Free Republic

Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers, turnpike personnel and first responders from several agencies remain on the scene hours after a multi-vehicle crash on the Ohio Turnpike left four dead and many injured Friday afternoon. As of 9:10 p.m., 15 commercial vehicles are being cleared from the roadway. The crash happened eastbound between State Route 53 and State Route 4 in Sandusky County and eventually stretched into Erie County. Forty-six vehicles were involved in the crash, according to OSHP Sgt. Ryan Purpura. At least three of the four victims were in different vehicles, and none of their identities have been released....

Pennsylvania officials reopened over a dozen rest areas on a Thursday, heeding to calls from truckers who are working tirelessly to keep the country’s supply chains open amid the ongoing spread of the deadly Chinese coronavirus.The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation reopened 13 of its 30 rest stops on a limited basis on the interstates and throughout the Pennsylvania Turnpike.“They are located on Interstate 81, north and southbound stops in Luzerne and Cumberland counties; on Interstate 79, north and southbound stops in Crawford County and the northbound stop in Allegheny County; and on Interstate 80, east and westbound stops in Venango, Centre...

MT. PLEASANT, Pa. — The eastbound lanes of the Pennsylvania Turnpike are back open after a crash involving three tractor trailers, a tour bus and a car. First responders were calling it a “mass casualty incident.” Emergency crews said five people were killed and roughly 60 people were taken to area hospitals with injuries. 25 people were taken to Excela Frick Hospital in Mount Pleasant ranging in age from 7 to 52-years-old. Nine of those patients were under the age of 18. Officials said 11 patients were taken to Forbes hospital. Two of them were in critical condition. One patient...

It sounds like an oxymoron, but the state Legislature is taking action to help reduce the risk in one of the more dangerous jobs in road maintenance: driving the safety truck. The trucks are fitted with a warning arrow and a crash barrier on the rear. They are driven slowly to provide protection behind crews cutting grass and painting lines. About once a month, one of these truck drivers is injured when a motorist strikes the vehicle. To address that situation and others, the state House passed a bill last week to allow autonomous versions of the vehicle, known as...

Dive Brief: The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has announced the completion of the state's first-ever diverging diamond interchange (DDI), located on Interstate 70, according to Equipment World. The DDI design eliminates left turns across oncoming traffic, improving vehicle flow and decreasing the chance of accidents. The agency also chose the DDI configuration because it could use the former interchange's cloverleaf footprint, reducing the impact of construction on the area. PennDOT said it modified the traditional DDI design slightly. Dive Insight: Design is one way transportation agencies are combating gridlock resulting from increased traffic. Other tools in DOT arsenals are...

RICHMOND, Va. -- When it comes to street parties, perhaps never has there been one in RVA like the day the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike opened on June 30, 1958. There were "antique cars, pretty girls, champagne" according to newspaper reports at the time. Huge crowds turned out, even though the road cost numerous citizens - many of them poorer African-Americans - their homes during the two years of heavy construction. The $103 million marvel meant no more winding down busy Route 1 (Jefferson-Davis Highway) through the guts of the city. And Richmond and Petersburg were among the very first cities to...

Why on God’s green Earth has the state legislature dawdled on the question of whether or not to extend tolling on the West Virginia Turnpike? Seriously. We have looked all around the issue for the past few years and have not found a single, solitary good reason the $2 fee shouldn’t be continued once the bonds are paid off in May 2019. Under current state law, toll collections will cease, the Parkways Authority will disband and the commissioner of Highways will assume oversight of the Turnpike the year after next if legislators fail to amend current legislation. Forget – in...

BEDFORD, Pa. Locked arm and arm with each other, complete strangers saved the life of a driver whose tractor-trailer lost control during the weekend snowstorm and was teetering over the edge of a hillside. It was a mess, dangerous. The truck was smoking, couple hundred gallons of diesel fuel, debris everywhere. People didn't seem to care, they jumped out to help," said Arlyn Satanek who witnessed the incident. Satanek has been driving trucks for years and he's never seen anything like this. On Friday night, inch-by-inch, the snow started to fall and by evening the roads were covered. One trucker...

A messy portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike has been shut down do to snowy conditions, and several groups are rushing in to help. The Turnpike is closed in both directions between the Breezewood exit and the New Stanton exit so that crews can clear the roads. Additionally, all commercial vehicles are banned between the New Stanton exit and the Delaware River Bridge, and on the Northeastern Extension between the Mid County exit and the Pocono exit. There are a number of vehicles stuck on the closed section of the Turnpike, and the National Guard has been called in to help....

