Turnpike Trouble
From Forbes
The sluggish economy and rising gasoline prices are thinning out traffic on the Ohio Turnpike, reducing expected revenues and delaying construction projects on the toll road, the head of the turnpike commission said Thursday.
“The turnpike is not going to go out of business, but it means some of the improvements we would like to make, we’re going to have to push them back a little bit,” said Gary Suhadolnik, executive director.
Suhadolnik said the number of miles driven on the 241-mile turnpike - which runs across northern Ohio between Indiana to Pennsylvania - was down 1.8 percent in the first 10 months of this year. Truck traffic was down 1.1 percent; car traffic fell 2.3 percent.
Suhadolnik projects total revenue for this year will be down $7.2 million - or 3.3 percent - from what the commission had planned for in its $220 million budget, despite an increase in tolls late last year.
However
Several turnpikes in other parts of the country are reporting either steady traffic or slight increases, according to Neil Gray, director of government affairs for the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association.
