Montco Commissioners Kick Off Second Phase Of Lafayette Street Extension Project

NORRISTOWN, PA – The first phase has been completed, and now the second phase of a road project that will eventually connect Norristown to the Pennsylvania Turnpike will begin.

Despite the cold on Wednesday, the Montgomery County commissioners broke ground on the $12.9 million second phase of the project, which will extend Lafayette Street to Diamond Avenue in Plymouth Township. The second phase will also reconstruct and widen Diamond Avenue from the Pennsylvania Turnpike bridge to the Norristown border at Ross Street.

“Many of us were here together months ago when we kicked off phase one of the Lafayette Street extension project. Today we’re here to talk about ramping up phase two of the Lafayette Street extension project,” commissioners’ Chairman Josh Shapiro told a crowd of county employees and local officials involved in the project.

Shapiro told the group that they will begin to see traffic slow down as the second phase makes its way through its expected completion date of spring 2017, but he added there will not be detours on Ridge Pike in Plymouth Township.

Read more:

http://www.timesherald.com/general-news/20150408/commissioners-kick-off-second-phase-of-lafayette-street-extension-project

Pennsylvania Turnpike Considers Plans To Replace Allegheny Tunnels In Somerset County

The Pennsylvania Turnpike has revived plans to replace the Allegheny Tunnels in Somerset County, a project that has been talked about for nearly two decades.

The turnpike commission is considering six options for abandoning the 6,070-foot-long tunnels, longest on the turnpike mainline. Three would involve building new tunnels and three would carve an open highway through the mountain either to the north or south of the existing tunnels.

Preliminary cost estimates for the “cut” options range from $242 million to $345 million, while estimates for the tunnel options range from $537 million to $694 million, according to turnpike consultant L.R. Kimball. Annual maintenance costs for a tunnel would exceed $3 million, several times what an open highway segment would cost.

Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo said the cost differential was just one of several factors the commission will consider in choosing a preferred option, possibly in the spring.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2014/12/24/Pennsylvania-Turnpike-considers-plans-to-replace-tunnels-in-Somerset-County/stories/201412230034

New Stanton Turnpike Plaza 1st To Offer Compressed Natural Gas

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Westmoreland County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Motorists who drive vehicles that use compressed natural gas can fill up at the New Stanton plaza of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Turnpike commission officials Thursday kicked off the opening of three CNG fueling dispenser stations at the plaza.

The New Stanton plaza is the first of the commission’s 17 plazas to offer the fuel.

“It’s an outstanding day and supports what we’ve been trying to do the last 75 years: to push for innovation,” said Mark Compton, chief executive officer.

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/westmoreland/7146724-74/gas-natural-compressed#ixzz3J4jZ4tUo
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Speed Limit To Rise To 70 Mph On Stretch Of I-380

English: Interstate 380 northbound at the Interstate 84 split south of Scranton. Picture taken by Chris Wilson on February 18th, 2006 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

HARRISBURG — A stretch of Interstate 380 becomes an experiment next month when state transportation officials boost the maximum speed limit to 70 mph.

Another pilot will raise the speed limit to 70 mph on a 100-mile stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in southcentral Pennsylvania. If all goes well, the rest of the 550-mile toll road system, including the Northeast Extension, could follow suit next spring, said Turnpike Commission CEO Mark Compton at a press conference on Wednesday.

On I-380, a 21-mile section selected for the pilot program will extend from the Interstate 84 junction in Lackawanna County to Exit 3 (Pocono Pines/Mount Pocono) in Monroe County.

“It’s about time,” said Elwood “Butch” Perry, a 60-year-old independent trucker who lives in Dupont. “They built the interstate system so you can run, not so you can crawl. … We live in a fast-paced society now. Everything has to be there yesterday.”

