OUR Mission
Our mission is to operate a safe, reliable and efficient toll road system and be a funding partner in building Pennsylvania’s (PA’s) ground–transportation network for the future.
Created in 1937 by the PA General Assembly, the PA Turnpike has been dubbed America’s First Superhighway. The passage of Act 44 in 2007 caps a decade–long effort to ensure that the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) becomes America’s Next Superhighway – and a leader in our nation’s efforts to rebuild our transportation infrastructure.
The new Public–Public Partnership forged with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) mandates that we operate as entrepreneurs, providing the highest return possible to our customers and every Pennsylvanian whose livelihood relies on a safe, viable transportation network. In order to achieve our mission, we will:
- Continue to reduce costs through adoption of new technologies – including the expansion of E–ZPass implementation to reduce our full–time complement while providing safer and more convenient travel for our customers.
- Continue to reinvest in our core system of 545 miles through a 10–year, $4.6 billion rebuilding effort, creating tens of thousands of jobs while ensuring that this critical link in our transportation network remains safe and viable.
- Continue the institution of smarter procurement and project delivery practices to ensure that we provide the greatest return possible on toll revenues while pursuing Public–Private Partnerships when appropriate – as with the reconstruction of the PA Turnpike service plazas
Within weeks of Governor Ed Rendell signing Act 44 in July 2007, we began making payments to PA to provide supplemental revenue needed to close the state’s growing transportation funding gap. This supplemental revenue is generated through the collection of tolls on our current system and the sale of revenue bonds. The PTC will generate $2.5 billion in its first three years and $83 billion in 50 years for PA’s transportation network.
- Establishes an inflation–sensitive funding stream that allows the state to rebuild its crumbling roads and bridges while creating thousands of jobs in the road construction industry.
- For the first time, establishes a dedicated and reliable funding source for state’s 73 mass–transit agencies which serve over 416 million passengers annually.
- Authorizes the Commonwealth to seek federal approval to convert I–80 into a toll road, ensuring that motorists across the state and nation pay their fair share of the staggering costs to rebuild and maintain our transportation network.
- In the first year, PennDOT has improved 855 miles of state highway and preserved, rehabilitated, or replaced 389 state–owned bridges with Act 44 funds.