Pollinator Initiative

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) is dedicated to doing more to protect pollinators. It has implemented pilot projects to work toward implementing pollinator habitat along their roadside.

Why does the PA Turnpike have a Pollinator Habitat Initiative?

Pennsylvania is one of the top-five states in the nation in terms of public road miles (over 121,000 miles) in addition to the more than 100,000 acres of roadside land managed statewide. By developing pollinator plantings along roadsides, this initiative will provide habitat, food, egg laying, and travel corridors to larger habitats. By placing emphasis on a pollinator initiative, the PA Turnpike can showcase the importance of vegetation within Turnpike property to further enhance important species which may also use it as a transportation network.

Field of yellow wildflowers by the PA Turnpike

Benefits

The key goals of the PA Turnpike Pollinator Initiative can be best summarized in three segments:

  • Ecological benefits – pollinators, agriculture, food production
  • Human benefits – opportunity for public education/awareness, aesthetically pleasing
  • Lower maintenance – reduced costs due to reduced mowing, less maintenance

Pollinator plantings also help farmers significantly. For example, in Dauphin County, 25% of PA Turnpike property is adjacent to farmland. Having pollinator habitat adjacent to this farmland can increase agriculture production and save farmers money in pesticide costs.

Transportation Agency Outreach

Proper outreach and due diligence are critical steps in the planning stages of this Initiative. To address this, the PA Turnpike was initially in contact with several transportation agencies and groups exploring pollinator projects.

Through this outreach, we learned that the most efficient way to improve habitat for pollinators will be to provide more native food sources such as wildflowers and flowering trees/shrubs, as pollinators are more likely to find plants that provide larger drifts of color.

PA Turnpike location with field of wildflowers in front of building

PennDOT currently has a Pollinator Habitat Plan with the goal of developing a pollinator corridor and is interested in coordinating with the PA Turnpike to share results of pilot sites, lessons learned, methods, and overcoming obstacles, since the Turnpike may intersect many of those areas along the corridor. Additionally, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has developed guidance and provided PennDOT, adjacent State DOTs, tolling authorities, and other non-profits with guidelines to re-establish pollinator habitat.

Pollinator Habitat Pilot Project Plots

Early stages of the PA Turnpike Pollinator Initiative feature small-scale tests to gather research, monitor success, and better direct the future of the project – also known as “pilot projects.” These pilot projects are located within existing PA Turnpike property to test a variety of different seed mixes, application rates, management techniques and site conditions (soil conditions, shading, wetness, grading changes, etc.).

The pilot projects include four phases:

Site Assessment and Preparation – Removing existing vegetation

Phase 1: Site Assessment and Preparation – removing existing vegetation using herbicide and preparing soil for planting.

Tractor adding pollinator seeds to the field

Phase 2: Planting – pollinator plantings of developed habitat seed mixes that include native species with a variety of bloom throughout the growing season.

Wildflower field

Phase 3: Monitoring and Maintenance – tracking growth, pollinators, and controlling invasive species for two to three years to establish pollinator habitats, reducing frequency over time.

Mowing the pollinator fields for the winter

Phase 4: Fall Conservation Mowing – mowing the plots in cold temperatures each year, as many pollinators-friendly plants have hollow stems for overwintering. Mowing creates ground-level habitat, prevents shrub or tree dominance, and enhances seed-soil contact for the next year’s planting.

Seed Selection

Seeding selection for the pilot plots consider habitat type, flowering plants that are less attractive to deer and humans, and mainly choosing plants native to the area that are competitive with invasive species.

Where are the Pollinator Plots?

Through a robust, multi-departmental evaluation process, the PA Turnpike identified over 40 locations for potential pilot plots along existing PA Turnpike property. Most sites identified were PA Turnpike-owned buildings, Turnpike interchanges and service plazas.

Through additional analysis, the first six pilot sites were selected and include locations from all regions across eastern, central, and western Pennsylvania:

map of locations
  • PA Turnpike Administration Building, Middletown (central), seeded 2022
  • Hickory Run Service Plaza (northeast), seeded 2022
  • Harrisburg West Interchange (central), seeded 2023
  • Irwin Interchange (west), seeded 2023
  • Bensalem Interchange (east), seeded 2023
  • Allentown Service Plaza, (northeast), seeded 2024

A major benefit of conducting pilot projects is that, while the pilots are in progress, the PA Turnpike can begin developing Systemwide Pollinator Guidance and Specifications, which would then be shaped by the final pilot results.

PA Turnpike Systemwide Pollinator Guidance and Specifications key areas of focus include:

  • Cost effectiveness
  • Identifying highest rate of success based on lessons learned
  • Examining how the PA Turnpike can benefit the environment beyond standard practices

While these pilot projects will generate a tremendous amount of data to guide the development of project specifications, it is important to keep in mind that this process takes time; it typically can take between two to three growing seasons for sites to become established.

More Pollinator Resources

Pollinator Overview

Plant pollination by insects is essential to human health, global food webs, and protection of biodiversity.

Learn More

How Can I Help?

Property owners can help the pollinators too.

Learn More

Frequently Asked Questions

Exploring Pollinator Habitats: Queries and Responses.

Learn More