Today is the first workday that the new tolls are on in place on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Yesterday, the tolls increased 6% for cash, E-ZPass, and PA Turnpike TOLL BY PLATE users.
You can determine the new toll amount by visiting this webpage of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. Select the interchange you enter on the Turnpike and the interchange from which you plan to exit.
“The increase, approved by [the Pennsylvania Turnpike] Commissioners last July, is needed to meet the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s dual funding obligation to improve its toll-road system and support mass-transit improvements across the Commonwealth,” according to a statement issued by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.
“As a result,” according to the statement, “the most-common toll for a passenger vehicle will increase a dime for E-ZPass customers from $1.30 to $1.40 and 20 cents for cash customers from $2.10 to $2.30.”
“The toll increase — like others since 2009 — is required to meet the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s legislatively mandated funding obligation to support the Commonwealth’s public-transportation systems as well as to maintain and improve the 552-mile Turnpike,” the statement continued.
“Parts of our roadway are 78 years old, and we owe it to customers, who pay a premium to travel, to invest in our road and make it safer, smoother and wider,” said Mr. Mark Compton, the Chief Executive Officer of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. “This year about 84 percent of our $552 million capital budget is focused on renewing, rebuilding, and widening our highway which carried more than 200 million vehicles last year.”
According to the statement, “The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has reconstructed more than 140 miles of its system, with another 11 miles of roadway now being rebuilt and widened and more than 82 miles in planning and design phases. (The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission does not receive tax appropriations to operate and maintain its roadway.)
“Additionally, the Turnpike delivered more than $6 billion in toll-backed funding to PennDOT in the last decade,” the statement continued. “The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s annual payments of $450 million — mandated by Act 44 of 2007 — are to be reduced to $50 million a year in 2022 under Act 89 of 2013.”
The logo of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is provided courtesy of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.