FILE PHOTO: Cars approach a toll plaza along the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Associated Press
Turnpike makes final payment to PennDOT, shifts focus to prioritizing projects
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Merideth Bucher/WITF
Associated Press
FILE PHOTO: Cars approach a toll plaza along the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
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When Act 44 was enacted in 2007, it may have saved the Pennsylvania Turnpike from being sold or leased to a private entity but it also required the Turnpike pay the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation billions of dollars to maintain mass transit, roads and bridges.
Tolls have risen every year since, to the point just a few months ago when the Turnpike was called the most expensive toll road in the country for drivers transiting end to end.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission announced last month that it has made its final $450 million payment to PennDOT. All told, the Turnpike paid $7.9 billion to PennDOT over 14 years.
Brad Heigel is the Chief Engineer with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and he joins Smart Talk Tuesday to discuss what the final payment means going forward with future construction projects.