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/speed-limit-to-rise-to-70-mph-on-stretch-of-i-380-1.1723951

Cross-State Cost On Pennsylvania Turnpike In 2015: $46.05

Pennsylvania Turnpike Ticket from the Warrendale (30) Toll Stop. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike will increase 5 percent in 2015, effective Jan. 4.

The decision by the Turnpike Commission Tuesday to hike tolls for the seventh year in a row means the cash toll to drive from the Ohio border to the New Jersey border will be $46.05 for passenger cars, up from the current $43.85

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/transportation/20140618_Cross-state_cost_on_Pa__Turnpike_in_2015___46_05.html#oMutHh3mv0r47KXy.99

Your Pennsylvania Tax Dollars At Work!

Apparently, this is the best canned music your tax dollars can buy while you wait to connect to an E-ZPass Customer Service Representative. This so rates speakerphone! Only in Pennsylvania.

PhillyDeals: French Building Firm Chooses Malvern For New U.S. HQ

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Chester County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John Crowe is the top North American executive for Saint-Gobain, the $55 billion- a-year French construction- materials maker that traces its roots to the group that built Versailles for King Louis XIV. Crowe has been looking for a place to build another palace – in Pennsylvania – as Saint-Gobain’s U.S. base and showroom.

To replace the company’s aging U.S. headquarters near Valley Forge, Crowe scouted sites for “an absolutely spectacular building that will incorporate all aspects of what we know as a building-materials company in terms of energy efficiency and a sustainable, open, collaborative workplace,” he tells me. Plus, a research and development center to replace the old labs in Blue Bell.

The search, extended by the recession, took Saint- Gobain six years. The company plans to announce this week that it has picked a potentially spectacular fixer-upper, an $80 million-plus expansion of the once-innovative but now-rusted and vacant complex built in 1969 by the former National Liberty Life Insurance Co. on 65 acres north of Malvern, close to the new State Route 29 ramp from the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20140413_PhillyDeals__French_building_firm_chooses_Malvern_for_new_U_S__HQ.html#2pYscMdh5kLGVKze.99

Pennsylvania Turnpike To Raise Tolls In 2015

Pennsylvania Turnpike Ticket from the Warrendale (30) Toll Stop. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pennsylvania Turnpike drivers can expect another toll increase of at least 3 percent next January, and continuing annual increases for years to come, turnpike CEO Mark Compton said Thursday.

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Airport Corridor Transportation Association, Mr. Compton said the state’s new transportation funding law has shortened, but not eliminated, the turnpike’s requirement to pay $450 million a year to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Instead of continuing to 2057, the required payments will end after 2022, he said. Toll increases are needed to underwrite the debt incurred by the turnpike in making those payments.

In the past, PennDOT has directed $200 million from each payment to non-turnpike highway projects and $250 million to mass transit. The new law directs all of the $450 million to transit.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2014/03/28/Pennsylvania-Turnpike-to-raise-tolls-in-2015/stories/201403280114#ixzz2xHOq34iN

More Than A Dozen Injured In Pennsylvania Turnpike Crashes

Tollgate at the Willow Grove interchange (exit 343) of the Pennsylvania Turnpike (Interstate 276) with Pennsylvania Route 611 in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Authorities say more than a dozen people were injured in traffic accidents involving several tractor-trailers and dozens of cars on the Pennsylvania Turnpike outside Philadelphia.

Abington Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Cindy Taing says the hospital received 16 patients, including five trauma patients. She says no one has life-threatening injuries.

The series of accidents backed up traffic for miles between the Bensalem and Willow Grove exits of the turnpike, the state’s primary east-west highway.

The crashes were reported just after 8 a.m., about five hours after a storm that dropped a foot of snow finally moved out. Speed restrictions enacted during the storm had been lifted at 6 a.m., but motorists say the roadway was very slick.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20140214/updated-more-than-a-dozen-injured-in-pa-turnpike-crashes

PECO: Montgomery County Ice Storm Second Worst For Power Outages Since Hurricane Sandy

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NORRISTOWN, PA — A PECO spokesperson said they are looking into a multiple day restoration process for 67 percent of customers without power in Montgomery County.

