PA Turnpike News

[cl94]

...my rule of thumb is if a purchase is under $20, I pay cash; over $20 I usually use a credit card.

Then by your own rules, you'd be using a credit card for any sizable trip on the PA Turnpike. The non-E-ZPass toll from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh is $23.15, from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh is $32.90, and from border to border is $49.05.

In an age when you can walk into 7-Eleven and buy a pack of gum with a Visa, I think many people find it legitimately surprising that they can't use a credit card for a nearly fifty-dollar toll.

Agree completely, especially if someone isn't from the northeast. I know I'm not the only person who rarely carries cash.

[vdeane]

Pretty sure the Thruway accepts credit cards, as does the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority.

I don't use cash as a rule.  I do carry $30 just in case I need it, but I prefer to avoid using it and when I do I get my cash back to $30 the next time I'm in the bank (which includes depositing smaller denominations and withdrawing either a $10 or $20, depending on what was used/is there).  I also keep a roll of quarters in my closet for laundry (which is why I need to go to the bank every three weeks).

[cl94]

Pretty sure the Thruway accepts credit cards, as does the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority.

Thruway does not.

[vdeane]

Interesting... wonder where that rumor started?  Anyways, I do know for a fact that the TIB does take credit cards.
http://www.newzjunky.com/news/0224tiba.htm

[SignBridge]

Well briantroutman, I should have mentioned that I've been using E-Z pass for many years and that I believe it is the most practical way to pay tolls. And my E-Z Pass is billed to my credit card. 

[cl94]

The people PTC is trying to deal with aren't the regular users who have E-ZPass anyway. It's the tourists from the plains states and west where E-ZPass doesn't exist and/or toll roads are uncommon or nonexistent. Heck, to many people from those parts, the concept of a toll is foreign.

[noelbotevera]

For whatever reason I'm part of the rare non EZPass members. My dad is just too stubborn in order to convince him that we need an EZPass.

Sorry for the rant.


Now that I think about it, what's the point about toll roads not allowing you to use a credit card to pay tolls? It's like "no outside food" policies. You can easily just sneak food in and eventually there's no point in having added or removed it.

[cl94]

Credit card companies charge a service fee. That's one of the ways they make money. That's also why many places have minimum purchase amounts for cards.

[jeffandnicole]

Riding the PA Turnpike today, I took note that there is no credit card signage at the plazas, so they are definitely keeping it on the downlow.

[02 Park Ave]

The Indiana East-West Toll Road accepts credit cards.  The lines at those toll booths seemed to be long.  I can't imagine what it would be like if a road such as the Garden State Parkway accepted credit cards.

[vdeane]

The A-30 bridge over the St. Lawrence also accepts credit cards, and the booths even have credit card only lanes.  Ditto for the Confederation Bridge.  I believe similar setups exist in Europe.

[ARMOURERERIC]

Last night I did one of my regular reviews of thew PA Turnpike design and construction page.  When I went to the Southern Beltway page, for the first time there was a specific list of the individual contracts that will make up the 22 to 79 portion.  They were clickable and went to a future separate website for each segment.  It also indicated that the first contract to extend the mainline south of 22 is either imminent or has been awarded, it also indicated that 2 additional contracts will be underway by spring.

[Stephane Dumas]

There some new photos taken in August showing the ramps to I-95 taking shape. https://www.patpconstruction.com/paturnpikei95/current-sectiond10.aspx

[SignBridge]

It's about time.......

[MASTERNC]

Well it looks like the PTC is full steam ahead on its capital projects, even with its financial situation.

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2016/11/16/Financial-concerns-won-t-halt-Pa-turnpike-road-projects/stories/201611160095

[jeffandnicole]

Well it looks like the PTC is full steam ahead on its capital projects, even with its financial situation.

http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2016/11/16/Financial-concerns-won-t-halt-Pa-turnpike-road-projects/stories/201611160095

The agency noted that since 2007, when payments to PennDOT began, it has spent about $5 billion for off-turnpike projects and $4.4 billion on turnpike improvements.

Need anyone say more?

[74/171FAN]

PTC plans to award a contract on the Scranton Beltway for preliminary design next month.

