Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Releases 2022 Sustainability Report
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Releases 2022 Sustainability Report
The report highlights initiatives the Commission is doing toward a sustainable future.
HARRISBURG, PA. — The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) announces the release of its 2022 Sustainability Report. The annual report features the Commission’s 30-year timeline outlining initiatives for the future as well the progress in making the PA Turnpike ‘America’s First Sustainable Superhighway.’
As part of its continued alignment with the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the 2022 Sustainability Report also details PTC efforts to safeguard the environment and reduce its carbon footprint along the 550-mile roadway.
“Protecting the environment through sustainability has been a guiding principle,” says PA Turnpike CEO Mark Compton. “In fact, ‘Responsibility Matters’ is one of five core values in our strategic plan, underscoring an ongoing commitment to diversity, integrity, and sustainability in all practices. Heeding the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals helps us create programs and initiatives to deliver on our promise of a regenerative future.”
In this year’s report, PTC states its plan to become America’s First Sustainable Superhighway by 2040. These leading initiatives include converting fully to Open Road Tolling (ORT) by 2026 and integrating solar, fiber, inductive charging, connected-vehicle technology, buried electronic transmission lines, and more by 2040—all to increase mobility and traffic flow while reducing the Commission’s carbon footprint.
Selected Highlights from PTC’s 2022 Sustainability Report:
- Fiber Optic Network: When complete, the 500-mile fiber-optic network will reduce carbon footprint and extend broadband to help close the digital divide in underserved areas along the Turnpike.
- Pollinator Garden: A pollinator habitat has been cultivated at the Turnpike central office to replace grassy areas with native plants that attract and provide a habitat for insects like bees and butterflies. The outcome is reduced mowing and insecticide use along with lower maintenance costs.
- Roadside Vegetation: An Integrated Roadside Vegetation Management pilot program offers an environmentally safe maintenance approach to restore native and natural habitats, filter pollution, reduce erosion, and improve ecosystem diversity along the roadside.
- Wireless EV Charging: Currently in development is a project to charge Electric Vehicles (EVs) as they drive. A method of wireless power transfer called “inductive charging” employs coils embedded in the pavement to create a magnetic field that is ‘picked up’ by a receiver on EVs.
The report includes the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s ongoing commitment to its employees and the communities they call home. Throughout 2022, PTC and its employees raised more than $28,000 for charities through their State Employee Combined Appeal Campaign, volunteered at several Food Banks across the state, collected supplies and donations to support Ukraine troops, and hosted local female high school students for a STEAM Day.
Click on 2022-ptc-sustainability-report.pdf (paturnpike.com) to learn more about the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s sustainability efforts and view the 2022 report.
Editor’s Note: Video soundbites of the report’s highlights can be found by clicking the links below.
Keith Jack, Director of Facilities Operations for the PA Turnpike Commission discusses:
James Kaiser, Stormwater Management Specialist for the PA Turnpike Commission discusses:
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Media Contacts:
Kathleen Walter, 267-326-3856
Carl DeFebo, 717-645-2265