PA Turnpike News

[PHLBOS]

They're required by law? Did law require any PennDOT freeways to have them?

The linked-article implies that the law only applied to highways that existed in the PTC system at the time it was enacted.  Such probably explains why Turnpikes 43 & 576 do not have them.  To the best of my knowledge, I've never seen any PennDOT highway w/any call boxes.

That said, I do believe that most of the call boxes could probably be taken down (an amendment/repeal of the original law would need to be enacted).  I agree that having them every mile along the entire stretch is overkill and a waste of money.  OTOH, there are areas where their existence is still warranted.  The ones I would keep would be in areas where there's a very long distance between interchanges or service plazas and in areas known to have either weak cell service or 'dead zones'.  While cell phones have improved by leaps and bounds over the last decade, they're not infallible.

From the linked-article:

"There's no need for it. Everyone has a cellphone and if you don't certainly someone driving by will have a cellphone,"  Lawrence said.

I don't agree 100%.  If one breaks down late at night in the middle of nowhere, not everybody one's flagging for help will necessarily stop.

Maybe it might be cheaper to ditch the call boxes and provide SEND HELP signs at toll & service plazas. 
   

[agentsteel53]

If one breaks down late at night in the middle of nowhere, not everybody one's flagging for help will necessarily stop.

then flag someone else.

I've been in those sorts of situations before, from Norway to Mexico to Colorado to everywhere in between... my average is about 3 cars before someone stops.

[PAHighways]

To the best of my knowledge, I've never seen any PennDOT highway w/any call boxes.

Interstate 80 had them in the late 60s between Milton and Stroudsburg with plans to expand the system to all Interstates, especially in rural areas.  Interstate 81 had them from mile markers 108 to 158 in Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in the early part of the last decade.

[cpzilliacus]

To the best of my knowledge, I've never seen any PennDOT highway w/any call boxes.

Interstate 80 had them in the late 60s between Milton and Stroudsburg with plans to expand the system to all Interstates, especially in rural areas.

Last time I was on I-80 in Pennsylvania was in the early 1970's (!) [I was not driving], and there were indeed call boxes - at least between I-81 near Hazelton and U.S. 209 (north) in Stroudsburg.

The call box units caught my attention because the Maryland part of the Capital Beltway had similar units from the 1960's through the 1980's. 

[MASTERNC]

Just noticed a bill to raise Turnpike speeds to 70 MPH has been re-introduced in the PA House

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?syear=2013&sind=0&body=H&type=B&bn=932

[cpzilliacus]

TOLLROADSnews: Penn Pike's deal to borrow low from EB-5 visa-seeking investors - a second look

The extraordinary deal the Penn Pike has done with a couple of Philadelphia brokers to borrow up to $250m from foreign investors seeking US residency visas (known as the EB-5 program) is both better and worse on a second look. The Turnpike has been quite forthcoming with information, so a reporter can't validly complain that any element of 'cover up' surrounds the affair. They are not acting as if they have anything to hide.

The good news seems to be that the Turnpike has NOT got itself "on the hook" for anything much beyond money to hire an 'economist' to work up numbers on 'job creation' likely to result from the I-95 interchange project. That's $50,000 for PR. (Such exercises estimate immediate job creation and gross spending effects, and never look at offsetting effects of finance denied to other projects, and workers not hired there.)

But such claims of jobs created are standard fare for promoting new projects. And so the object of the financing, I-95/Turnpike interchange, will be analysed for the immediate jobs it creates and other spending it produces in construction

[ARMOURERERIC]

According to a recent post over at the generic "Pennsylvania" forum at City -Data, the PTC has advertised Requests for Qualifications for future design/build bidding on these Turnpike segments (the city data post had these segments as an active link taking you to the actual PTC advertisement) [comments inside these brackets are mine]


MM 13 to MM 14
(To be widened to six lanes, and includes a reconfiguration of Exit 13 and new pair of bridges over the Beaver River.)

MM 28 to MM 31
(To be widened to six lanes)

[The Cranberry Interchange to Warrendale toll plaza]

MM 49 to MM 53
(To be widened to six lanes.)
[Northern half from Monroeville to the new Allegheny River Bridge]

MM 53 to MM 57
(To be widened to six lanes, and includes a reconfiguration of Exit 57.)
[Southern half from new Allegheny River Bridge to Monroeville including the Monroeville interchange]

MM 298 to MM 312
(To be widened to six lanes.)

MM 333 to MM 351
(Possible reconstruction and design updates to a segment widened in 1987.)

[BrianP]

MM 298 to MM 312
(To be widened to six lanes.)

That seems odd.  Neither adjacent segment is six lanes.  Wouldn't you think the best place to start would be at MP 312 where I-76 leaves the turnpike?  Or does much of the truck traffic skip that section via US 202 US 30 and PA 100?

