December 2025
Delaware River Bridge Team Unveils 2 Options for Major Replacement Project
The Delaware River Bridge has long stood as a connection between Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but with increasing traffic and its age, plans are in the works to replace it. The PA Turnpike unveiled two options to the public recently.
'Super Plow' Makes Waves in Somerset
Somerset is among the snowiest parts of the PA Turnpike, and crews there are trying out a new piece of equipment to plow the highway faster. Wouldn’t it be great for crews to plow two lanes at once during the heaviest of storms? Somerset Equipment Operators will do just that this winter as they try out the PA Turnpike’s new, 27-foot-long Wide Wing Plow.
IT Department Named Innovator of the Year
The PA Turnpike's IT Department is involved in just about every major project at the Commission, and now, they have been recognized with an international award for their expertise and innovations.
Delaware River Bridge Eyed for Replacement: Options Presented to Public
The Delaware River Bridge carries a bit of nostalgia for John Boyer. He helped coordinate the emergency repairs when a fracture forced a closure on the main connector between Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Today, Boyer is returning to the Delaware River Bridge, leading the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s massive efforts to replace the 70-year-old bridge has seen a 60% increase in traffic since that 2017 closure.
Benefits of the Delaware River Bridge Project:
- The Delaware River Bridge Project will improve the 70-year-old bridge to increase capacity from four lanes to six.
- The project will enhance safe travel and ease congestion.
- The Delaware River Project is critical to the region’s economic vitality as it improves travel for tens of thousands of commuters, travelers and commercial customers a day.
- This project is a vital part of the PA Turnpike/Interstate-95 (I-95) Interchange Project, which directly connected both roadways and made I-95 continuous throughout the Mid-Atlantic.
The first option – called the North Staged Alternate -- involves constructing a new bridge in stages approximately 40 feet north of the existing bridge over the course of eight years. The initial phase will start with constructing the first half of the new bridge. Once that side of the new bridge is built, traffic will switch to the first half of the new bridge while the existing bridge is removed. Then, the second half of the new bridge will be built.
The second option – the North Partial Impact -- will only take about four years and will allow the new bridges to be built in their entirety in one stage. First, both PA-bound and NJ-bound portions of the new bridge will be built about 15 feet apart from each other approximately 75 feet north of the existing bridge. Then, all traffic will be moved to the new bridge, and the current bridge will be removed.
Both options increase the heavily used bridge from four lanes to six lanes. They’re illustrated in this graphic.
It’s a project engineers are eager to take on.
“I’m excited. It’s a big project, but we’re taking it day-by-day and focusing on the next thing,” Boyer said.
It’s a need project because traffic is on the rise on the aging bridge. The 2018 completion of a direct connection between Interstate 95 and the PA Turnpike Mainline played a significant role, but it’s also an economically growing region with ever-increasing traffic demands. Right now, the Delaware River Bridge sees about 68,000 vehicles per day. By 2050, that number is expected to grow to 90,000. It’s a major tractor-trailer corridor, too, with truck traffic expected to increase by about 77% in that same timeframe.
PA Turnpike Tests Super-Wide Snow Plow That Can Clear Two Lanes at Once
Two inches of snow in early November might be a weather anomaly in most areas of the PA Turnpike, but in Somerset County, they call that Tuesday.
“It’s the snow capital of Pennsylvania,” Maintenance Fleet Supervisor Von McGee said, adding that’s what makes Somerset the perfect testing ground for some new gear to keep the highway safe in the wintertime for PA Turnpike customers.
It’s the Tenco Wide Wing System.
The PA Turnpike is testing the Tenco Wide Wing System in Somerset this winter. Its 27-foot plowing surface can clear more than two lanes in one pass.
This massive, 550 horsepower tri-drive truck with three rear axles can traverse just about any conditions, but the star of the show is the plow – two of them, actually. One plow is affixed to the front, and flanking the truck is a super-long, 21-foot wing plow that crews in the cab can lower and extend on the passenger side. Combined, the front and wing plows can clear a width of 27 feet in one pass. That’s more than two lanes on the PA Turnpike. /p>
The truck won’t be unfamiliar to the PA Turnpike’s Equipment Operators. It drives just like any current truck in the fleet and uses a joystick-like hydraulic system to raise, lower, and adjust the angle of the plows.
It’s just much larger. And District 2 Superintendent Erik Hickle was impressed when he saw it.
“I want one for each location,” Hickle said with a laugh. “I think it’s going to be an excellent piece of equipment for us.”
The plan is to use the new Wide Wing System in plow trains during heavy storms with another truck following behind, clearing all lanes in one pass. But even on its own, it can remove snow from more of the highway much faster than the current trucks.
>It’s something to see at first glance, and Equipment Operator Patrick Courtney shared his first impression.
Equipment Operator Patrick Courtney, District 2 Superintendent Erik Hickle, and Maintenance Fleet Supervisor Von McGee are eager to test the Wide Wing plow this winter.
“It’s big,” he said.
But with some recent training, he said he’s ready to give it a shot this winter.
