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PA Turnpike News

Started by mightyace, February 16, 2009, 05:29:14 PM

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mightyace

Quote from: PAHighways on May 31, 2009, 12:47:39 AM
The PTC is once again debating what to do with the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel:  http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09151/973812-147.stm.

As the article said, they've been talking about this for years, but no action.

Of course, talk is cheap, but new highway is not!

Stop talking and start doing something PTC!  :banghead:
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I'm out of this F***KING PLACE!


mightyace

Quote from: PAHighways on May 31, 2009, 12:47:39 AM
The PTC is once again debating what to do with the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel:  http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09151/973812-147.stm.

Tollroadnews.com has also picked this up.
http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/4186
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I'm out of this F***KING PLACE!

PAHighways


mightyace

Quote from: PAHighways on June 17, 2009, 08:40:14 PM
Some Pennsylvania Turnpike Curves Will be a Little Less Sharp

<sarcasm>The PTC is acutally using toll money to maintain and upgrade existing turnpike right-of-way.  What a concept! :clap:</sarcasm>
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PAHighways

Quote from: mightyace on June 17, 2009, 08:57:32 PM<sarcasm>The PTC is acutally using toll money to maintain and upgrade existing turnpike right-of-way.  What a concept! :clap:</sarcasm>

They've been doing that for about a decade now.  When the section around Donegal was rebuilt a few years ago, the S-curves just east of Exit 91 were straightened.

mightyace

Quote from: PAHighways on June 17, 2009, 09:03:43 PM
Quote from: mightyace on June 17, 2009, 08:57:32 PM<sarcasm>The PTC is acutally using toll money to maintain and upgrade existing turnpike right-of-way.  What a concept! :clap:</sarcasm>

They've been doing that for about a decade now.  When the section around Donegal was rebuilt a few years ago, the S-curves just east of Exit 91 were straightened.


I know you're right.

IMHO This core mission of the PTC has gotten lost in the shuffle of building all the new "Turnpikes," assistance to PennDOT, the infamous I-80 project, etc.  (at least it feels that way to me.)
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Mr_Northside

Yeah.. so now we folks in the southern half of the state not only pay the same vehicle registration & gas tax as the people in the northern half for state roads in general.... but we have to pay to use "our" E-W interstate on top of that.  Money that is now not only used for the toll road itself, but to give PennDOT money to use, in part (because it's part of the state), for transportation needs in the north part of the state as well.
And the people around I-80 want to bitch about "fair" every time someone talks about tolling I-80!?!
It can be argued that Act 44 was just an all around bad idea from the start, but the bottom line is that currently the system is extremely unfair to residents that use the turnpike.

Asides from that, I'll give credit to the PTC in the last decade for actually trying to make the turnpike a much better ride.  I can't wait for the completed rebuilding / 6-lane-ing of the Irwin<-> New Stanton stretch.
I don't have opinions anymore. All I know is that no one is better than anyone else, and everyone is the best at everything

exit322

Three-laning all of the PA Turnpike probably wouldn't be a terrible idea, though for my travels I can easily avoid it to get to Pittsburgh from here.

mightyace

Quote from: Mr_Northside on June 19, 2009, 09:31:46 AM
And the people around I-80 want to bitch about "fair" every time someone talks about tolling I-80!?!
It can be argued that Act 44 was just an all around bad idea from the start, but the bottom line is that currently the system is extremely unfair to residents that use the turnpike.

I will agree with you that Act 44 is a bad idea.  Diverting tolls to non-toll projects is usually a bad idea.  There is now a lawsuit is Mass. since Mass Pike tolls are paying for some of the non-tolled portions of the Big Dig.

But, spreading the misery around doesn't make it right!

The main thrust of all this chicanery is that Gov. Rendell wants to increase support for Philly and Pittsburgh transit systems either directly or indirectly and I don't see why people like my dad who live in the northern part of the state or even people in southern parts of the state like Bedford and Somerset should pay for this!

As a former PA resident, I remember how the two P's have thrown their weight around and stuck it to the rest of the state!  Might does not make right!
My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyace

I'm out of this F***KING PLACE!

PAHighways


Revive 755

Quote from: PAHighways on May 31, 2009, 12:47:39 AM
The PTC is once again debating what to do with the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel:  http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09151/973812-147.stm.

Quote from: the articleAs the turnpike gradually widens to three lanes in each direction, and with traffic expected to increase, the two-lane tunnels will become a bottleneck.

I have a hunch that by the time the I-70 to Harrisburg section is six lanes all the way, whatever major widening that happens in the Wheeling - KC section of I-70 (truck lanes or 6+ lanes) will be done.

And instead of tolling I-80, they should toll that awful section of I-70 between the Turnpike and I-79 and bring it up to interstate standards.

PAHighways

Quote from: Revive 755 on July 23, 2009, 09:22:13 PMI have a hunch that by the time the I-70 to Harrisburg section is six lanes all the way, whatever major widening that happens in the Wheeling - KC section of I-70 (truck lanes or 6+ lanes) will be done.

