Corruption Scandal Drives Bill To Abolish Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission

Give another agency a shot at the graft

HARRISBURG —  Pennsylvania has two transportation agencies. One controls more than 40,000 miles of state roads and 25,000 bridges, and another maintains 545 miles of tolled highway.

The former has seven executives, one for every 5,857 miles of roadway; the latter nine executives, one for every 60 miles of roadway.

For a group of Republican lawmakers, this doesn't add up, especially when one of those agencies was the subject of a 44-month long grand jury investigation over alleged bid-rigging.

Standing alongside a dozen other GOP lawmakers, Rep. Donna Oberlander, R-Clarion, introduced legislation Wednesday to abolish the "corruption-infested" Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and fold the route's operation and tolling into the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.