The proposed new Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange in Penn Township, Westmoreland County, has taken another step forward with the agency starting design for the project.
The interchange is expected to be where the turnpike crosses Route 130, around milepost 63 and near Pleasant Valley Road, but the exact location hasn’t been determined yet. The agency announced last week that design work has begun and should last about two years.
When the turnpike announced two years ago it had the funding for the project to move forward, Chief Engineer Brad Heigel said designers would consider three or four options for the location, which is difficult to work with because of several local roads in the area. The interchange could open in 2026.
“We have not settled on a design option yet,” turnpike spokesman Crispin Havener said last week. “The study phase will help us explore all possible options and which one will be the best fit for connectivity and the community.”
The agency expects to hold an open house to discuss options for the interchange, but that hasn’t been scheduled yet.
Building the new interchange between Irwin and Penn Township will create three interchanges within less than 12 miles. Penn Township and Westmoreland County officials have been lobbying for it for more than a decade as a result of sharp residential growth in the township and the belief that more businesses would locate in the former farming community with improved access.
The turnpike gave the go-ahead two years ago when the state Legislature told the agency it no longer had to contribute $400 million a year to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to help pay for public transit. That money is now coming from the state’s general fund budget.
The new interchange will be the first one in Western Pennsylvania without a payment plaza because the agency switched to electronic payment only in May 2020, so there will be free-flowing traffic coming off the toll road. That should result in less congestion for motorists and less expense for the turnpike because it won’t need extra land for payment booths.
The turnpike closed all of its cash payment plazas shortly after the start of the pandemic, moving up plans to switch to all-electronic payments to reduce personal contact at the height of the COVID-19 crisis. Now, motorists must either pay with an E-ZPass transponder linked to a credit card or have a photo of their license plate taken and receive a bill in the mail.
The turnpike will replace the former collection and ticket plazas at all interchanges beginning in the eastern part of the state and moving to the west. Instead of collecting tolls at interchanges, it is installing overhead gantries at selected points across the state to record when vehicles pass and charge tolls.
One of those gantries is scheduled to be installed just east of the new interchange.
The agency also is developing plans to widen the turnpike near the new interchange from four to six lanes, three in each direction. Work is expected to start in the fall of 2028 between milepost 62 and 67.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.