Known as America’s First Superhighway, the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened to public traffic in 1940. Operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, the highway now spans more than 565 miles of roadway — triple its original length — and is used by 550,000 daily travelers.
Since the turn of the millennium, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has been working to transform the highway as part of a Total Reconstruction Initiative. The multi-billion-dollar investment will eventually modernize the entire system to provide a safer and more efficient travel experience for Pennsylvania Turnpike customers.
One project currently under construction is a four-year endeavor in southeastern Somerset County and western Bedford County to reconstruct and widen the 5-mile stretch of roadway to six lanes between Milepost 126 and 131. The project, which began in June 2022, will widen the turnpike mainline to 122 feet, flatten most curves, install a 26-foot median and 12-foot outside shoulders, and replace two mainline bridges plus the inside portions of three mainline bridges. Crews will build a new access ramp bridge, overhaul the Tunnel Road Arch structure, and upgrade the drainage systems at the west end of the project.
Contractor New Enterprise Stone & Lime (NESL) will also construct innovative noise barriers spanning westbound lanes, along with retaining walls, culvert extensions, new stormwater facilities, and a stream mitigation site.
All six lanes of this stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike are scheduled to be open to traffic in fall 2025. Additional final touches are expected to be completed by summer 2026.
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“Overall, the total reconstruction initiative by the Turnpike is to contribute to the safety and mobility of our roadways and to improve the driving experiences of our customers, eventually making the whole system six lanes. This is one small piece of the puzzle,” said Jason Philip, the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Senior Engineer Project Manager.
Unlike other state projects, Philip said that almost all Pennsylvania Turnpike projects — including this one — are funded by toll dollars, not tax dollars. The reconstruction came in as a low-bid project.
While a four-year timeline may not sound difficult to navigate, rebuilding multiple highway structures along a substantial length of road while keeping two lanes open in either direction made for an ambitious project, according to Geoffrey Shaffer, a Senior Project Manager for construction management company Stahl Sheaffer Engineering.
“The schedule was very tight, but realistic,” said Mike Sulesky, NESL’s Senior Project Manager. “We've never been more than two or three weeks ahead or behind at any one time. It's been a challenge, but it's been achievable.”
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“It was bid at $202.7 million, and it looks like it's going to come in at $198 million — about $5 million under budget, and on time,” Sulesky added. “We have issues from time to time and have to get the designers involved and get answers, but all in all, the plans were very good on the project.”
This project was preceded by the replacement of the Findley Street Bridge in 2014 and the New Baltimore Slope Remediation project in 2017.
About a mile of sound walls separate the town of New Baltimore, Pennsylvania, from the turnpike. The designers came up with a novel way to build the noise barriers: While the bottom half of the panels are solid concrete, the upper half are transparent to allow for unobstructed views of New Baltimore’s historic St. John the Baptist Church.
“The clear panels were chosen so residents would be able to still see the church. It’s on the south side of the project, and is pretty famous with a lot of history,” said David Wicks, a Resident Engineer working for Stahl Sheaffer Engineering.
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The concrete panels were cast with forms in a brick pattern and painted to match the brick color of the church, according to Shaffer.
“First, they were painted gray, which became the backdrop of the grout lines, but then the bricks themselves were hand-painted with rollers by a subcontractor that specializes in that kind of thing,” he said. “Almost 70,000 square feet of precast panel walls were painted by hand.”
Philip added that the nearby Findley Street bridge, which was widened about 10 years ago, is the bridge from which New Baltimore accesses the church.
“It was painted in the same pattern and given the same architectural treatment,” he said. “The walls match the bridge, which mimics the church. Looking west, we can see the church, the walls, the bridge, and also the retaining wall below the bridge all painted that way.”
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Below the sound panels, crews drilled plenty of caissons, according to Wicks.
“Every post had a drill rig that drilled 36-inch-diameter holes to support these panels, then the panels were set into place to make everything work,” he said. “That was a lot of drilling, and it took time to coordinate that because they were also doing the blasting up on the mountain and other projects, such as the bridges.”
Another unique feature of the Pennsylvania Turnpike project was that one access bridge features an under vertical, something Wicks appreciated working on.
“I’ve heard of under vertical bridges, but I've never constructed one in my lengthy career, so it was kind of neat to see that happen,” he said. “When beams come in, they have a downward curve to them, and everybody thought we set them upside down because usually, you have an arc in them so that when you load it with concrete, it levels the bridge out a little better. But in this case, when loading it with concrete, the under vertical became a little bit more from the dead weight of the concrete. You don't often see a bridge with a belly in it the way this does.”
