Latest news with #PennDot
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
I-95 Cap Project: Southbound lane closures begin Tuesday night
The Brief A "milestone" for the I-95 Cap Project connecting Old City to Penn's Landing begins Tuesday night. Southbound lanes will be closed nightly 11PM-5AM Sunday-Thursday nights until July as workers install steel beams. The $329 million project is expected to be completed in 2028-2029. PHILADELPHIA - A major PennDot traffic detour is scheduled to begin, and it will continue well into the summer. What we know On Tuesday night, crews started preparation work on the next phase of the year-long I-95 Cap Project. The southbound lanes of I-95 will close from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Wednesday morning. However, starting June 8, overnight closures will begin every Sunday to Thursday through late July while workers install 80 steel beams across the highway. "Basically, 95 South is going to be closed from 676 all the way down to the onramp to Morris Street where it hits Water Street. So, the work zone is small but the impact is large" said PennDot spokesperson Brad Rudolph. It is a major milestone in the $329 million project that's been talked about for years. What they're saying Jorin Gerveni, the owner of Cuor di Caffe coffee shop, not only sees the constant parade of construction equipment outside his front door. He welcomes it. The I-95 Cap Project is the reason he set up shop here. "I saw this as a great long-term project and sign early and grow my brand so when the project eventually does get done it will be a huge opportunity." The next phase in the construction is a big step in that long-awaited project. "We are starting to build up. It is a milestone. There is a light at the end of the tunnel" said Rudolph. The project will eventually connect Old City to the Delaware River, featuring an 11-and-a-half-acre "Park at Penn's Landing" that will stretch between Front, Walnut and Chestnut Streets to the River. A new South Street pedestrian bridge over the highway is also under construction. But completion of the entire project is still years away and much of Penns Landing will look like a construction site for the foreseeable future. Completion of the entire project is expected by 2029. In the meantime, Old City homeowners and commuters say the constant noise and detours have become a regular part of life. "I try to avoid going this way as much as possible. And it's been over a year I tried to avoid this" said Anita Evermon of South Philadelphia. From his coffee shop window, Gerveni watched a PennDot truck begin the next phase of construction. He says, despite the dust and detours, there is optimism about what's ahead. "I'm here for the next decade so I'm not moving" said Gerveni. What's next PennDot says once the beams are installed on the southbound lanes of I-95, work will begin to construct concrete piers for beam installation atop Northbound lanes. Beam installation on the northbound lanes is expected to begin next spring. The entire project is not expected to be finished until 2029. What you can do Visit the Penns Landing website for more.
Axios
08-04-2025
- Axios
Pennsylvania has a really low Real ID adoption rate
Pennsylvanians are flocking to get their Real ID before it's required for domestic flights and access to some federal facilities like courthouses and military bases. Why it matters: The Real ID is the key to the universe: You won't be able to fly out of Philly International Airport without it, unless you have a valid passport. The big picture: The Real ID deadline is May 7. More residents are scrambling to meet it, PennDot spokesperson Aimee Inama tells Axios. More than 122,700 residents got their Real ID in March, nearly twice as many as the previous month, per PennDOT. But only 26% of Pennsylvania driver's license and state ID holders have upgraded so far. The caveat: Real ID is optional, which helps explain the lower adoption rate. How it works: Pennsylvania doesn't offer Real ID appointments. But people who received a state driver's license, learner's permit or state ID card after September 2003 can complete a pre-verification document check and fill out an online application to receive their Real ID. Expect to wait at least 15 business days to receive it in the mail. Alternatively, you can get a Real ID on the spot after your documents are verified — but only at one of the state's 15 same-day locations.
Miami Herald
26-03-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Federal EV charging funds have been paused. So how is Pennsylvania able to keep on building?
The Trump administration has tried to pull the plug on the federally funded EV charger program designed to electrify America' highways, but that isn't stopping Pennsylvania from charging ahead. The $7.5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program was included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021, and aimed to build out charging infrastructure in all 50 states. But a Feb. 6 letter from the Federal Highway Administration pulled back much of that money, leaving states scrambling to determine exactly what they could do. Pennsylvania is among the states in a position to forge ahead. "Kudos to PennDot - PennDot was on it," said Ingrid Malmgren, senior policy director for the EV advocacy nonprofit Plug In America. "They really have been paying attention, they've been making plans, they have chargers up and running. They're definitely ahead of other states." PennDot announced at the end of last month that three new NEVI chargers have been added to the network, giving the Philadelphia region's EV owners more freedom to plan trips west to Pittsburgh, with a station near the Pennsylvania Turnpike at Carlisle, and north to upstate New York, with another on I-81 just south of the border. A third station near Chambersburg has also come online, bringing the total number of stations to eight, with three more to come soon, PennDot said. The three new stations join five already in service in the Commonwealth, including one in Aston, Delaware County. Pennsylvania has probably the most to lose if money doesn't come through, with 91 total chargers planned in this first round of funding, totaling $71 million. Other states have been slow on getting the funding obligated, or contracted out to vendors to commence building. "Compared to many other states, we have more NEVI stations built," said Alexis Campbell, press secretary for PennDot, a point that Malmgren confirmed with her own research. "We hit the ground running as soon as we could on this and we had a really good response from the private sector wanting to take advantage of this money. "As far as using obligated funds, I think we're in a pretty good position, but it's still really up in the air." But the battle for charging stations is far from over. Funding of the unfinished first-round charging stations in the Keystone State had been put into doubt after a Feb. 6 memo from the Transportation Department's Federal Highway Administration, but PennDot said their lawyers are confident that obligated funds