[PHLBOS]

MM 298 to MM 312
(To be widened to six lanes.)

That seems odd.  Neither adjacent segment is six lanes.  Wouldn't you think the best place to start would be at MP 312 where I-76 leaves the turnpike?  Or does much of the truck traffic skip that section via US 202 US 30 and PA 100?

Don't you mean MP 326?  That's the Valley Forge (I-76 East) exit and where it widens to 6-lanes (via I-276).

[ARMOURERERIC]

The list in my post were for "request for Qualificatios", an extremely early step.   IIRC 320-326 and 312-320 are already further along in the pipeline.  By the time 298-312 breaks ground, the pike will allready have been widened to west to 312.

[jeffandnicole]

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/Cross-state_PA_turnpike_toll_could_rise_to_50.html

An article stating tolls could rise to $50 to go from Ohio to New Jersey on the PA Turnpike by 2021 due to the Act 44 obligations.

My only real comment is in response to this:

"If we don't do something about this by the year 2021, it will cost $50 for the average working Pennsylvanian just to travel across our state,"  said Auditor General Eugene DePasquale. "That is just unsustainable. There is no way that we can ask the average Pennsylvanian to pay that."

Why would the average Pennsylvanian go all the way across the state?  Wouldn't the average state resident live somewhere along the Turnpike and only need to tranverse part of the state?  It'll still be a very high toll, of course.  And how many average working Pennsylvanians are required to travel the entire turnpike as well? 

[ARMOURERERIC]

What would be the legality of a traveler getting say a 20% discount using the cash lanes or an automatic 20% discount if they can show an ID indicating PA residency.

[Compulov]

Why would the average Pennsylvanian go all the way across the state?  Wouldn't the average state resident live somewhere along the Turnpike and only need to tranverse part of the state?  It'll still be a very high toll, of course.  And how many average working Pennsylvanians are required to travel the entire turnpike as well? 

Maybe I'm not average, but I used to live in Bristol, so I used to do that occasionally, since my fiancee has family out in Ohio. More to the point of the original quote, I'm assuming he means tolls *overall* would skyrocket, hitting those folks who commute within the state on the Turnpike. I don't know about other parts of the state, but there's a *lot* of people in and around Philly who drive the Turnpike daily (like my fiancee). Every time tolls go up, that hits her directly ($toll_hike * days_commuted).

[Compulov]

What would be the legality of a traveler getting say a 20% discount using the cash lanes or an automatic 20% discount if they can show an ID indicating PA residency.

They could implement some sort of EZPass frequent traveler program like the DRJTBC has for people who cross their bridges at least 20 days a month. I also recall there being some sort of discount on the NJTP for people who live in Florence and use the Turnpike bridge to cross over the Delaware, but I could be completely wrong.

[cpzilliacus]

TOLLROADSnews: New Pennsylvania Auditor General reasserts criticism - Penn Pike debt "unsustainable"

[Interstatefan78]

Saw the linked video and it says that the call boxes are written into a law and also they say that there is a cost to pull all call boxes of the PA turnpike system and it's up to each ptc member to make the decision to pull them out. A better solution in my opinion is to put small #11 signs on the fmr call box locations on  the PA turnpike system that includes I-476,I-76,I-276,I-376, and PA-43

[jeffandnicole]

Why would the average Pennsylvanian go all the way across the state?  Wouldn't the average state resident live somewhere along the Turnpike and only need to tranverse part of the state?  It'll still be a very high toll, of course.  And how many average working Pennsylvanians are required to travel the entire turnpike as well? 

Maybe I'm not average, but I used to live in Bristol, so I used to do that occasionally, since my fiancee has family out in Ohio. More to the point of the original quote, I'm assuming he means tolls *overall* would skyrocket, hitting those folks who commute within the state on the Turnpike. I don't know about other parts of the state, but there's a *lot* of people in and around Philly who drive the Turnpike daily (like my fiancee). Every time tolls go up, that hits her directly ($toll_hike * days_commuted).

Nope, you're not average.

And as far as daily commuting goes, that is something the turnpike can control.  Instead of a uniform 10% increase, the turnpike could say "Ok, interchange to interchange driving in the area between I-476 and US 13 (where most of the daily commuters live) won't see an increase, or just a minor increase.  Toll fares would increase 15% for other distances".

But...the turnpike won't do this.  If anything, they'll say the opposite - fares need to be higher for these commuters because they are the ones requiring the road to be widened.

[Compulov]

And as far as daily commuting goes, that is something the turnpike can control.  Instead of a uniform 10% increase, the turnpike could say "Ok, interchange to interchange driving in the area between I-476 and US 13 (where most of the daily commuters live) won't see an increase, or just a minor increase.  Toll fares would increase 15% for other distances".

