Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission

The management (Mark Compton CEO and Craig Shuey COO) of the Pa. Turnpike trapped thousands of people (including the Dusquense Men’s Basketball and Temple’s Womens gymnastics teams) during winter storm Jonas in January 2016. Initially Mark Compton CEO blamed the weather report, but he rescinded his accusations when Joel Myers CEO of Accu-​Weather provided the facts.
Who did Sean Logan Commissioner of PA. Turnpike put in charge of the AAR, the same incompetent that caused the problem Mark Compton, akin to having Lee Harvey Oswald head the Warren Commission. After the final report was released, I wrote a press release for the Commissioner of the Pa. Turnpike. Just once I would like a public official be this honest.
My fake press release: for Sean Logan Commissioner of the Pa. Turnpike:
The PA. Turnpike Commission have just spent a million dollars with Michael Baker International on the After Action Report regarding winter storm Jonas that occurred in January. Irregardless of this report, I want to apologize to the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I want to apologize to the people trapped, refunding toll money is inadequate, compared to the personal expense of lost productivity, and the potential risk of bodily injury. I stay awake at night replaying my shortcomings., I’m glad no one died.
We have a fiduciary responsibility to keep people safe but due to a series of ill informed rash decisions – we failed. Personally, when I took this job, I never comprehended this level of incompetence, I could live with the culture of greed and corruption. I was aware of the graft, pay to play schemes, campaign contributions, «quid pro quo», commercial bribery, travel, rigged contracts, legal fees, gifts, sport tickets, limo rides, defense attorneys, Joe Brimmeier, Mitchell Rubin, Melvin Shelton, Dennis Miller, Jeff Suzenski, George Hatalowich, Raymond Zajicek, Senator No. 6, conflicts of interest bribes, skimming tolls and larceny, but who hires a legislative aid (Craig Shuey) to work with men. The system is clogged with employees like Mark Compton, but you can’t just fire these people unless they are caught in flagrante delicto.
Regarding the report: I’ll defer the spin to spokesman Carl Defebo Jr. .Let me make one point with regard to the findings and suggestions from the report: Emergency Rations… when I read that I just wanted to slam my head on the floor. because part of our plan is to fail again, and trap you on the Turnpike – but this time with food. Mark told me our food drop drone program will be ready by 2050. Craig really likes the dehydrated Astronaut Ice cream they sell at the Franklin Institute. I am so sorry.
I would like to end with some lines from my favorite Poem:
My basket of burdens
Is filled with grief
It is so heavy to carry
Although this road I must cross.
This pathway
Feels unbearable at times
And I don’t have the strength
For this mountain I climb
It’s draining my strength
I can’t do it anymore
This pain goes so deep
Right down to my core.
But how do they know
Have they been here before?
If so, where’s their basket
They’re responsible for.
Patience is needed to carry
This loss that I feel
A shoulder to lean on
So, someday I’ll heal
God sent my family
My friends and spirits unknown
So, I wont carry this Basket
For-​ever alone
Thank you for the time, God Bless you, and God Bless America.

Pretty fun road to drive on but IT COSTS ABOUT $ 15 TO GO FROM THE OHIO STATE LINE TO BREEZEWOOD!!! There is NO REASON a road should be that expensive to drive on!!! Oh and I noticed there is ALWAYS lots of construction where they are basically doing NOTHING but at least it’s not as bad as the construction on the Ohio Turnpike usually is.
Oh and the speed limit could also be higher. Nobody wants to go 65 on a rural toll road.

OK, so I’m such a travel nerd that I’ll review a highway. I normally wouldn’t be motivated to write a review of a piece of infrastructure, but this one was so bad that I had to say something. First of all, the lanes are narrow between the Philly area and Scranton — with no left shoulder and a thick concrete barrier for something like a hundred miles, your drivers side mirror is basically inches from a nasty scrape if you’re in the passing lane. It’s definitely not a place you want to be sipping coffee or even fiddling with the radio, and I was afraid to even do 5 over in that lane! The freeway is only two lanes for much of its length, the travel plazas are operated by price-​gouging HMS Host, and the speed limits aren’t any better than the «normal» interstate system. All of this wouldn’t be enough to motivate a Unilocal review if the tolls weren’t so insanely high. Compared to the NYS Thruway, you’re looking at almost 3x more mile-​for-​mile if you’re paying cash. It’s something like $ 28 for a round trip, including unmanned stations where you have to throw quarters into a basket and hope they don’t get gobbled up. I don’t particularly like the way New York has re-​branded the same I-​90 that I drive for free every couple weeks when I’m based out of Seattle into a special «thruway» — but at least they do keep it well maintained and let you get away with 75mph for most of the way. Avoid this road if at all possible!

Stop raping me with your tolls! No means no!

As a tourist visiting PA for the first time, I accidentally got on an EZ-​Pass only entrance and could not get off the PA Turnpike until the next exist at which point I was fined. The gate agent told me that I could request a refund and that refunds in cases like mine were common. I wrote a very nice letter explaining how most companies offer a one-​time pass for mistakes by first time users (such as Zipcar) and that my error was an honest mistake my a lost traveler. However, I received the rudest letter back refusing the refund request. Clearly, they have no consideration for tourists. I do not intend to visit Pennsylvania again due to my terrible experience with the PA Turnpike Commission.

this review is about the section of the pennsylvania turnpike, of which i have taken many a time, from the town of breezewood to the ohio border.
it is a road and quintessentially american as roads are quintessentially american, in and of themselves.
every time i travel down this road, i breath america in all its’ natural beauty and banal novelty. i can’t help be lulled into an awe as i pass through the mountains or fields of plush farmland or the simple beauty of small towns in the distance.
this is also the same road, that stabs the earth with giant signs advertising gluttonous, fast food burgers or insipid shopping malls.
along this road, there are numerous rest stops that offer the usual factory food and starbucks coffee, and restrooms that, more often than not, smell like an urinal cake. you often see families inside these rest stops, taking a break from their journeys and eating upon the american perfected art of mass produced food. for the more astute observer, you will see the changing face of america itself, like the indian mother, dressed in her prettiest sari, as she dotes on her pizza eating son or the latin family being lead by papi in his cowboy hat, even though it is the dead of winter or the elderly, simply protestant, couple taking a respite from a long days journey.
the road itself, always seems in need of upkeep and one would think, that since it is a toll road, and an expensive toll road, that the state of pennslyvania would be able to keep their road up to standards (not to mention the amount of revenue that state troopers pull in from their many traffic citations).
what i think about most of all, while i drive along this extortionist toll road, that meanders through pennslyvania, america and offers up burgers of golden dreams against the back drop of nature’s beauty, is this…
couldn’t we have done better?