pennsylvania turnpike

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is getting a bum rap on one of the counts against it in the sensational lawsuit (see http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/4553) by Ralph Bailets, the Turnpike's former financial manager - the progressive volume discounts for truckers for E-ZPass.  Bailets' view of the trucker discounts looks to be a narrow accountant's perspective on what is a more complex, mutually

US congressman Glenn `GT’ Thompson, (Republican, Howard, 5th District PA) is asking Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett to investigate claims in former financial manager Ralph Bailets’ lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC).

A former finance manager Ralph M Bailets has lodged a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg Pennsylvania accusing Turnpike Commission chiefs of serious wrongdoing. He says he was fired for his efforts to resist corrupt procurement practices and waste at the Turnpike Commission.

Pennsylvania Turnpike toll rates are set to rise 3% after midnight on Sunday Jan 3. The increase announced a year ago is in line with the Turnpike Commission's obligations to support non-toll transportation around the state under July 2007's state Act 44.

The most common cash tolls for cars go from 95c to $1 and for class 5 trucks go from $7.85 to $8.10.

William Capone, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has sent us a two page letter in response to our report (link) of comments by Marc Lemon chief counsel of the Federal Highway Administration in 2008 on the I-80 tolling application. The letter contests Lemon's theme that the Turnpike Commission ignored advice FHWA gave on what was legally required in the application to allow FHWA to give a favorable ruling.

Five Republican state representatives appeared at a press conference today in Harrisburg to announce the filing of a bill to abolish the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and transfer its assets and functions to the state department of transportation. The bill H2134 was filed by Rep Mike Vereb, 150th District covering Montgomery County on the northwest side of the Philadelphia metro area.

Seven Pennsylvania Turnpike non-union workers today won a court case against the Teamsters Union and the Turnpike Commission in Pittsburgh. US District Court judge Nora Fischer reaffirmed an earlier injunction against the Turnpike Commission ordering them not to seize money from the workers' paychecks on behalf of Teamsters Local 250, saying the union was not entitled to the money.

Marcus J Lemon chief counsel at FHWA through 2008 says he and other federal officials repeatedly told their counterparts at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission they needed more substantial and impartial consulting studies to justify a federal permit to toll I-80.

Pennsylvania Turnpike employees have received an email ordering them to retain a wide range of documents because of multiple corruption investigations. The email called a Revised Mandatory Preservation Order gives an indication of the scope of the FBI and state's attorney's probes - a legal "roadmap."

The specific projects listed for document preservation:

An obscure company whose main expertise is jails is key financial advisor to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in their application to the Feds for permission to toll I-80.

We were accused of "irresponsible journalism" Thursday morning for the report (see http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/4418) we'd run of the FBI raid at the Pennsylvania Turnpike HQ Thursday and Friday Oct 23 - 24 in pursuit of a corruption investigation.

Of course our report inconvenienced both parties. Both went into flat denial mode. It never happened. The FBI weren't there. There was no corruption investigation. We should retract the story immediately.

Pretty much the same line from the Pike and the FBI.

A number of Pennsylvania Turnpike officers have lost computer hard drives to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Two years after their first shot at getting the Feds to approve tolling I-80 at points across the state the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and PennDOT are trying again. They say they should have the formal application including supporting studies ready for the Feds by late this fall.

Some hope the Obama administration will be more sympathetic than the Bush administration.

Morning Call, the major newspaper of northeast Pennsylvania frontpages a report today that there's a major criminal investigation into corruption at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

It takes three Reuters reporters to get the story completely wrong. They say in a piece running today that "the Abertis-Citigroup team let their Turnpike privatization offer lapse after a series of polls showed it was unpopular with voters."

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has finished a total reconstruction and third laning on the westernmost 15km (10 miles) of the east-west mainline.

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission have suspended further work on a 10km (6 mile) rebuild project and a new all electronic toll (AET) interchange on the northwest fringe of the Philadelphia area because of inability to gain acceptance of normal stormwater basins. They said in a March 24 letter that local demands for expensive poured concrete stormwater storage or dispersion technologies rather than regular stormwater dams make the project unaffordable.

Don Kovac the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's (PTC) former Labor Relations Manager is suing the Turnpike Commission itself, Mitchell Rubin former chairman, George Hatalowich chief operating officer, and Melvin Shelton a manager at the Turnpike, plus Mark Rowe of the Philadelphia Teamsters Union Local 77 alleging they conspired to have him wrongly dismi

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has reached an agreement with union officials on a cost-saving measure under which five holidays will in future be treated as vacation days, saving on overtime. The agreement is with Teamster Locals 77 and 250 which represent around 1590 toll collectors, maintenance and other workers.

Shock and awe were the main reactions we picked up Friday to the news that the Pennsylvania Turnpike had departed in protest from IBTTA the toll industry's long established and generally well-regarded trade association.