HNTB to manage Pennsylvania Turnpike AET move

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has announced that HNTB has been selected to manage conversion of the state’s Turnpike system to all-electronic tolling (AET.) the company will act as program manager will assist the Commission in: workforce consulting, outreach and engagement; financial analysis; public and legislative outreach; traffic and revenue studies; engineering analysis and design; environmental studies; development of video-tolling collection methods and systems; toll collection business rules; and customer-service center plans and requirements. The full conversion to AET is expected to take five years.

The three sections of the turnpike system total 856km (532 miles). The main section extends from Ohio to New Jersey and is 578km (359 miles) long, with a 180km (110 miles) Northeast Extension and various access segments in Western Pennsylvania that total 100km (62 miles). Most of the turnpike operates as a ticket system toll road, with drivers receiving a paper ticket on entry and paying on exit, using the distance traveled to calculate the fare. The Turnpike also uses the E-ZPass system as an optional electronic payment method.

The Commission says that AET, “offers numerous advantages to motorists and the agency, including enhanced safety, a cleaner environment, improved customer convenience and operational efficiencies.” The Commission’s CEO, Roger Nutt, said, “Because of these and other benefits, AET has emerged as much more than a trend in the tolling industry worldwide, and a number of American tolling agencies have gone cashless in recent years. But certainly, the Pennsylvania Turnpike is the largest toll system in the USA to begin to implement such a system.”

23 July 2012