But...the turnpike won't do this.  If anything, they'll say the opposite - fares need to be higher for these commuters because they are the ones requiring the road to be widened.

And you know, I'm okay with that so long as the tolls are being used for the Turnpike. It would effectively be a use-based tax on maintaining and expanding the highway, and since that section would be the most expensive to maintain and expand, charging more makes sense. The problem I have with the last few years of tax toll hikes is that it's essentially a tax on the folks who use the Turnpike in order to fund the whole state's transportation infrastructure. It would make more sense to fund that out of a larger base of taxpayers, such as a gas tax or from sales/use or income taxes, not the relatively small % of drivers who use the Turnpike.

[cpzilliacus]

TOLLROADSnews: Penn Pike pay-to-play corruption trial has a weeklong preliminary hearing

Witnesses favorable to Pennsylvania Turnpike defendants charged with corruption said repeatedly in the first court hearing last week that gifts they received from vendors who got contracts with the Turnpike were friendly expressions of gratitude not bribes or payoffs. And they maintained political activity organized by top Turnpike officials didn't involve improper pressure on vendors. Special favors sought by politicians at the Turnpike were merely innocent 'constituent service.'

We rely for the summary that follows on extensive local reports - especially Jeff Frantz at the Harrisburg Patriot News (pennlive.com) and Brad Bumstead Pittsburgh Tribune Review who reported morning and afternoon Monday through Friday last week  from the Harrisburg courtroom of state district judge William Wenner. 19 witnesses were heard in five days of a hearing to decide whether the case by state attorney general Kathleen Kane should go to trial before a judge and jury.

[PHLBOS]

Update on the Turnpike/I-95 interchange project:

Project is entering into another construction phase.

http://bensalem.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/turnpike-i95-connection-begins-next-phase

Excerpt:

...until mid-July, little impact is anticipated for motorists traveling through the project area on Interstate 276 between the Bensalem Exit (#351) and the Delaware River Bridge (#359).
Later this month, the contractor will set up a work zone in the project area and once established the speed limit will be reduced to 55 miles per hour until the project is completed in spring 2016. Additionally, some work will require the contractor to establish single-lane patterns during off-peak hours, restricting travel lanes with reduced work-zone speeds of 40 mph.

There are two separate projects that could impact turnpike travel. The first is the reconstruction and widening of a stretch of I-276 between milepost 351.4 and 354.1 including the construction of a mainline toll plaza at milepost 352.6. The second project site is for the construction of an Open-Road Tolling system (highway-speed tolling) at the Delaware River Bridge plaza.

[ARMOURERERIC]

The PA Pike also has a new Commissioner as of July 2, it's not my intent to be political, but they have appointed a long time assembly rep from Monroeville, a Democrat, which surprised me, but also made me wonder what his influence will have on the 376 interchange reconstruct (I would like to think this could lead to a more robust design)

[cpzilliacus]

TOLLROADSnews: Penn Pike leaders sent to trial after preliminary hearing

[ARMOURERERIC]

What's sad is that the chair of the Allegheny Co Commissioners got the head of PAT Transit fired for the purpose of getting a friend in that position, and nominated Brimmeier the day before the indictments.

[cpzilliacus]

TOLLROADSnews: Problems in broader EB-5 program, Penn Pike's proposed financing for big I-95 interchange

The Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security is investigating possible abuses in handling of EB-5 visa applications by Chinese nationals following a referral from an FBI counter-intelligence analyst, the Associated Press reports. They say President Obama's nominee for the deputy-secretary, #2 slot in the department Alejandro Mayorkas is under investigation for his handling of an investor visa when he was head of US Citizenship and Immigration Services unit of the department.

Under the EB-5 program foreign investors putting $500,000 or more into a US business and creating jobs get a special 'foreign investor visa" allowing them to bypass other foreigners applying for entry to the US.

The DHS Inspector General sent an email about the investigation to members of the House and Senate committees on homeland security this week. The IG said that the department's general counsel office obstructed a Securities and Exchange Commission attempt to audit the EB-5 program. And it says the FBI has been concerned about the program providing a way for Chinese intelligence officers to become involved in sensitive building projects through shell companies.

One of these turned out to be an FBI facility being built by an EB-5 contractor.

[cpzilliacus]

What's sad is that the chair of the Allegheny Co Commissioners got the head of PAT Transit fired for the purpose of getting a friend in that position, and nominated Brimmeier the day before the indictments.

I don't think anyone could pay be enough to be in  charge of transit in Pittsburgh.

Declining market for transit, militant unions and resistance by the unions and their friendly elected officials to significant  cost-savings.