America's first superhighway now has its own exit on the information superhighway. The Pennsylvania Turnpike's new Home Page contains such useful travel information as construction schedules and toll-free telephone numbers for roadway and weather conditions.

The web site also includes vital safety information such as State Police and emergency road service numbers along with instructions on how to use emergency call boxes. Internet surfers can also read a history of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.          "The Pennsylvania Turnpike has historically embraced new technologies and adapted them to the cause of improved customer service, safety and convenience," said Commission Chairman James F. Malone, III. "We look at the establishment of a web site as one more way we can communicate effectively with the motoring public."

         In the coming months, Turnpike web-spinners plan to add additional information including: details on various Turnpike services, sites and benefits; more contact points and phone numbers and links to various other Pennsylvania web sites. There are also plans to make the Home Page interactive, providing a mechanism for E-mail, surveys and questionnaires.
         The web site went on-line last April and has already undergone many changes. "We've been working to improve the graphics and add information," said Todd Jewell of the Turnpike's Information Services Department. "There are now more graphics and they come up faster than they did when the web site was first established."
         Jewell said one of his top priorities has been making people aware of the Turnpike's new web site. "Your page is only as good as your 'search engines' which are catalogs of internet sites," Jewell explained. "Your site is not automatically cataloged. We're now in all the major 'engines' so that anybody surfing the web can find the Turnpike's site."
         More and more PC users are tapping into the internet. According to a recent survey conduced by IntelliQuest, a technology research company, some 35 million Americans over the age of 16 used on-line services during the first three months of 1996.
         "With so many people using the internet we felt establishment of a Home Page would greatly improve our ability to communicate with our customers," Jewell concluded. "As the weeks go by we're going to be adding more and more information, so I urge 'surfers' to keep an eye on our page."
         The Pennsylvania Turnpike's new cyberspace exit, can be found at milepost HTTP://WWW.PATURNPIKE.COM.