NEW STANTON, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission announced plans to fast-track a new exit.
Drivers could see less traffic in New Stanton if a new Turnpike interchange opens on 981 in Mt. Pleasant.
James Glisan, the pastor at Middle Presbyterian Church off 981 in Mt Pleasant, says the recent announcement of a new Turnpike exit just down the road from his church has people talking.
“It would definitely make living here a bit easier, especially if you travel to see family or family travels to see you…with the hikes of the toll road prices, they wonder, ‘Well, is this just another opportunity to spend a little more money at an interchange,’" Glisan said.
Turnpike press secretary Marissa Orbanek said they have added the interchange to the ten-year capital plan, but hope it will be done in five years. She says no decisions have been made on what property they’ll need, but people who live in the area should be hearing from them soon.
Although neighbors right here can see the turnpike from their front doorstep, they have to travel at least 15 minutes to New Stanton or Donegal to get on it.
“We will start to make contact with people in that project area, so they are going to start to hear from us very soon as an introduction to our project team, and then we will really let them know about the different studies, evaluation, and engineering work that will be happening in that area,” Orbanek said.
The new exit will have an open tolling system, which the turnpike says will make construction quicker and cheaper.
“They really do not require too large infrastructure that traditional tolling booths do today, so with open road tolling we can really add new interchanges at a substantially smaller footprint,” Orbanek said.
With this recent announcement, the turnpike also told me they are pausing the interchange project in Penn Township until they finish more traffic studies.
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