At 1 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, 181,902 of the 302,600 PECO customers in Montgomery County are without power—not all Montgomery County residents are PECO customers— and crews are in the area trying to turn the lights back on.

“We’re looking at the second worst storm for power outages since Hurricane Sandy,” PECO Spokesperson Cathy Engel Mendez said on Wednesday.

Mendez said the most common cause of the outages have to do with tree limbs coming down on power lines.

Read more: http://www.timesherald.com/general-news/20140205/peco-montgomery-county-ice-storm-second-worst-for-power-outages-since-hurricane-sandy

Snowstorm Leads To Closures, Traffic Accidents Throughout Berks

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Berks County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

That darn groundhog.

Within 24 hours of forecasting six more weeks of winter, large dense snowflakes began falling in Berks County early Monday, and the storm continued to drop about an inch an hour before tapering off to flurries about 2:30 p.m.

Blame Phil if you were stuck in traffic behind one of the numerous crashes that occurred through the day or lost power from outages, but remember he wasn’t the only messenger.

Forecasters at AccuWeather, near State college, predicted this storm would bring wet, heavy snow that would affect the morning commute, and did it ever. By 11 a.m., with temperatures hovering around 32 degrees, at least a half a foot of snow had fallen in Berks County.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/news/article/snowstorm-leads-to-closures-traffic-accidents-throughout-berks#.UvA5BvRDsxI

$155M Approved To Link I-95 And Pennsylvania Turnpike

Map of Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The long-awaited, $420 million direct connection between I-95 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike moved closer to reality Thursday, with the approval of a $155 million section of the work.

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, which oversees federal and state funding for transportation projects in the Philadelphia region, agreed to separate the $155 million project to allow work to start in June.

The $155 million will pay for widening and reconstructing about four miles of the turnpike in Bristol Township where the connection with I-95 will be built. It will also pay for building three new turnpike bridges and installing the piers for the “flyover” ramps for the connection.

When the first stage of the direct connection is completed in 2018, I-95 will be rerouted onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike east of the connection and then onto the New Jersey Turnpike. The current I-95 north of the connection will be redesignated as I-195.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/transportation/20140124__155M_approved_to_link_I-95_and_Pa__Turnpike.html#IaGkJCmaqMOSQbBg.99

Snow Causes Accidents, School Cancellations

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Montgomery County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

(UPDATED 10:45 a.m.) An Atlantic Clipper snowstorm traveling across the East Coast Tuesday could drop up to 9 inches of snow in some areas, causing some schools to close and others to institute early dismissal.

Boyertown, Daniel Boone, Owen J. Roberts and the Spring-Ford School District all cancelled classes and all afterschool activities.

Pottstown, Phoenixville, Upper Perkiomen, and the Pottsgrove school districts were all dismissing students early as the snowstorm was expected to worsen in the afternoon.

Collegeville, East Greenville, Spring City Borough, Lower Pottsgrove, and Upper Pottsgrove townships declared snow emergencies Tuesday morning. The snow emergency in Spring City was declared for 9 a.m. and will be in place until noon Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20140121/updated-snow-causes-accidents-school-cancellations

Pennsylvania Turnpike Rates Jump Again On Sunday

Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The new year will take its toll on Pennsylvania motorists — literally.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will raise tolls for the sixth consecutive year, with the price increases taking effect Sunday.

Drivers paying in cash will see a 12-percent rate increase, while E-ZPass users will incur a more palatable 2-percent hike as the commission tries to encourage drivers to use the more efficient electronic option to traverse the toll road.

Increased tolls have become customary after Gov. Ed Rendell signed Act 44 into law in 2007, requiring the commission to fork over $450 million annually to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/20140103/pennsylvania-turnpike-rates-jump-again-on-sunday

Snow, Then Cold Expected Thursday Night

A snowstorm chased closely by a frigid cold snap is expected to blow into Berks County on Thursday night.

