maintenance

It's unspectacular work everyone tends to take for granted but it can make a big difference to the life of roads and bridges - fixing winter's potholes and breakup of pavement, and repairing floods' scouring around the top of bridge piles.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission recently dismissed Joe Soriano, a senior maintenance director who worked out of the District 4 Turnpike maintenance shed facility in Plymouth PA. No official reason has been given but he is said by people familiar with the case to have had a personal 'racing car' in the shop and is accused of having used Turnpike time and employees to work on it.

He is also accused of having threatened staff with dismissal if they used the 'tip line' to the Turnpike's Inspector-General's Office.

Apparently someone disregarded that order.