It won't be six lanes all the way.

Quote from: Revive 755 on July 23, 2009, 09:22:13 PMAnd instead of tolling I-80, they should toll that awful section of I-70 between the Turnpike and I-79 and bring it up to interstate standards.

The issue is that no one is going to sell their farmland to the state or give up their house to widen a road they feel is fine.  It has been improved as much as possible with some widening of the median and shoulders, but it will never be like the post-1956 Interstates such as 79 or 80.

exit322

I think the appropriate move on 70 might be to take out some of the ramps and make the stop-sign merges a better onramp.  The medians suck, but you can deal with that - it's the off ramps/on ramps that are the bigger problem to me.

SSOWorld

Quote from: exit322 on July 24, 2009, 11:41:53 AM
I think the appropriate move on 70 might be to take out some of the ramps and make the stop-sign merges a better onramp.  The medians suck, but you can deal with that - it's the off ramps/on ramps that are the bigger problem to me.
No doubt, I drove that stretch in April and I feared for my life.  I hope no partial realignments happen that force me to clinch it again  :banghead:
Scott O.

Not all who wander are lost...
Ah, the open skies, wind at my back, warm sun on my... wait, where the hell am I?!
As a matter of fact, I do own the road.
Raise your what?

Wisconsin - out-multiplexing your state since 1918.

PAHighways

Quote from: Master son on July 28, 2009, 01:49:32 PM
Quote from: exit322 on July 24, 2009, 11:41:53 AM
I think the appropriate move on 70 might be to take out some of the ramps and make the stop-sign merges a better onramp.  The medians suck, but you can deal with that - it's the off ramps/on ramps that are the bigger problem to me.
No doubt, I drove that stretch in April and I feared for my life.  I hope no partial realignments happen that force me to clinch it again  :banghead:

Don't worry, PennDOT won't be realigning any sections.

PAHighways


Sykotyk

Other than the absurdly short ramps on that stretch of 70, the other big complaint I have is the Mon River crossing. Slowing an interstate down to 45mph is rather troublesome. Throw in that a lot of people don't follow it (which makes those that do a problem, afterall, where are cops going to sit at to watch that section?) and you wind up with big safety issues.

Sykotyk

PAHighways

Quote from: Sykotyk on August 16, 2009, 11:17:38 PMSlowing an interstate down to 45mph is rather troublesome. Throw in that a lot of people don't follow it (which makes those that do a problem, afterall, where are cops going to sit at to watch that section?) and you wind up with big safety issues.

As someone who drove that Interstate regularly for three years, I can tell you exactly where they would hide:  Speers on-ramp, PA 88 interchange, and the North Belle Vernon on-ramp going eastbound, and the PA 906 interchange and Speers on-ramp going westbound.

PAHighways

High-Speed E-ZPass Coming Soon to Jefferson Hills Toll Plaza

Ironically, the first toll plaza built specifically with high-speed E-ZPass lanes is the last to have them implemented.

mgk920

Quote from: PAHighways on July 28, 2009, 07:06:03 PM
Quote from: Master son on July 28, 2009, 01:49:32 PM
Quote from: exit322 on July 24, 2009, 11:41:53 AM
I think the appropriate move on 70 might be to take out some of the ramps and make the stop-sign merges a better onramp.  The medians suck, but you can deal with that - it's the off ramps/on ramps that are the bigger problem to me.
No doubt, I drove that stretch in April and I feared for my life.  I hope no partial realignments happen that force me to clinch it again  :banghead:

Don't worry, PennDOT won't be realigning any sections.
Maybe what SHOULD be done instead is to reroute I-70 to follow I-68 to I-79 and then northward on I-79, rejoining its current route via a re-engineered interchange at Washington, PA.

<Ducks!!!!>

:-D

Mike

agentsteel53

the "stop and floor it" freeway merges are indeed a nightmare.

the worst I've ever seen wasn't a freeway but was an expressway section of US-46 that had a very poorly placed big orange temporary construction sign that effectively blocked the view of oncoming traffic from the perspective of the on-ramp.  I pushed over the damn thing.
live from sunny San Diego.

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mightyace

My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyace

I'm out of this F***KING PLACE!

PAHighways


PAHighways


mightyace

Quote from: PAHighways on October 29, 2009, 06:23:54 PM
Attorney general looking into Pennsylvania Turnpike

Here are the articles on TollRoadsNews that the above article was referring to:

FBI raid Pennsylvania Turnpike HQ, take hard drives and other evidence

New details emerge on FBI raid at Pennsylvania Turnpike - second source confirms

IMHO I agree with the Post-Gazette, the author of the article PAHighways cited, that TollRoadNews was not as accurate as they could have been.  In past links on that site, it seems that the person/people running that site have some kind of beef with the PTC.  While anyone who's read the I-80 Tolling thread knows, I don't think kindly of the PTC, giving them a hatchet job that may or may not be based on facts is not appropriate for a news site.
My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyace

I'm out of this F***KING PLACE!



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