As traffic grows, Pennsylvania Turnpike adds to capital spending for road, technology upgrades

Traffic on the Pennsylvania Turnpike continues to exceed expectations, allowing the agency to dedicate more money to capital improvements.

The Turnpike Commission passed its 2025-26 general budget at $459.7 million Tuesday and a capital plan that calls for $900.1 million in spending. The size of the capital budget is about $83 million more than projected last year after a consultant predicted flat traffic on the toll road over the next five years.

When that traffic report came out last year, the agency adjusted its 10-year capital plan to push back some discretionary projects such as a new interchange at Route 130 in Penn Township, Westmoreland County, into the next decade. The adjusted budget called for $817 million in capital spending for 2025-26.

Instead, traffic increased about 3% over the past year, causing a 7% increase in toll revenue, said Richard Dreher, the agency’s chief financial officer. The revenue is higher because most of the increase is in commercial traffic, which pays higher rates.

The new budget is based on that increase in traffic and revenue continuing in the new fiscal year that begins June 1, he said. He noted the revenue increase is several percentage points above the agency’s expected 4% toll increase next January.

“Happy to report folks continue to use the Pennsylvania Turnpike,” Dreher said.

Truck traffic continues to grow, exceeding pre-pandemic levels by about 15%, while car traffic remains about 5% below 2019. He attributed the commercial growth to warehouse expansion in the western part of the state and the Lehigh Valley and the fact that the state is “in a good spot” for trucks moving up and down the East Coast as well as traveling west from ports in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.

As a result, the capital budget for the new year will be $900.1 million, slightly below the record $919 million this year. In addition to more revenue, Dreher said, spending on major projects such as open road tolling gantries in Western Pennsylvania ($153 million) and an update to the agency’s technology and customer engagement system ($38 million) also increased the capital budget.

“The higher spending level is indicative of the big-ticket items hitting the budget this year,” Dreher said. Over the remaining nine years of the capital plan, spending should average about $750 million annually, he said.

Open road tolling, where the gantries either read an E-ZPass transponder or photograph the license plate of vehicles that pass under it and mail the owner a bill, is replacing toll plazas across the state. When the computer update is finished in 2027, customers will have easier self-service capabilities and more payment options.

For the general budget, spending will increase 1.94%, the 15^th year in a row the agency has held spending increases to 3% or less. Dreher said it’s also the seventh consecutive year the agency ended the year with a surplus, expected to be between 8% and 10%.

Overall, the capital budget includes 20 projects, including ongoing bridge replacements over the Beaver River in Beaver County ($294 million) and the Hawk Falls Bridge on the Northeast Extension in Carbon County ($88 million).

One factor contributing to holding down costs was not filling 17.5 full-time equivalent jobs through attrition, Dreher said. Of the $8.8 million increase, $4.2 million is an increase in the cost of state police patrols.