must be covered and decided to green light proceeding. "NEVI is in Division J of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and as part of the statutory language, it provides an explicit process by which state departments of transportation have funding made available for them," said Andrew Wishnia, a senior vice president at Boundary Stone Partners and the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Climate Policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and a principal architect of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. "That process was followed by every state department of transportation, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico consistent with the law, and as a result I think that is why there is as much concern as has been made apparent because states have complied with the law and as such are looking to access funds that have been duly apportioned." The next round is the uncertain part: About $100 million for Pennsylvania is not obligated, and it was intended for chargers in communities, Campbell said. "Whether or not that happens, I don't think anyone knows," Campbell said. "That's the part that's up in the air right now." Litigation is expected from many states on all aspects of the funding pause, Malmgren said. If the pause was intended to upend EV drivers' confidence in finding charging around the country, it appears to be working. A map published by Plug-In America shows stations listed as "paused per FHWA directive" across Wisconsin, Michigan, Virginia, Tennessee, and Arizona, to name a few. Charging stations in North Carolina, Kentucky, Illinois, Texas, and California are still listed as "announced," as are Pennsylvania's. Pennsylvania was among the first four states to begin the NEVI process. But even with the money considered obligated, the Trump administration's early leanings toward ignoring court rulings adds some risk. Private EV charging operators - like Pilot, Oklahoma-based Francis Energy, EVGo, and Tesla, to name just a few - apply for the federal funds through PennDOT, and the operators are eligible to have up to 80% of their costs covered. But that money is reimbursed, and the operators have to front the costs. So the question lingers - will that money be paid? "I think time will tell," Wishnia said. "What we have seen is not delivery but delay," Wishnia added. But, he noted, transportation secretary Sean Duffy "has stated that he is committed to deploy chargers quickly, and I think that's a hopeful sentiment." The Biden administration took care to get buy-in from all corners of the country, setting up EV factories in red states and focusing charger funding on making it easier for EV owners to gain access to underserved areas. But Trump made it a recurring theme in his campaign that EVs and other alternative fuel vehicles would have little support if he was re-elected. Still, EVs are hardly a blue state vs. red state issue. "We didn't have to twist any arms to get these NEVI plans approved," Wishnia said. "Every single state in the country, including every deep-red pocket of the country, submitted voluntarily a NEVI plan. I think [it] was a demonstration of the fact that this was bipartisan on the ground and that looks very different from the politics in D.C." That bipartisanship may remain because, despite continued predictions that EV sales would tank, the evidence for that is slim. Year-over-year EV sales rose 16.1% for the month of February, according to data provided by the everything-automotive site Of all auto sales last month, 7.6% were EVs, down from a high of 8.8% in September. Continuing high sales may be affected by the Trump administration threatening to end rebates for EVs. But the federal government's fuel economy website still lists 15 EV models eligible for a $7,500 rebate as of February. J.D Power expects EV sales to hold at about 9.1% of vehicles sold in 2025. And charging in the country continues to build, with or without NEVI. The number of DC Fast chargers - the fastest available and the kind the NEVI program supports - have doubled to over 51,000 since September 2022, according to the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation. Add in Level 2 chargers - which add 15 to 30 miles in an hour of charging - and that number swells to 200,000. Malmgren and other experts worry about what this will mean for the future. Charging stations will be slow to build and cost more, Malmgren said, and contractors will become reluctant to work with federal and state agencies. And it could even put the U.S. on the back foot in trying to compete with other countries. "As a country, deciding not to help make the move to electric vehicles will put American manufacturing at a disadvantage as the competition from all over the world develops better and better products for their home markets," said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions in Chester Springs. ______ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
PennDOT officials discuss construction alternatives for Parkway East interchanges
PennDOT engineers say 100-thousand vehicles use the Parkway East daily. The heavily used highway hasn't had any significant changes to its interchanges since it was built in the early 1950s. PennDot Executive for District 11, Jason Zang said, 'It's such a challenging area. We're working in such a tight corridor as it is. When they put the parkway in back in the 50′s they just carved it right through neighborhoods.' Jason Zang with PennDot says the approach engineers used when building 376 over 70 years ago - will not be the same for the Parkway East Squirrel Hill Interchange Improvement Project. Zang said, 'We don't want to move or relocate people. That's the last thing we want to do.' PennDot laid out its plans to a crowded auditorium at Greenfield Elementary where it showed renderings of four different construction alternatives. 'We're trying to think about this from every angle. Parkway safety, residential safety and then the local traffic safety,' Zang explained. Interchanges both on and off the parkway east on the city side of the Squirrel Hill tunnel will get updated - with the work starting just west of the Greenfield Bridge Overpass. Jacob Greenberg lives right on the border of the interchange. Jacob Greenberg said, 'It's about once a week that I see the semis bust their tire on that curve and I would say at least twice a month that I see somebody wreck on that sharp curve or rear end or something like that.' PennDOT plans to redesign all on and off-ramps, improve retaining walls, bridges and sidewalks. Theresa Nightingale lives in Beechwood. She's worried she and her elderly neighbors could lose parking. Theresa Nightingale said, 'There's no parking on top, there's no parking on the sides - I'm not sure where everybody would go. We just need to make sure there's parking and make sure that the folks can access it safely - especially our seniors.' PennDot says it continues to collect feedback from people in the area. Work is slated to start in about 4 years. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