A former state Senate power broker and seven others were charged Wednesday in what prosecutors termed a "pay to play" scheme involving the Pennsylvania Turnpike, its vendors and political contributions. Attorney General Kathleen Kane said public money was used to line the defendants' pockets and sway elections. "The public has lost untold millions of dollars," Kane said, adding that the "greatest improper influence" involved the turnpike's procurement process. Retired state Senate Democratic Leader Bob Mellow, currently jailed on unrelated corruption charges, was accused of having his chief of staff help supporters and contributors get business from the turnpike, and having...

Ross police reported today that new victims have emerged in the case against Russell Freed, a Brentwood man accused in federal court of extorting teen girls to send him pornographic pictures of themselves via text messages and the Internet. Mr. Freed, a Turnpike Commission project engineer, is charged in a criminal complaint with extortion of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexual conduct. The charge reflects a national surge in cases of "sextortion," in which compromising electronic pictures are used to entrap minors into supplying more and more explicit images of themselves, and sometimes into meetings. A Federal Bureau of...

State officials and local fire companies have safely removed a bear from near Exit 8 of the New Jersey Turnpike. "It looks like it was a nice operation coordinated between the [Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife] folks and the fire departments," said Sgt. Stephen Jones, adding that Cranbury and Hightstown were on the scene. "It's been tranquilized and removed by the fire departments, brought down in a ladder truck bucket and transported to a cage brought by the Fish and Game folks," he continued. From there, he said, the 250-pound bear will probably be released in a wooded area....

MYFOXNY.COM - Auditors say the New Jersey Turnpike Authority wasted $43 million on unneeded perks and bonuses. In one case, an employee with a base salary of $73,469 earned $321,985 when all payouts and bonuses were included. The audit says that toll dollars From the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway were spent on items ranging from an employee bowling league to employee bonuses for working on birthdays and holidays. It took place as tolls were being increased. The biggest expense uncovered in the audit was $30 million in unjustified bonuses to employees and management in 2008 and...

E-ZPass customers will get price break over those paying cashA toll increase on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in January likely will make it the most expensive long toll road in the nation. The turnpike commission on Wednesday approved a 3 percent increase for users of E-ZPass electronic fare collection and 10 percent for cash customers, effective Jan. 2. That will raise the cash cost of driving the turnpike to 8.5 cents per mile, highest of the 11 U.S. toll roads of 100 miles or longer. Currently, the Pennsylvania and New Jersey turnpikes are tied at 7.7 cents per mile. Shorter toll...

Like it or not, the tolling of highways will be part of how we fund our roads and bridges in the future. That said, there are two good reasons why the plan to erect tollbooths on Interstate-80 should be rejected. Tolls are appropriate because they are imposed directly upon travelers for their use of roads. However, the plan to toll I-80 represents more than a toll. It is also a tax on drivers because more than $160 million in toll dollars from the highway will be funneled to mass transit systems, primarily in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Taxing drivers in the...

Since this is originally from the AP click the link. Mainly, A plane carrying a news traffic reporter had a malfunction and landed on the New Jersey Turnpike.

New video I got via email on the PA Turnpike.

A Spanish toll-road operator won the bidding war to operate the Pennsylvania Turnpike, offering $12.8 billion for a 75-year lease, Gov. Rendell said today. The proposal by Abertis Infraestructuras, of Barcelona, must be approved by the Pennsylvania legislature, and legislative leaders in Harrisburg have said the plan faces tough sledding with lawmakers. In making the largest bid ever for the private operation of a U.S. toll road, Abertis partnered with a subsidiary of U.S. investment bank Citigroup, and Spanish investment firm Criteria CaixaCorp. Abertis operates toll roads in Spain, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Argentina and Puerto Rico. The company...

Some Texans are afraid of losing their land to the Trans-Texas Corridor while others loathe the thought of a quarter-mile-wide swath of toll roads and railway lines transforming the countryside into a superhighway. People continue to turn out in droves at public meetings concerning the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor proposal, specifically the portion known as the TTC-69 proposed from Brownsville to Texarkana. A meeting Monday, Jan. 28, at the fairgrounds in Austin County was no exception, drawing more than 1,000 people. Opposition to the proposed corridor has come from people in all walks of life, said Chris Steinbach, chief of staff...

New Jersey: Public Opposition to Toll Roads Leads to ArrestFormer elected local officials are arrested for opposing toll road plans at a public town hall meeting attended by the New Jersey governor. Middle Township, New Jersey Police arrested two motorists on Saturday for speaking out at a public town hall meeting against Governor Jon S Corzine's plans to increase the use of tolling i the Garden State. Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan had been standing calmly outside of Middle Township High School dressed in a suit and winter coat. He was surrounded by a handful of sign and pamphlet-wielding toll...