Quote from article:

A PennDOT study found the beltway could remove 2,500 vehicles a day from I-81 northbound and 2,200 southbound, with more than 80 percent of that truck traffic – though a turnpike official cautioned they are only estimates and traffic diversion projections "are still all over the map."

I would think that without tolling (assuming the tolling and that most traffic would probably use it at rush hour were accounted for) those numbers would be a bit higher.

[vdeane]

Those interchanges definitely need improvement, but if traffic is shunpiking now, I don't see how that alone will stop them from shunpiking.  Maybe a little improvement with AET, but I think the main reason traffic doesn't go there is because the PTC tolls are sky high (like that bridge over US 11!).

I-81 could use a widening.  It seems odd that it's only two lanes through a metro area of that size.

[Alps]

Those interchanges definitely need improvement, but if traffic is shunpiking now, I don't see how that alone will stop them from shunpiking.  Maybe a little improvement with AET, but I think the main reason traffic doesn't go there is because the PTC tolls are sky high (like that bridge over US 11!).

I-81 could use a widening.  It seems odd that it's only two lanes through a metro area of that size.

2500 a day would take the numbers in the article barely anywhere from where they are now. So yeah.

[74/171FAN]

Those interchanges definitely need improvement, but if traffic is shunpiking now, I don't see how that alone will stop them from shunpiking.  Maybe a little improvement with AET, but I think the main reason traffic doesn't go there is because the PTC tolls are sky high (like that bridge over US 11!).

I-81 could use a widening.  It seems odd that it's only two lanes through a metro area of that size.

2500 a day would take the numbers in the article barely anywhere from where they are now. So yeah.

I have only read about widening I-81 to six lanes between US 11/PA 502 in Moosic (Exit 180) and the Central Scranton Expressway (Exit 185) but I am unsure of the status on it. (It is already 6 lanes from there to I-380/I-84/US 6 (Exit 187).)

[Flyer78]

I was just in that area a few weeks ago, PennDOT has been widening many of the 81 bridges in the area (if memory serves, even south of MM180) to accommodate future widening. The exit 187 area was widened with the massive reconfiguration there in the early 90s.

[epzik8]

Is there anything of note going on between Monroeville and the Ohio state line right now? I'm going to be driving on that section tomorrow so I can clinch the mainline Turnpike; in fact, I'm entering at Harrisburg West (I-83) so I guess I should say is there anything of note on the mainline west of Harrisburg, other than the widening project in the Cumberland Valley area.

[Mr_Northside]

They're in between phases/sections of the widening between Allegheny Valley (Rt.28) & Butler Valley (Rt.8) for the winter - they wrapped up the SE section a few weeks ago, and will probably start the rest of it in the spring (though I think they are doing tree clearing in that area) 
Unless there are odds and ends being worked on, I think that's it.
Though you may have already driven this by the time this gets posted.

[PHLBOS]

For whatever reason I'm part of the rare non EZPass members. My dad is just too stubborn in order to convince him that we need an EZPass.

Keep in mind that the PTC charges an annual fee of $3 for each transponder.  While the difference in toll rates (cash vs. EZ-Pass) for a longer one-way trip (or a short round-trip) would offset that fee and thensome; it does not take into consideration that most if not all EZ-Pass account holders need to place an minimum upfront balance of $35 in order to activate the account & have a balance.  Such is fine for frequent Turnpike (& other toll road) users but not necessarily okay for one that only uses a short stretch of the Turnpike (or any toll road) say once a year.  Not everybody likes fronting up $35 and then not tapping into it for over a period of years.
__________________________________________

The 2017 PA Turnpike tolls rates are now posted.  Such will take effect this coming Jan. 8, 2017.  Some good news; both the EZ-Pass and the Toll-By-Plate rate for the Delaware River Bridge (Future I-95) will not increase.  The westbound $5 (EZ-Pass)/$6.75 (Toll-By-Plate) will remain as is for this year.

[vdeane]

That's the issue my parents have with getting E-ZPass.  NY doesn't have an annual fee, and the $10 deposit is refunded if you set up automatic replenishment, but that still isn't enough to convince my parents that putting $25 into an account is a great idea, especially since they only spend about $2 in tolls (if that) in a typical year.