Latest news with #CrispinHavener
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Orange Squeeze targets work zone speeding
(WKBN) – For those who use the Pennsylvania Turnpike, be sure to watch your speed, especially while driving through construction zones. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, along with Pennsylvania State Police, is bringing back the Operation: Orange Squeeze campaign for April. Troopers will be using construction vehicles to catch people speeding through work zones. Those involved in crashes or caught driving faster than 10 miles an hour over the posted limit can face automatic license suspensions. 'This is something that is a problem that we've seen progressively getting worse for years, where people are driving unsafe in work zones. And you know, more than half of our staff, this is an office space for them,' said Crispin Havener, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. Last year, there were 176 work zone crashes along the turnpike, with nearly 50 people being hurt and two fatalities. Operation Orange Squeeze has been in use for the last decade, and drivers are getting the message. Officials say that injuries are down from previous years. The operation will focus on the mainline portions of the turnpike as well as the toll sections of Interstate 376, which passes through Lawrence County. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
22-02-2025
- Automotive
- CBS News
Plans to address Pennsylvania Turnpike's Breezewood interchange move forward
For years, drivers have been asking for a project to address the current Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange in Breezewood. They may finally get their way. The idea is to make the interchange like any interchange you use. It would get you from the turnpike to 70 without having to go through Breezewood. For decades, the Breezewood interchange has nauseated drivers. You get off the turnpike and drive through the town, just to get on I-70 a short distance later. "I've been in situations where on Thanksgiving weekend we were backed up 20 miles on I-70," Steve Shuhart of Erie said. The whole reason for the turnpike not directly connecting to I-70 goes back to an old rule of not forcing drivers to get off a highway and onto a toll road. As the Pennsylvania Turnpike moves to open road tolling, they felt it was time to make a change and hired a company to work on a newly designed interchange. "That little stretch is a byproduct of its time and what we could do and what could be done," Pennsylvania Turnpike assistant press secretary Crispin Havener said. According to the Turnpike, some of their recent data from 2022 says more than 2.6 million drivers exited and 2.8 million got on at Breezewood. Almost 40% of that traffic is trucks. There has been pushback because of the businesses there but times are changing. "In more recent years there has been a shift in the direction of what to do there and how best to handle it," Havener said. Bypassing Breezewood and getting on with their journeys is a welcomed idea for drivers. Early estimates put the project at $200 million. "Give you the option to pull off or not would be the best scenario I think," Shuhart said. Don't expect to see any shovels in the ground anytime soon. The earliest we could see some work on the interchange begin would be in the 2030s.
