PA Turnpike News

[PAHighways]

It appears to be a simple matter.  A flyover from "nb" I-70 to the tpk entrance and a simple ramp connection from the tpk entrance to "sb" I-70.  Not really that expensive. My guess would be the row is either already owned by PENNDOT or the PTC.

It's not that easy.  While the right-of-way is there, the topography of the area would make building the connections as you suggest very difficult, and a lot more expensive than you'd think.

The topography there is relatively flat considering it is in the mountains and a connection probably wouldn't cost more than what the PTC has spent replacing the Allegheny River and Susquehanna River Bridges.  Most of the money would probably be spent on earth moving operations. Interestingly enough, the Department of Highways built 70 with a very wide median where it crosses the old Turnpike as if to provide space for a connection, which would be far enough away from the toll plaza that it wouldn't interfere with traffic flow.

[Duke87]

As an aside, I will not buy gas there as their gas prices are much higher then PGH or Hburg.

It looks like Google's camera van did, though. 

[PAHighways]

Turnpike Approves Toll Increases For 2011 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[PAHighways]

Turnpike to Become Nation's Costliest Toll Road - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Editorial Cartoonist Randy Bish's take on the impending toll increase - Tribune-Review

[Mr_Northside]

Turnpike to Become Nation's Costliest Toll Road - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There is a line in that story just like one in an article about the Allegheny River Bridge demolition....
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10195/1072552-147.stm

"It's a proud day for the Pennsylvania Turnpike," said CEO Joe Brimmeier, who noted that by next year, the entire stretch from Ohio to beyond the Allegheny Tunnel, 125 miles, will have been rebuilt.

Have their standards for "rebuilding" changed?? I'm pretty sure sections like Irwin-Monroeville, or the Westmoreland/Somerset Co. line to near the Somerset interchange, to name a few, will not be rebuilt from the "ground-up" (Like other sections have been) by next year.  A "simple" resurfacing and such maintenance, sure... but not completely rebuilt.

[yakra]

Editorial Cartoonist Randy Bish's take on the impending toll increase - Tribune-Review

HA! How `bout this one? http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/bish/e_1_2010-07-18.html

[PAHighways]

Editorial Cartoonist Randy Bish's take on the impending toll increase - Tribune-Review

HA! How `bout this one? http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/bish/e_1_2010-07-18.html

Yep, that's a good one, although it would be more appropriate in the PA 28 Construction Updates thread.

[PAHighways]

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Approves Construction of Route 29 All-Electronic Interchange

Having been proposed for most of the previous decade, it looks like this connection will finally become reality.

[mightyace]

Anybody seen any confirmation (or credible denial) of this?

Eastern Regional Office of Penn Pike raided - two directors fired, computers, documents hauled off (BREAKING NEWS)

A source at the Pennsylvania Turnpike reports a dramatic raid this morning at the Eastern Regional Office (ERO) of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. He says a team from the Office of the Turnpike Inspector General, Anthony Maniscola showed up during the morning.

Two directors, longtime staffers at the Turnpike - Melvin Shelton and John Trevolina (spelling needs confirmation) were told they were fired and escorted to their cars and sent away, according to the report we received. Meanwhile members of Maniscola's 'hit team' disconnected a number of computers and took them away. They also emptied filing cabinets, boxing their contents and carrying the boxes to their vehicles too.

We don't have any independent confirmation of this. A Turnpike spokesman missed our call but emailed us later: "I cannot confirm anything relating to personnel actions undertaken by the commission today."

[PAHighways]

There are no other news outlets from the Philly area reporting any "raid" on the Eastern Regional Office.

They need to run spell check on that article, as Dan Onorato is not the "Democrati" candidate for governor and while spelling his name correctly in the article, it is mis-spelled under his picture.

[PAHighways]

Pennsylvania Turnpike Officials Confirm Firings at Philadelphia-area Office - Harrisburg Patriot-News

[mightyace]

Thanks for the confirmation.

And this interesting tidbit from the article.

The firings were first reported by TollRoadsNews, a transportation industry newsletter published out of Frederick, Md. Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo confirmed the firings of Melvin M. Shelton and John P. Travelina on Thursday.

[Mr_Northside]

Just came across this in the (Pittsburgh) Post-Gazette..... (I don't think I've seen it posted anywhere here, sorry if it was...)

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10259/1087670-94.stm

At first I thought, "What an idiot"... but in thinking about it, if you're not familiar with how the system works, I guess it's a legitimate interpretation of "No Cash"...  Both the signs approaching and at the booth should say "E-ZPass ONLY / NO CASH", instead of just E-ZPass / No Cash, I suppose.  (Though, unless the lane was closed at the time, the "Full Service" lane seems like it should make the most sense anyway.)

[deathtopumpkins]

My issue is that the guy is from Ohio. Ohio uses E-Z Pass. And I bet they have very similar toll plaza signage setups to Pennsylvania. This his argument of it confusing out-of-staters is invalid.

