Tons Of Butter Spill Onto Turnpike

Not only did a truck carrying 43 thousand pounds (21.5 tons) of butter nearly close the Northeast Extension when it crashed this morning, but then Action News did this intro to the story:

PLYMOUTH TWP., Pa. - February 5, 2008 — Butter is not jam… but it is jamming the Northeast Extension. A tractor trailer carrying butter overturned on the Northeast Extension southbound ramp to the eastbound Turnpike in Plymouth Township.

Investigators tell Action News that traffic is getting by on the shoulder, but further delays are expected when the cleanup begins.

What? It’s just butter. Just hire a diner to clean it up; they’ll never have to buy butter again.

Butter truck crash jams Northeast Extension [6 ABC]

Perzel: Don’t Sell Turnpike To Bin Laden & Co.

John Perzel has a big ol’ op-ed in this week’s Northeast Times. It’s about his opposition to the privatization of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Perzel’s plan is to tax commercial vehicles who fill-up in New Jersey and travel through Pennsylvania on the way to Ohio. Yes, this will most certainly work. But Perzel has another reason to not lease the turnpike: Foreign companies might buy it, and that’s an affront to everyone who died on 9/11.

I am not making this up. Emphasis mine:

But there’s an even larger risk as the governor actively seeks foreign investors.

The east-west turnpike that connects Pittsburgh and Philadelphia also serves to connect the rest of the state with interlocking state and interstate federal highways that are crucial in an emergency, as well as for transportation of military cargo from Pennsylvania’s military supply depots to the Port of Philadelphia and beyond.

Do we really want the major highway used by our military and the state police controlled by foreign interests who have no stake in Pennsylvania’s security? [...]

Foreign control of our roads is a frightening prospect in our post-9/11 America, and not a route Pennsylvanians should travel.

Yes! The workers who currently staff the turnpike will suddenly transform to communislamofascists when some Australian company buys the road! Thanks for protecting us, John Perzel!

Don’t lease the turnpike to foreign investors [Northeast Times]
Dec. 6, 2006: East India Turnpike Company?

East India Turnpike Company?

Are you ready for some company in Hong Kong to own Pennsylvania’s longest road? Ed Rendell officially announced today that the Pennsylvania Turnpike is for sale.

The sale or lease of a state toll highway isn’t all that rare nowadays and companies have been eyeing the turnpike for about a year now. Interested parties have until Dec. 22 to submit proposals. If the state sold the turnpike, it could make anywhere from $2 to $30 billion dollars, which would then be put in a trust and used to fund various transportation projects.

The Inquirer’s Larry King writes that the Rendell said any buyer/leaser would have to agree to protections for current workers, adhere to a maintenance schedule and limits on toll increases.

A recent state study said that the state needed $1.7 billion more a year to stabilize and improve its roads and public transportation systems. Does this mean we’ll be seeing the Schuylkill Valley Metro anytime soon? Let’s hope so, but let’s see what our foreign investors want to pay us first.

Pa. Turnpike for sale or rent [Inquirer]

Breaking (and blinding) news alert

And, apparently, the turnpike is stained blood red.

CBS 3