Mark Compton: Open road tolling to power economic development along turnpike system
The Pennsylvania Turnpike is proud of its designation as “America’s First Superhighway.” Our system opened in 1940, and, over the past 85 years, its groundbreaking innovation reinvigorated communities across the state and served as a model for the nation’s Interstate Highway System.
Our core mission — to ensure safe, uninterrupted travel for our 550,000 daily customers — mandates making periodic, necessary investments. Projects such as the interchange linking turnpike to State Route 130 in Penn Township, Westmoreland County, preserve one of our state’s and nation’s most valuable assets while growing to meet customer demands.
Elected officials and economic development professionals have long advocated for this direct access, and our agency, along with PennDOT, is excited to deliver on its potential. We recently shared the interchange’s preliminary engineering plans with residents at a public meeting in Penn Township. These plans, and additional information on the SR 130 project, can be found on our website.
The turnpike’s upcoming transition to open road tolling (ORT) eliminates costly, concrete-laden toll plazas and tollbooth choke points. With toll-reading equipment mounted on roadway-spanning gantries, new connections like SR 130 are feasible.
ORT charges customers electronically as they drive at highway speeds beneath the gantries, located between interchanges. This change goes live on Jan. 5 east of Reading and on the Northeast Extension and on the western portion in 2027. Existing eastern toll plazas will also be removed starting next year.
The new configuration brings added safety benefits, on and off our system. Data collected at three locations that previously implemented ORT show significant crash rate reductions. At the Delaware River Bridge in Bucks County, the crash rate decreased 33%. At Warrendale in Butler County, the crash rate decreased 71% and at Gateway in Lawrence County, the crash rate decreased 76%.
SR 130’s link joins additional, ORT-enabled interchanges in Montgomery and Lackawanna counties and a recently announced connection to Interstate 70 at Breezewood. These new interchanges are part of the turnpike’s tradition of extending economic development, jobs and investments that strengthen statewide and local economies.
Mark Compton is CEO of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
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