Cintra survey men arrested, later released on Penn Pike

Three employees in a Cintra team doing a photographic and notetaking survey of facilities along the Pennsylvania Turnpike were taken into custody for a couple of hours by state police Tuesday afternoon and questioned. They had their cameras, camera cards, laptops and CDs examined. Police and the Turnpike had received reports from motorists of "suspicious activity" and treated it as a case of possible terrorist surveillance.

The three were taken in for questioning midway along the Mainline west of Harrisburg, and released after they had been thoroughly checked out. All were Spanish citizens, one was a permanent resident, and other two had valid work visas. They were detained for some time by police because their work visas did not show up on the US Government's database of work visas.

Responding to the Governor's request - Cintra has over 100 surveying the Penn Pike

Jose Lopez, president of Cintra North America tells us that the Cintra team has "more than a hundred people" surveying the Pennsylvania Turnpike at present.

He says Cintra is responding to the request for expressions of interest for a longterm lease/concession issued a few weeks ago by Pennsylvania DOT on the order of the state governor Edward Rendell.

Says Lopez: "Billions of dollars would be involved. We have to do a very detailed survey. We have formed our team and we have scores of partners and sub-contractors. I don't know how many people are studying the Turnpike (as part of the Cintra bid) but it must be more than a hundred people, perhaps several hundred. We need to know exactly the state of all the pavement, the bridges, the overpasses, the maintenance buildings, signage, the drains, everything. It is a very large and complex facility. We have experts in different fields looking at all aspects up and down the Turnpike. They look, they take notes, they discuss, they take measurements, they photograph, they make lists of what they need to know more about, or test. This is part of a very serious survey so we can know what we have to fix, what doesn't need immediate attention, and so on."

Lopez says that their surveying activites should have been better coordinated with the Turnpike and he has spoken subsequently with Morgan Stanley the state's agent in the concession bid about that.

"I'm sorry we didn't coordinate things better beforehand. The police were doing their job. They were very courteous and proper. We don't have any complaint. "

One of the three detained was a world famous big bridge expert, Jose Herrero, who works for a sister construction company to Cintra, Ferrovial Agroman. Herrero is a specialist in bridge diagnostics - assessing problems and aging of complex structures.

Turnpike say they should have been informed

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette which first got the story of the Cintra men's detention also reported that on Sunday there was a security scare after people were reported photographing maintenance buildings in Bedford and Somerset counties. The Gazette reported that the photographers were believed initially to have possessed keys and to have gone through locked gates.

Cintra's Lopez says none of their guys went beyond public right of way and this report may have been a mixup with a different incident.

Turnpike people say that Cintra should have got permission because of the security sensitivity of their facilities. Turnpike CEO Joe Brimmeier is reported as saying that the major bridges and tunnels of the Turnpike are especially "security sensitive" because destruction could seriously impede an important east-west artery.

COMMENT: Cintra should have informed the Turnpike beforehand, especially since they are doing a major survey. However there is nothing illegal about photographing the Turnpike from public right of way and taking notes about what is in public view.

These are public facilities and no laws or regulations prohibit photography for news or commercial purposes. Only if you take photographs as part of a terrorist group or with other criminal intent do you commit an offense. Only if you create a hazard in parking, if you walk in the roadway, or if you enter fenced or locked private property of the Turnpike or its neighbors is there any legal issue.

At the same time the authorities are quite within their rights in questioning photographers to ensure that their photographs are for legitimate purposes.

We have done photography without permission and will continue to do it. Formally getting permission is too much of a hassle for everyone involved.

We've been questioned about who we are, asked for ID, and asked why we are taking photographs. That's necessary in these times.

TOLLROADSnews 2007-09-27