When it approved a record capital budget of $919 million in May, the Pennsylvania Turnpike touted a strong financial position that allowed it to add two major projects.
But only a few weeks later, the agency received a troubling report from a consultant that projected traffic on the toll road would remain flat for the next 20 years.
As a result, the agency has adjusted its 10-year capital budget – paid for by tolls — by pushing back discretionary projects by as much as 10 years. That includes a proposed new interchange in Penn Township, Westmoreland County, and widening the highway between Irwin and Monroeville.
And although construction of the Mon-Fayette Expressway is paid for from a different pot of money, full construction of the southern section from Jefferson Hills to Duquesne also could be delayed because traffic in general isn’t growing, the turnpike’s chief engineer, Brad Heigel, said in an interview Friday.
“It’s money. That’s what drives everything,” he said. “We always have more projects than money to pay for them. It’s a juggling act.”
Rearranging priorities
Heigel said the agency reviews its long-range construction program every year and it’s not unusual for the schedule to be adjusted because of changing conditions, sometimes adding work and other times delaying it. Unexpected high traffic volume can lead to more revenue while slow traffic growth or high inflation can hold back spending.
Before the report from CDM Smith, Heigel said, the agency expected to increase its projected 10-year capital budget from about $7.5 billion to $10 billion over the next five years. With the projection for little growth in traffic over the next two decades – when means limited growth in toll revenue – the agency adjusted the capital budget over the summer to concentrate on safety and asset-protection projects and delay discretionary work, Heigel said.
Now, the annual spending on capital projects over the next 10 years is expected to drop from $919 million this year to $817.6 million next year and range from $652 million to $793.1 million the following eight years.
Comparing the situation to what a homeowner faces, Heigel said, “You’re not going to put in a swimming pool if the roof is leaking.”
That means the agency will concentrate on projects that improve deteriorated conditions or eliminate safety problems. Projects such as the new interchange in Penn Township or widening the highway, which is a long-term goal to have three lanes in each direction from the Ohio border west, will be moved back until more money is available.
“I don’t think sliding a project back a year or two is a big deal,” Heigel said. “We still plan to do them, and if traffic picks up, they could happen sooner.”
Heigel said two major, long-term projects will not be delayed: replacing toll plazas with overhead gantries and then removing the toll gates and converting the entrance and exit ramps into free-flowing lanes as on interstate highways.
“All of the gantries are under contract,” he said. “That won’t change.”
The gantry system, known as open-road tolling, will open on the Northeast Extension and from Reading to New Jersey in the eastern part of the state in January. Under that system, motorists drive under the gantries and pay their toll either through an E-ZPass transponder linked to a credit card or by the gantry taking a license plate photo and sending the owner a bill by mail.
Heigel said he expects the commission to award contracts in the next few months for plaza conversions to begin in the east next year.
In June, the agency approved $50 million in contracts for Allison Park Contractors Inc. to build 11 overhead gantries between the Ohio border and the Fort Littleton interchange in Fulton County, just east of Bedford. Construction on the gantries should begin early next year, and they should be in operation by January 2027.
Eliminating the slow-down at the former toll plazas is expected to help traffic flow, improve safety by reducing rear-end collisions during slow traffic and cut pollution by eliminating waiting at the plazas.
Mon-Fayette delay?
The lack of traffic on local roadways also could delay construction on the Mon-Fayette Expressway. That is a project mandated by the state Legislature and paid for by the turnpike’s share of the state’s oil franchise tax, which is paid by motorists who buy gasoline and diesel fuel in Pennsylvania.
The project is broken into two sections, the southern leg from Jefferson Hills to Duquesne and the northern wing from Duquesne to the Parkway East in Monroeville.
The southern leg has been divided into several smaller contracts and the first two are underway with construction from Route 51 in Jefferson Hills to Curry Hollow Road in Mifflin. Heigel said he expects contracts to be awarded early next year to get the new toll road to McKeesport, but the piece from there to Duquesne may be delayed.
“The last part to Kennywood [amusement park]? That’s a question,” Heigel said. “It’s a question of affordability. We’re not going to build it if we don’t have the money to pay for it.
“My hope is we out-perform the projections. We just have to wait and see.”
The expressway – it has been discussed since the 1960s — is designed so that each section can stand on its own and open as it is completed. That means that delaying the next section won’t stop motorists from using what already has been finished.
Designing the northern section from Duquesne to Monroeville has been on hold for several years while the turnpike waits for revenue to rebuild in the oil franchise tax after the sharp reduction in driving during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.