“You’ll be able to keep more road open with one person instead of two or three other people,” Courtney added.
The new plow truck is also equipped with two cameras, connected to monitors in the cab, giving crews a view for backing up and along the extra-long plow wing.
With this winter’s testing period in Somerset, McGee and the Maintenance Department will get an idea of how well it works and if they want to add more trucks like this to the fleet to deploy in future winter seasons.
The cab of the Tenco Wide Wing System is similar to what Equipment Operators drive now, but this truck is equipped with cameras and monitors to give drivers a better view of the plow.
Turnpike Nets Another Perfect Score in Statewide Sustainability Report Card
You might think Vince Spagna’s favorite color is green because he’s a diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan.
“I grew up two blocks from the stadium, so I didn’t have much of a choice,” he laughed.
But he loves all things green for another reason. Spagna, the Eastern Regional Facilities Manager, and his team have led the Pennsylvania Turnpike to its fourth consecutive perfect score in the annual PA GreenGov Council’s Agency Certification Checklist.
Eastern Regional Facilities Manager Vince Spagna led the PA Turnpike’s efforts in achieving another perfect score in the PA GreenGov Council’s Agency Certificaiton Checklist.
The PA GreenGov Council launched in 2019 and is headed up by the Governor’s Office, as well as several agencies like the Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. It’s part of an executive order promoting best practices and continuous improvements in achieving energy efficiency, conserving commonwealth resources, and fostering a statewide culture of sustainability.
The PA Turnpike remains the only state agency to net a perfect score, and GreenGov Council officials have said America’s First Superhighway is a model for other organizations to do the same.
The GreenGov Checklist is extensive, with about 100 different sustainability standards for agencies to meet, ranging from reducing energy consumption over the previous year to upgrading to LED lighting fixtures. And that is right up Spagna’s alley.
“I really enjoy doing energy audits,” Spagna said. “I like to know where our buildings stand, how much our utilities cost, and how operationally efficient they are.”
But to keep state agencies on their toes and to continue to evolve, the GreenGov Checklist expands each year with additional sustainability standards to meet. This year, to meet those standards, the PA Turnpike is offering its employees new, free training opportunities from the GreenGov Council and the Pennsylvania Climate Network. If you are interested in those courses, you can find them here:
These courses cover the fundamentals of climate science, the impact of climate change on Pennsylvania, and related topics, which are near and dear to Spagna and his team.
“Everyone has to pitch in, or we will be going in the wrong direction,” Spagna said.
Making those changes and checking those boxes is not only good for the planet, but in the long run, it saves money, too. There may be an upfront cost to the installation of microgrids and solar arrays to harness the power of the sun or even slow-flow faucets, but it eventually pays for itself in energy savings and, in the case of solar power, can become a new source of income by selling excess power back to the electric company.
It's becoming increasingly challenging each year, but Spagna and the facilities team work to keep energy costs down while deploying new sustainability initiatives and partnerships to ensure the PA Turnpike is as energy efficient as possible.
“There’s a lot of pressure to keep it at that level when someone aced it before you,” he said. “It’s no easy task, but it feels good when you can do it.”
IT Department Named Innovator of the Year
The team that ensures America’s First Superhighway is also first in the latest and greatest technology won a prestigious award recognizing their industry-leading efforts in innovation.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike’s IT Department has won the Info-Tech Innovator of the Year Award in the category of North American small and medium organizations.
“This is a nice recognition that reflects both our department and the whole organization.” said PA Turnpike Chief Technology and Growth Officer Bob Taylor. “I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished both in IT and across the entire organization to see how we are leaning into that forward-thinking mindset and leveraging technology not only from a business standpoint but also to improve customer service and safety.”
Info-Tech Research Group is a global leader in IT research and advisory, and this award, announced last week, recognizes the PA Turnpike’s outstanding achievements in IT from a competitive pool of hundreds of candidates.
The PA Turnpike's IT Department has been named the Info-Tech Innovator of the Year.
IT was specifically recognized for its growth and evolution over the last decade, embedding technology into all operations and vastly expanding the department’s responsibilities as they have become valued partners in just about every major project.
“We’ve had all of these accomplishments, but we don’t want to stop there,” said Assistant CTO – Technology and Innovation Management Kathryn Hartzell. “We want to look for how we can do things differently and how we can embrace new technologies and new ways to solving problems in a responsible manner that supports how we want to grow.”
Key technology and innovation initiatives include Open Road Tolling, the Fiber Optic Broadband Network, developing a state-of-the-art back-office system, finding ways to share these technologies with other organizations for new sources of revenue, and much more. Find more details in the press release here.
For Steve Husic, Assistant CTO – Customer and Business Solutions, none of this could happen without a great team.
“It’s great to work at a place where we do collaborate and where we do work together,” Husic said. “We want to be the best of the best, and we work together and strive to do that.”
And Assistant CTO – Security and Infrastructure April Rothermel said the award is about more than recognition.
“It’s more of an affirmation of what we’ve known over the last several years that we are not just another government agency,” Rothermel said. “We function like some of the top technology companies in the world.”
Find a full list of winners here.