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“This project had some difficult terrain — sliver cuts adjacent to the live turnpike, several hundred feet high and 2 million cubic yards’ worth,” Sulesky said.
“In our bid, we had originally anticipated bringing out some 75-ton rigid frame trucks, but once we got out here, the terrain was so steep and narrow that we decided to stay with all articulated trucks,” he added. “At one time, we had 30 articulated Volvo 40- to 45-ton trucks.”
There was lots of blasting, too. Of the 2 million yards, crews had to drill and shoot 600,000 to 700,000 cubic yards of it adjacent to live traffic, Sulesky said.
“So, every time we put off a shot that was roughly 5,000 cubic yards, we would have to stop traffic in both directions, do paces, and have a fleet of equipment on standby just in case the blast got out of hand, to clean up any flying rock or debris that might get on the turnpike,” he said.
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Shaffer added that the team has an extensive Erosion and Sediment Plan to ensure everything meets sustainability goals.
“We have numerous bioretention and plain detention basins where stormwater collects that are constructed with amended soils — a blend of different materials and seeded for environmental purposes. ... However, the weather has been a challenge for them right now because it’s been such a wet season, and there's so much water in them right now,” he said. “That was anticipated to be completed this spring, but with so much water, Mike has had to shuffle. So we have to wait until later this summer when it's drier.”
“This is the first project I've worked on that had actual defined partnering meetings. Usually, there's not really a defined line in communication between the owner — the Turnpike — the design engineer, the construction contractor, construction inspection, and management staff,” said Shaffer, citing that frequent status meetings to handle anticipated obstacles helps move the project forward safely.
“We’ve had great communication with them, and with other agencies like Emergency Services and the Pennsylvania State Police and the community of New Baltimore,” Shaffer added. “With all this construction going on, it can be disturbing for a small community like that, and it's been an impressive team effort. When you're in a large construction project near high-speed traffic, things can happen. ... Our safety director meets with workers in the field regularly and tours the job to make sure everything’s being done in the safest manner so everyone's getting home at the end of the day.”
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Sulesky said he is most proud of how the project has stayed on schedule.
“Putting together a CPM [Critical Path Method] in year one or week one of a five-year project and to have it to run so close to the CPM is a credit to everyone, especially Maggie Talarico, our Consultant Schedule Reviewer,” he said.
- One Caterpillar 395 Excavator, 205,000 pounds
- One Volvo 750 Excavator, 150,000 pounds
- 10 Caterpillar 745 Articulated Trucks
- 10 Volvo A40 Articulated Trucks
- Five Volvo A45 Articulated Trucks
- Two Volvo A35 Articulated Trucks
- Five Caterpillar D8 Dozers
- Three Caterpillar D6 Dozers
- One Caterpillar D5 Dozer
- A fleet of support graders, loaders, and smaller excavators
- Concrete bridge beams: 2,008 linear feet
- Bridge structure concrete: 7,500 cubic yards
- 18-inch to 36-inch drainage pipe: 40,000 linear feet
- Amended soil: 17,000 cubic yards
- H-piles: 275,000 pounds
- Epoxy rebar: 1 million pounds
- Structural steel beams, I-beams: 172,000 pounds
- #57s through R8: 150,000 tons of aggregate
- 2A subbase: 400,000 tons
- Warm mix asphalt: 450,000 tons
- Sound wall panels, concrete: 50,000 square feet
- Sound wall panels, transparent: 45,000 square feet
- Retaining wall concrete panels: 5,500 square feet
- Owner: Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Jason Philip, PE, Senior Engineer Project Manager; John Cottle, PE, Construction Engineering Project Manager
- Construction Manager: Stahl Sheaffer Engineering, State College, Pennsylvania; Geoff Shaffer, Project Manager; David Wicks, Resident Engineer
- Contractor: New Enterprise Stone & Lime Inc., New Enterprise, Pennsylvania; Mike Sulesky, Senior Project Manager; Eric McVicker, General Grade Superintendent
- Designer: Johnson, Mirmiran, and Thompson, Hunt Valley, Maryland
- Construction Inspection: QES Pavement, Cochranton, Pennsylvania; Stantec, Edmonton, Alberta; Monaloh Basin Engineers, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
