Sector: Roads
Location: Statewide | Owner: Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission | Cost: $121.5 Million | Completion: 2026
Details: Since 2018, JBC has been providing Construction Management and Construction Inspection Services (CM/CI) Services to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) in their efforts to convert its toll system to Open Road Tolling (ORT). In an ORT system, tolls are charged electronically as customers drive beneath overhead gantry structures between interchanges without slowing down or stopping.
As part of our 8-year agreement, JBC has overseen construction of five (5) separate signing projects that covered the entire Turnpike system and seven (7) separate projects to construct nineteen (19) tolling sites on the eastern portion of the Turnpike system, from the Reading Interchange to the NJ state line and the entire Northeast Extension.
Each new tolling site consists of a monotube gantry structure spanning the mainline Turnpike which holds EZ-Pass readers and cameras to collect data from motorists and a new concrete utility building to house the electrical and communications equipment necessary to transmit the data to the Turnpike’s Customer Service Center in Harrisburg.
The utility buildings are climate controlled and include a backup generator and uninterruptable power supply (UPS) to ensure that the tolling equipment remains operational in the event of a power outage.
JBC Associates provided full-service CM/CI services for the roadway and building work and coordinated with the tolling equipment vendor (TransCore) and the PTC Toll Collection staff to ensure that the new facilities were what they needed to install the tolling equipment. JBC also coordinated with the Turnpike Facilities staff to ensure that the new buildings were integrated into their existing remote building monitoring and operations systems. This remote monitoring is important since the buildings are not staffed and must operate independently and reliably or the Turnpike could risk losing toll revenue.
The PTC has installed new high-speed tolling equipment at all the new tolling sites and the system went “live” for the eastern portion of the Turnpike system in January 2025. Since the new tolling sites are now collecting tolling data, the existing toll plazas at each interchange are now obsolete. The first of four demolition contracts is starting work in April 2025, and the other three demolition projects will be starting in the next few months. JBC will provide CM/CI services on all four contracts to demolish the existing toll plazas and interchange buildings, except for a few buildings the Turnpike will repurpose for other uses.
Open Road Tolling offers a safer, more convenient way to travel and brings the Pennsylvania Turnpike one step closer to achieving its goal of becoming America’s First Sustainable Superhighway by 2040.
Recognition:
- CMAA MidAtlantic Chapter — 2025 Project of the Year Award for Infrastructure Over $20 Million
Road Projects
Browse Our Work
