Posted on 08/10/2021 7:17:24 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
With commercial traffic returning to pre-pandemic levels, the Pennsylvania Turnpike is increasing its spending on road improvements by nearly $200 million for the fiscal year that begins June 1.
The turnpike commission Tuesday approved the capital spending increase to $660 million for the new year along with passing an operating budget of $417.3 million, about 2% lower than the current spending plan. Last year, the agency cut its capital spending from $606 million to $468 million as a result of losing more than $250 million in tolls due to reduced travel during the pandemic.
Turnpike CEO Mark Compton said in an interview after the meeting that the agency’s finances have stabilized, allowing the commission to resume a normal level of capital spending to “protect our asset.” Commercial truck traffic has returned to the level it was before the pandemic began in March 2020 while passenger vehicles remain about 20% below.
“Our commercial traffic is all the way back,” Mr. Compton said. “We’ve got to get back to reinvesting in our system. This will put us back on track.”
With the new budget, the agency will resume its project to widen the turnpike to at least three lanes in each direction and upgrade all 550 miles of the toll road across the state. Some of the roadway is original construction from the 1940s.
So far, 152 miles have been reconstructed, 16 are under construction and 88 miles are under design.
Additionally, it will move forward with plans to remove all toll plazas at exits across the state and replace them with open road tolling as part of the switch to all electronic tolls. Instead of exit and entrance plazas that slow traffic, tolls will be recorded using prepaid E-ZPass transponders read from overhead gantries between exits on the highway’s main line.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
Just in time to be shut down again.
PING!
Why didn’t they fix it while the traffic was light?
Here in Texas they’ve been working on an overpass for three years. A highway over a suburban four lane.
It took my recent ancestors 1 year to build the Empire State Building
That is a problem.
Income. With reduced travel the PA Turnpike Commission had a reduction in income from tolls.
Also the PA Turnpike Commission has to give a certain amount of money each year back to the Commonwealth for mass transit spending.
Read the article. The decline in traffic volumes meant they didn't have the toll revenue to do the projects under their original schedule.
‘ Income. With reduced travel the PA Turnpike Commission had a reduction in income from tolls.
Also the PA Turnpike Commission has to give a certain amount of money each year back to the Commonwealth for mass transit spending.‘
Hmm. Well they did not save for a rainy day
I think they’re idiotic and they give examples of idiotic management to the people who hire them to run things
They wouldn’t need revenue if they managed as they are hired to do
So many excuses for the government
No sale
Why don't you fill us in on your experience in this area?
My experience running a business and a home tells me that this federal government being 30 trillion in debt likely reflects on state governments.
You take 3 years to still have a blocked intersection for repairs and there’s no end in sight but the same people 80 years ago can put up the Empire State Building and 40 years before, the still operating Brooklyn bridge, The subway system, 70 years ago the entire interstate highway system and, people can buy these excuses all day long, but the debt was 8 trillion in 2008 when obama took over
People can hide behind him all they want but there is some serious mismanagement of funds going on
That’s what I know. I don’t have to be a finance pro like my f
Grandfather, my four uncles, three aunts, my five or so cousins, my sister, brother to see BS when I see it
The Federal government spent something like $7 trillion in 2020 alone. By my estimate, only about 2.5% was appropriated for the U.S. Department of Transportation. To put it in simple terms: We are a declining nation because we are more interested in funding Social Security and Medicare than in building productive assets.
In terms of the time and cost of building things today compared to the 1930s, I'd suggest that the Empire State Building probably couldn't be built today under current regulatory standards. I worked on major infrastructure projects in New York City in the past. The Empire State Building project would collapse into bankruptcy today under the weight of lawsuits under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), the New York City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) process, and the NYC Landmarks Preservation Law.
“ The Federal government is $30 trillion in debt because voters want more sh!t than they are willing to pay for themselves”
The voters don’t see that money.
They can’t, not completely. The PA Turnpike was supposed to pay its operating and maintenance costs from tolls, however, as I stated, they keep getting raided by the Commonwealth for funds for non-Turnpike spending. That reduces what they can save and forces tolls to be higher than they should.
They also have a major project coming up to refurbish, replace, or bypass Allegany Tunnel.
“ they keep getting raided by the Commonwealth for funds for non-Turnpike spending”
Yes. Mismanagement of public funds
You make my point
Apparently, either 2021 or 2022 is the last year they pay $450 million/year to PennDOT (Act 44). Then it goes down to $50 milllion/year (Act 89).
“The Empire State Building project would collapse into bankruptcy today under the weight of lawsuits under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), the New York City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) process, and the NYC Landmarks Preservation Law.”
A case in point about the EPA and Karens.
Just before I retired I worked on a construction crew that performed demolition of an above ground concrete pool deck at a country club. There was a creek running through the CC that had been a decade in cleaning up and opening hiking trails.
The bank of the creek was eroding badly at one section. The CC asked if we could use the concrete from the pool deck to fill in the gully being created by the erosion. Our company called the EPA and informed them of the plans. Unbelievably the EPA approved the plan.
We hauled every bit of concrete to the gully and just about filled it up. Everything had worked fine.
A week after the job had finished a big article came out in the local paper about ABC construction company intentionally polluting Click Bait creek to line their own pockets.
It seems a Karen type living across the creek took exception to our erosion mitigation efforts and called the newspaper. The paper interviewed her and quoted how she couldn’t bear to step onto her back deck because of the “damage” we had done to the creek. She also couldn’t sleep at night thinking about how the poor creek was being polluted again.
We ended up having to go back with a crane and three dump trucks to remove the concrete from the creek bank. Fortunately the CC agreed to pay half the tipping costs at the landfill we took it to. The company ended up losing money on the job.
Two years later the CC had to hire an environmental company to come in and fill the gully with fill dirt and washed gravel. It cost a ton but was better than letting the golf course run down the creek.
And then there is OSHA. OSHA is the fly in the ointment no one talks about.
On that same pool job the poor guys cutting and removing the concrete deck had it tough. In addition to their hard hats safety glasses and steel toed boots they had to tie off to lanyards THEN had to wear FLOTATION DEVICES because there was still water in the COVERED pool.
When they were removing the cut sections of concrete by crane one worker would duck under the next section of concrete to secure the slabs to the crane. He had to get below the level of the pool top, remove the flotation device, unclip from the lanyard just to fit between the concrete and the platforms under the concrete. Having secured the slab to the crane he would wriggle off the platform, reclip to the lanyard and put the flotation device back on.
This was done for every one of the 80+ slabs removed. It slowed things down a lot.
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