Turnpike Commission Updates Public on Construction

Residents of Hampton, West Deer, Indiana and Harmar Townships are invited to an open house to update them on a 200 million dollar reconstruction and widening project for the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Residents will be presented with project plans, bridge replacement information and future detours. Project-team members will also be on hand to present and discuss information about noise analysis and impact to property owners.

Tom Fox, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, says that the road will have an effect on current homeowners in the area. "We've informed residents who's property could be effected by this, inviting them to come and to talk with our property acquisition people if their property might be effected in some way, shape, or form and to give them general information about the studies we'll be conducting."

Fox says that the project is part of a six year 700 million dollar effort to rebuild the turnpike. He says that all of the finds were from the Turnpike and that much of it is toll money going back to the community.

The project will begin with the construction of six bridges over the turnpike and will begin in early 2012. It involves widening the existing roadway from four lanes with a 10 foot median to six lanes with a 26 foot median and constructing new storm-water facilities and wetland and stream mitigation.

The open house is scheduled for March 29th from 6-9 p.m. in the Great Room of the Hampton Township Community Center.

Turnpike Fares Increase For New Year

In 2011, for the first time since the introduction of electronic E-ZPass transponders, travelers who use the device will pay significantly less than those using only cash. The toll increases 3% for E-ZPass users and 10% for drivers who pay with cash.

“Most of our customers already use E-Zpass, in fact two-thirds of our motorists now pay electronically,” DeFebo says. “It’s much more efficient. It’s safer because there’s no stopping and fewer traffic backlogs through the toll areas.”

In order to remain compliant with Pennsylvania’s Act 44, which requires the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to pay $450 million annually to PennDOT for road maintenance across the state, fares will be raised annually to meet that figure. To this point, the PTC has given $2.5 billion in funding to PennDOT and will continue funding through the remaining 47 years of the agreement. Formerly, the turnpike revenue was reinvested internally, therefore not requiring significant increases.



The Turnpike Commission had also planned to stop printing toll prices on tickets beginning Jan. 1, as a cost-cutting measure. However, after public outcry and a letter of disagreement from Auditor General Jack Wagner, the printed fares will remain. However, until a new batch of tickets can be printed with the higher tolls, the tickets will reflect the old tolls but you still will have to pay the higher amount.

No More Toll Plazas on PA Turnpike?

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has requested proposals for a year-long study of conversion to an all-electronic system--eliminating the 70 existing toll plazas and 600 toll collectors.

Turnpike Commission CEO Joe Brimmeier says electronic tolling is the wave of the future. For vehicles without EZ Pass, cameras would take a picture of the license plate, and the registered owner would receive a bill.

Brimmeier says when the turnpike opened, 3 million cars a year used the turnpike, but now the figure is 190 million. Most toll plazas are landlocked and can't expand to get vehicles through the interchanges faster, which raises issues of safety, emissions and fuel use.

While Brimmeier expects electronic tolling to be cheaper in the long run, he says it will be expensive to implement, and there will still be labor costs for maintaining the equipment.

Brimmeier says the tolling of I-80 would have been all electronic if the federal government had allowed it. It's much more involved to convert a road with toll plazas than to install an electronic system in the first place.

There are already five locations where cars with EZ Pass go through at highway speed. Three exchanges in central PA may go cashless by the end of the year: cars without EZ PASS will insert their turnpike ticket and then a credit card, as in some parking garages.

If the study shows electronic tolling to be feasible, it would propose a timetable for implementation. Brimmeier says many of the toll collector jobs could be eliminated through attrition, but there might also have to be layoffs.

E-ZPass Customers Get Break in Fare Hike

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has approved a new fare schedule for 2011 that increases rates by 10% system wide but holds the increase to 3% for E-ZPass users. A spokesperson for the Commission says the two new rates combine for an overall toll increase of approximately 5% percent, which is expected to generate an estimated $35 million in new revenues. The Commission says almost two-thirds of Pa. Turnpike users pay electronically via E-ZPass. "We believe it's essential to encourage more consumers to get E-ZPass. Besides the enhanced convenience for motorists, it's four times more efficient, processing up to 1,200 vehicles per hour compared to 300 per hour in a cash lane," says PA Turnpike CEO Joe Brimmeier. Several other states offer similar discounts. The new toll rates take effect Jan. 2, 2011. The Commission has increased its rates three years in a row, but only 8 times in the 70 year history of the Turnpike. Brimmeier says, “We've done our best to streamline operations and become more efficient - especially after the economic downturn that impacted us as it has every other business." For E-ZPass customers, current rates will be multiplied by .03 and then rounded to the nearest penny. Cash rates will be set by multiplying the current rate by .10 and then rounding to the nearest nickel. The Pennsylvania Turnpike manages more than 850,000 active E-ZPass accounts. Toll rates on the Findlay Connector/Toll I-576 (coin machines) near Pittsburgh International Airport will remain at their current level.

Old Turnpike Bridge Demolished

It carried turnpike traffic for more than half a century but it took only a few seconds to reduce the Allegheny River Bridge to scrap metal this morning. Crews used 200 pounds of explosives to take down the structure. Over the last few weeks all of the bridge decking was removed to facilitate clean up. The Turnpike must have the main channel of the Allegheny free of debris by 10:00am Wednesday and the rest of the river must be clear 24 hours later. Turnpike CEO Joe Brimmeier says crews will take a few weeks to clear the metal from the island under the bridge and the back channel. The old four-lane bridge was built in 1950, just ten years after the turnpike opened. The river is now spanned by a pair of 2,300-foot twin three-lane bridges 150-feet above the water’s surface. One of those bridges is now carrying traffic in both directions and the second bridge will open in November. The project, including the constructions of the bridges, improvements to the highway leading up to the span and demolition of the old bridge is expected to cost $189 million. Brimmeier says he was pleased with the demolition. Traffic on the turnpike was stopped before the explosion and after crews checked the bridge the highway was reopened around 10:30.