Toll Talk Episode 33 Recap: Three Takeaways from Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Traffic Engineering Leader
Guest: Tom Macchione, Director of Traffic Engineering & Operations, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC)
Hosts: Alex Fakeri (Mojo) with guest host Pat Wicketts (CSG)
Sponsored by CSG
1. Safety, standardized: a multi-pronged program delivers measurable results
Pennsylvania Turnpike has cut work-zone crashes by more than 20% since forming its cross-functional work-zone safety committee.
What changed
Standardized work-zone layouts system-wide to reduce driver confusion
Eliminated median-side sign setups to reduce worker exposure time
Executive sponsorship and cross-department coordination
“We’ve made a reduction in work-zone crashes by more than 20% … It’s not one innovation. It’s a whole host of things we increased focus on across multiple departments—with full support from our executive staff and commissioners.”
Bottom line: Standardization + exposure reduction + governance beats one-off tech fixes.
2. Operate with data you trust (and verify)
PTC blends third-party and operational data to speed incident response and keep traffic flowing.
What they do today
Crowd-sourced incident signals (Waze) trigger maintenance dispatch when reliability thresholds are met
Fleet cameras confirm hazards on arrival
Speed dashboards flag sudden slowdowns; staff then validate and manually adjust variable speed limits (moving toward more automation)
Real-time incident text updates via 47676 give drivers answers on “what happened” and “how long,” but only when stopped (opt-in each time)
“We receive data from Waze… If there’s enough reliability behind the reports, we verify and dispatch. We also monitor average speeds by segment and adjust limits when conditions change—human in the loop today, with AI coming.”
