projects completed over the last three years by private contractors were given time extensions to complete the work, but PennDOT increasingly has failed to impose financial penalties on contractors for missed deadlines.

According to the committee report, which was the subject of an Associated Press article, if just one-quarter of the time extensions Penn-DOT allowed during the past three years were not justified, and the department had imposed penalties for them, about $44 million would have been generated that could have been directed to other work.

PennDOT should rethink what obviously is a policy of excessive leniency.

Then there's the issue of what PennDOT could be doing but isn't. The study found that PennDOT often is able to complete work more cheaply than outside contractors, but only 30 of the department's 67 county maintenance offices perform their own road resurfacing.

While it must be acknowledged that PennDOT has manpower and equipment limitations regarding how much work it can accomplish during a specific time window, to ignore more in-house work that could save money — to allow additional improvments — is foolish, if not irresponsible.

Transportation Secretary Allen D. Biehler has told lawmakers that he agrees with the study's conclusions that changes are necessary. His challenge — and the task of other top PennDOT officials — is to put in place the framework for achieving what the study indicates is within the department's capabilities.

Doing that is essential, even if I-80 isn't tolled and even if the Turnpike isn't leased.

PennDOT knows it needs every dollar it can get its hands on. But the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee report shows that its efforts on behalf of saving money haven't been consistent with that need.

Changes are needed without delay.