Pa Turnpike
Most of the system's access points are simple "trumpet" interchanges, with a toll barrier located between the interchange and the local connector road. Between 1940 and 1997, the road had three "mainline" barrier plazas, one at Gateway (at the Pennsylvania/Ohio state line), connecting to the Ohio Turnpike, one at the Delaware River Bridge near Bristol Township, where the turnpike crosses the Delaware River and connects with the New Jersey Turnpike, and one on the Northeastern Extension at Clarks Summit, where it connects with Interstate 81 near Scranton.
In 1992, the new Mid-County interchange opened, connecting Interstate 476 with the main trunk of the Turnpike.
A similar approach was used between the Wyoming Valley interchange and Clarks Summit on the Northeastern Extension, allowing for the construction of the Keyser Avenue interchange, along with a new coin-drop booth north of the exit. This will also be implemented when the Turnpike/Interstate 95 exit is completed in Bristol Township allowing I-95 to access the Turnpike with a high-speed interchange.
E-ZPass is accepted in designated lanes at all toll plazas.
The Virginia Drive exit near Fort Washington is accessible only to E-ZPass customers. In addition, the proposed Great Valley interchange near Malvern and the Philadelphia Park interchange near Bensalem are expected to be E-ZPass-only.
Emergency assistance
The turnpike is equipped with a call box at each mile for its entire length.
First responder services are available to all turnpike customers via the State Farm Safety Patrol program.
History
Pennsylvania Turnpike as it appeared in July 1942
When the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened in 1940, it was the first long-distance rural highway in the United States and was popularly known as the "tunnel highway" because of the seven mountain tunnels along its route.
First section
The turnpike was partially constructed on an unused railroad grade constructed for the aborted South Pennsylvania Railroad project, and six of its seven original tunnels (all tunnels with the exception of the Allegheny Mountain tunnel) were first bored for that railroad. The construction began in the 1880s but was never completed, even though a combined total of 4.5 miles of tunnel had been dug through seven mountains.
The road would bypass the steep grades on Pennsylvania's existing major east-west highways – US 22 (William Penn Highway) and US 30 (Lincoln Highway) – and offer a high-speed four lane route free of cross traffic. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission was created by law on May 21, 1937, and construction began October 27, 1938 with the removal of water from the unfinished tunnels.
A toll-free east-west competitor – Interstate 80 – opened on August 29, 1970 across northern Pennsylvania, forming a route that was more direct for New York-Chicago traffic. Under this lease agreement, this will allow the Turnpike Commission to convert Interstate 80 to a toll highway.
2004 Teamsters strike
On November 24, 2004, two thousand Teamsters Union employees of the Pennsylvania Turnpike went on strike, after contract negotiations failed.
This was the day before Thanksgiving, usually one of the busiest traffic days in the United States. E-ZPass customers were charged the lesser of the actual toll or the same flat rates. This represented a substantial discount for many travelers, who would normally have to pay $19.75 to travel along the full length of the main east-west route in a passenger car, and between $29 and $794, depending on vehicle weight class, to cross the state in a commercial vehicle. The strike only lasted seven days, with an agreement reached on November 30.
Normal toll collection resumed December 1.
The "Tunnel Highway"
The west portal of the Blue Mountain Tunnel's eastbound tube.
After it opened as the nation's first superhighway, the Pennsylvania Turnpike was popularly known as the "Tunnel Highway". By the 1960s, this situation was creating long delays at each tunnel bottleneck.
After the second tunnels were completed at each location, the original tunnels were temporarily closed for rehabilitations that included upgrades in forced air ventliation and lighting systems.
The Sideling Hill, Rays Hill, and Laurel Hill tunnels were closed and bypassed. The adjacent Sideling Hill and Rays Hill tunnels were replaced with one stretch of highway that climbed over those mountains, while the Laurel Hill Tunnel was bypassed with a long rock cut through the mountain.
The tunnel was originally to be named for Turnpike Commission chairman Thomas J. Evans, but this was changed due to his July 25, 1967 conviction for conspiracy to defraud the Turnpike Commission of $19 million.
The Lehigh Tunnel was originally a two-lane tunnel, in the manner of the highway's original seven tunnels, until it was "twinned" in the early 1990s.
Because of the new construction, the new tube, which is round, contrasts sharply with the original rectangular tube, which was carved by the older dyamite blasting method.
Allegheny Tunnel modernization
West portal, Allegheny Mountain Tunnel
The Allegheny Mountain Tunnel, currently the longest tunnel complex on the entire Turnpike system (only the bypassed Sideling Hill Tunnel was longer), and the only one of the original seven tunnels not to have been originally bored for the aborted Southeast Pennsylvania Railroad project, is currently the most problematic tunnel for the turnpike. Route 15 Gettysburg Bypass
Northeastern Extension (Clarks Summit to New York State Line)—now Interstate 81.
This would also connect with the New York State Thruway in Rochester.
Philadelphia Loop Connection—now Interstate 95 between Interstate 76 at the Walt Whitman Bridge and Interstate 276
Sharon Lateral Connection—now Interstate 80
Although the extensions were dropped, the commission also looked into a major expansion project in the early 1970s in which the east-west mainline would be expanded into a "dual-dual" eight-lane highway similar to that of the New Jersey Turnpike between Monroe Township (near Jamesburg) and Newark. The six-lane configuration was planned or in the process of being constructed between the proposed Great Valley Slip Ramp and Norristown, between Philadelphia and the New Jersey Turnpike, and on the Northeast Extension between Mid-County and Lansdale.
Current events
Today, the Turnpike is controlled by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, handles over 172 million vehicles per year, and employs nearly 2,200 people.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is currently reconfiguring and expanding the Turnpike to meet modern traffic needs.
The completion of the entire I-95/Turnpike exit (along with the building of the paralleling Turnpike Connector Bridge) will bring the entire Delaware River Extension to six lanes. A similar six-lane expansion has also been planned for the Northeast Extension, between its junction in Norristown to Lansdale, and on the mainline turnpike between Valley Forge and the Downingtown interchange, the westernmost of the Turnpike's Philadelphia suburban interchanges.
The Virginia Drive "slip ramp" off the westbound Pennsylvania Turnpike in Fort Washington, which is for E-ZPass tagholders only.
Other projects include building unmanned "slip ramps" between existing interchanges.
To continue on Interstate 95 northbound, one must travel south on Interstate 295 then east on Interstate 195 (or use a non-freeway section of U.S. On that day, mile-based exit numbers were added, and the old numbers were moved onto smaller "old exit" tabs.