Forecasters expect the storm to hit just as evening commutes start and be at its heaviest after dark. They expect 3 to 6 inches of snow to be dumped on Berks before Friday morning.

“If you do have to do any traveling (Thursday), definitely the morning is the better time,” said Kristina Pydynowski, a forecaster with AccuWeather near State College.

Even though the snow will likely stop falling by Friday morning, she said, heavy winds could blow it back onto roads that have already been plowed.

Read more: http://readingeagle.com/article/20140101/NEWS/301019943/1052#.UsQ6EvRDsxI

Multiple Traffic Accidents During Morning Commute Throughout Lancaster County

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lancaster County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The westbound turnpike has been shutdown between the Reading and Morgantown exchanges due to multiple vehicle accidents, according to Lancaster County Emergency Management director, Randy Gockley.

The detour route to avoid the area is as follows: Rt. 10 to Rt. 23 to Rt. 322 to Rt. 222.

Dozens of accidents were reported on the roadways this morning as snow was quickly laying on the roads.

Use caution and expect delays around the county.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/936223_Multiple-traffic-accidents-during-morning-commute-throughout-Lancaster-County.html#ixzz2obTpGD7l

Up To An Inch Of Snow Expected

PITTSBURGH, PA — A snow storm moving eastward across Pennsylvania could leave up to an inch on the ground in Berks, Chester and Montgomery counties. The snow is causing icy road conditions in some areas and drivers are advised to be cautious if traveling today. Numerous incidents were reported on the Pennsylvania Turnpike between Denver and Route 476 before 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20131226/up-to-an-inch-of-snow-expected

Winter Storm Causes At Least One Death; Drops 10 Inches In S. Jersey

The region’s first serious winter storm – one that took forecasters by surprise with its intensity – has caused at least one death in the region.

A motorist was struck and killed on the Pennsylvania Turnpike shortly after noon when he got out of his car after a minor crash, a spokesman for the turnpike commission said. Detours between the Downingtown and Morgantown exits of the turnpike are ongoing.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia International Airport is experiencing substantial delays as the day’s heavy snow – up to 10 inches in some parts of South Jersey – is expected to transition to sleet and then plain rain by morning.

A winter storm warning will be in effect until midnight, the National Weather Service said Sunday afternoon.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20131209_Snow_has_begun__icy_mix_to_follow.html#BkXWkQX6eWGAtwOE.99

Snow causes traffic problems throughout region

Snow and ice arrived much earlier — and in greater amounts — than anticipated on Sunday, causing traffic issues and other nuisances throughout the region.

Late in the morning, snow began falling well before the late afternoon/early evening timeslot forecasters predicted.

Charles Metzger, a spokesman with PennDOT, said that PennDOT was “not surprised,” though, and had 300 trucks out on their roads Saturday night and throughout the day Sunday.

He said the trucks sprayed a salt brine Saturday night in anticipation of the storm.

Read more: http://www.pottsmerc.com/general-news/20131208/snow-causes-traffic-problems-throughout-region

Some Pennsylvania Highways Will See 70 Mph Speed Limits Next Summer

Map of Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The billions of dollars for road projects in the new state transportation law isn’t the only factor that could speed up traffic on Pennsylvania highways.

Deep in the details of the new law is a provision raising the state’s maximum speed limit to 70 mph. Some roads could see higher speed limits by next summer, PennDOT said.

Speed limits will not automatically jump around the state. But PennDOT and Pennsylvania Turnpike officials now have the option to increase the limits on a case-by-case basis.
The agencies must study safety and traffic on the roads to determine if they can accommodate a higher limit.

“It’s probably going to take at least six months to do this,” said Rich Kirkpatrick, acting PennDOT press secretary. “Drivers will not likely see any changes before the end of June.”

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article/20131206/NEWS/312069925/1052#.UqI3c_SgnuI