About Us | PA Turnpike (2024)

FAQs

What are some facts about the Pennsylvania Turnpike? ›

It was touted as America's First Superhighway when it opened on October 1, 1940, and was the national standard for superhighway design and engineering. Today, the PA Turnpike stretches more than 550 miles – triple its original length.

To operate a safe, reliable, customer-valued toll road system that supports national mobility and commerce. safety focused. customer driven.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike (shortened to Penna Turnpike or PA Turnpike) is a controlled-access toll road that is operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States.

Our values drive our people, honor our legacy and further our mission of being customer-driven. We practice responsibility, teamwork, open communication, and safety always.

Toll roads, especially near the East Coast, are often called turnpikes; the term turnpike originated from pikes, which were long sticks that blocked passage until the fare was paid and the pike turned at a toll house (or toll booth in current terminology).

When the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened in 1940, it was known as the "Tunnel Highway" because it traversed seven tunnels: from east to west, Blue Mountain, Kittatinny Mountain, Tuscarora Mountain, Sideling Hill, Rays Hill, Allegheny Mountain, and Laurel Hill.

As a result of the financial burden of Act 44, the PTC has been forced to raise toll rates for 13 straight years and the agency's debt levels have risen to nearly $14 billion.

Between June 2020 and May 2021, an estimated $104.9 million went uncollected. The turnpike refers to those unpaid fares as “leakage.” The problem is four-fold, according to the audit. First, some drivers refuse to pay when they get the bills at home.

Under state law, Act 44 enacted in 2007, the Turnpike has provided PennDOT with $8 billion in funding, mainly to fund mass-transit needs in the Commonwealth's largest metro areas.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike is the most expensive toll road in the world by a considerable margin. The average two-axel vehicle driver must pay $112.91, but it can cost trucks over $200. The second most expensive toll road in the U.S. is Whiteface Mountain Memorial Highway in New York.

How many lanes is the PA Turnpike? ›

Key features of the Pennsylvania Turnpike included four-lane concrete pavement throughout, a 10-foot median, 3 percent maximum grade, minimum sight dis- tance of 600 feet, straightaways designed for 100 mph, and spiral curves superelevated to accommodate 70 mph.

The original Turnpike spanned from Middlesex in Cumberland County to Irwin in Westmoreland County and consisted of 160 miles of four-lane-all-concrete highway, seven tunnels, eleven interchanges and ten service plazas. A modern marvel, built in just 23 months.

PA Turnpike engineers and supervisors, who had just built the original Turnpike in only 23 months, went immediately to wartime work building airports and defense installations in the United States and abroad. On October 1, 1940, the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened to traffic and ushered in a new era of transportation.

The maximum speed limit on most sections of the Pennsylvania Turnpike is 70 MPH. A map of the speed limits on the PA Turnpike is located here. Please remember, while 70 MPH (or any posted speed limit) is the maximum speed; you should drive at lower speeds during adverse traffic, weather, or roadway conditions.