[PAHighways]

I'm surprised this guy didn't e-mail me complaining about the treatment he received, and not wanting a V-Toll, which I sometimes receive in my inbox.

I don't understand why drivers from Ohio have such difficulties with our toll plazas.  Yes, the sign above the lane would say "NO CASH" but it also has a giant "E-ZPass" logo below which the motorist failed to see.  Even before he got that far, he failed to see the "TOLL ROAD" on the guide sign for 66 at the 119 cloverleaf or the announcement at Exit 1 that it is the last free exit.

[agentsteel53]

he clearly was intending to pay the toll... so noting the TOLL ROAD signs is not pertinent.

[PAHighways]

It is pertinent since by the time reaching New Stanton, and having used up all of his cash since Cincinnati and do not possess an E-ZPass transponder, the "TOLL ROAD" statement should have made him contemplate an alternate route.

He knew beforehand he would be taking a toll road, he should have put aside a $5 bill for a cushion.

[Alps]

He wanted to pay by check or credit card... name one other highway system that lets you do that at a toll plaza?  (I know they are contemplating credit card payments at plazas now... imagine if a card gets rejected - multiply exact change headaches by 20.)  I may offend someone by saying this, but I see him as an older driver who can't keep up with all this newfangled toll technology and had too many signs to read and therefore got confused.

[Mr_Northside]

My issue is that the guy is from Ohio. Ohio uses E-Z Pass.

They haven't had it for that long.
And the article makes it sound like he's from Cincinnati (or at least that's where he works...); He may hardly ever (if ever) even use the Ohio Turnpike. (Or any toll road for that matter, so "E-Zpass" might be a foreign concept to him), so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt there.

I guess I just thought, when I first read the article (before analyzing & over-analyzing it), Hey, I guess someone could interpret a sign that says "No Cash" to mean "This must be the lane to use if you have no cash", as opposed to the correct "Cash not accepted in this lane" meaning.

I also want to say that some of the newer plazas on the PTC expansion highways take cards (in addition to being automated for cash), but maybe my brain is just subconsciously making that up.

Also of note, I guess I've never mapped it out (and upon checking, a route via downtown & the Parkway East is Google's recommended route for a trip like that, and it seems about 10mi. shorter), but I'd probably default to avoiding downtown PGH and take that same route via New Stanton anyway (despite I-70's crappiness between Wash. & N.S.)

[PAHighways]

And the article makes it sound like he's from Cincinnati (or at least that's where he works...); He may hardly ever (if ever) even use the Ohio Turnpike. (Or any toll road for that matter, so "E-Zpass" might be a foreign concept to him), so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt there.

I guess I just thought, when I first read the article (before analyzing & over-analyzing it), Hey, I guess someone could interpret a sign that says "No Cash" to mean "This must be the lane to use if you have no cash", as opposed to the correct "Cash not accepted in this lane" meaning.

Here is the toll plaza configuration.  If he didn't know what E-ZPass is, and knowing he had nothing E-ZPass, he should have stayed out of the lane entirely.

I also want to say that some of the newer plazas on the PTC expansion highways take cards (in addition to being automated for cash), but maybe my brain is just subconsciously making that up.

The machines used to accept the PTC Credit Card, which was for commercial vehicles to pay tolls before E-ZPass was implemented on the Turnpike System.

Also of note, I guess I've never mapped it out (and upon checking, a route via downtown & the Parkway East is Google's recommended route for a trip like that, and it seems about 10mi. shorter), but I'd probably default to avoiding downtown PGH and take that same route via New Stanton anyway (despite I-70's crappiness between Wash. & N.S.)

He could have taken the scenic route and exited at 51 then taken 48 to 22 and avoided all toll issues.

[J N Winkler]

I'm surprised this guy didn't e-mail me complaining about the treatment he received, and not wanting a V-Toll, which I sometimes receive in my inbox.

Look at it this way:  is there anything on your website, or anything on the Web that is linked to your name, which might lead him to believe you would admit the possibility that the PTC could do wrong?

[PAHighways]

The only thing is the Toll Highways section of my website, which has an e-mail link at the bottom which forwards anything sent via that link to my main e-mail account.  Most of the complaints come via the e-mail link on the main index page, which is right above the legal disclaimer that states said website is not affiliated with any government agency and specifying PennDOT and the PTC.

As for a complaints about toll collection, I just received one this past week about an issue on 576.

[PAHighways]

Turnpike Considers All-Electronic Tolls - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

[mightyace]

Well, until a more "universal" transponder comes out, it looks like my days of traveling the Pennsy Turnpike are numbered.

[rickmastfan67]

I was reading that article about the All-Electronic Tolls and I came across this line in it:

Westbound on- and off-ramps at the Virginia Drive interchange north of Philadelphia are E-ZPass only, and a new eastbound interchange in Bucks County will open as E-ZPass only this month.

Does anybody know where this new interchange is in Bucks County?  Is it part of the I-95/I-276 interchange or something else?

EDIT: Wait, never mind.  Just found a mention in the Wiki article that it's a slip ramp for PA-132.