page_title: Pennsylvania Turnpike
section_title: Tolls
hierarchical_section_title: Pennsylvania Turnpike / Tolls
caption_attribution_description: A Pennsylvania Turnpike toll ticket from the Willow Grove interchange (exit 343)
context_page_description: The Pennsylvania Turnpike is a toll highway operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A controlled-access highway, it runs for 360 miles across the state. The turnpike begins at the Ohio state line in Lawrence County, where the road continues west as the Ohio Turnpike. It ends at the New Jersey border at the Delaware River–Turnpike Toll Bridge over the Delaware River in Bucks County, where the road continues east as the Pearl Harbor Memorial Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike.
  The highway runs east–west through the state, connecting the Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia areas. It crosses the Appalachian Mountains in central Pennsylvania, passing through four tunnels. The turnpike is part of the Interstate Highway System; it is designated as part of Interstate 76 between the Ohio border and Valley Forge, I-70 between New Stanton and Breezewood, I-276 between Valley Forge and Bristol Township, and I-95 from Bristol Township to the New Jersey border. The road uses an electronic toll collection system; tolls can be paid using E-ZPass or toll-by-plate. Cash tolls were phased out between January 2016 and March 2020.
context_section_description: Until March 2020, the Pennsylvania Turnpike used the ticket system of tolling between the Warrendale and Neshaminy Falls toll plazas, as well as on the Northeast Extension to Wyoming Valley. When entering the turnpike, motorists received a ticket listing the toll for each exit; the ticket was surrendered when exiting, and the applicable toll was paid. If the ticket was lost, motorists were charged the maximum toll for that exit. Cash, credit cards, and E-ZPass were accepted at traditional toll plazas. An eastbound mainline toll gantry is located at Gateway near the Ohio border and a westbound mainline toll gantry is located at the Delaware River Bridge near the New Jersey border, both charging a flat toll using toll-by-plate (which uses automatic license plate recognition to take a photo of the vehicle's license plate and mail a bill to the vehicle owner) or E-ZPass at highway speeds.   There is no toll between Gateway and Warrendale and between Neshaminy Falls and the Delaware River Bridge. The PA 29 interchange and the westbound Virginia Drive and eastbound Street Road interchanges only accept E-ZPass.
  As of 2020 it costs a passenger vehicle $53.50 to travel the length of the mainline turnpike between Warrendale and Neshaminy Falls using cash, and $38.40 using E-ZPass; the eastbound Gateway toll costs $12.20 with toll-by-plate and $5.90 with E-ZPass for passenger vehicles while the westbound Delaware River Bridge toll gantry costs $7.70 using toll-by-plate and $5.70 using E-ZPass. Since 2009, the turnpike has raised tolls once a year, starting on January 1, to provide funding for increasing annual payments to PennDOT, as mandated by Act 44. The turnpike commission paid PennDOT $450 million annually, of which $200 million went to non-turnpike highway projects across the state and $250 million went to funding mass transit. As part of Act 89 signed in 2013, the annual payments to PennDOT will end after 2022 (35 years earlier than the original proposal under Act 44), but it is not known if the annual toll increases will continue after 2022. Act 89 has also redirected the entire $450 million annual payments to PennDOT towards funding mass transit. With the annual rise in tolls, traffic has been shifting from the turnpike to local roads.
  The turnpike commission has eliminated manned toll booths in favor of all-electronic tolls. McCormick Taylor and Wilbur Smith Associates have been hired to conduct a feasibility study on converting the road to all-electronic tolls. On March 6, 2012, the turnpike commission announced that it was implementing this plan. The turnpike commission will save $65 million annually on labor costs by eliminating toll collectors. On January 3, 2016, all-electronic tolling was introduced in the westbound direction at the Delaware River Bridge mainline toll plaza, while the eastern terminus of the ticket system was moved from the Delaware River Bridge to Neshaminy Falls. On October 27, 2019, all-electronic tolling was implemented at the eastbound Gateway mainline toll plaza. All-electronic tolling was originally scheduled to be implemented on the entire length of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the later part of 2021. However, in March 2020 the turnpike implemented all-electronic tolling along its entire length as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The all-electronic tolling was intended to be temporary, but in June 2020 the move to all-electronic tolling became permanent, with toll collectors laid off. The all-electronic tolling system on the turnpike will initially use toll booths at exits until mainline toll gantries between interchanges are constructed. Mainline toll gantries are planned to begin operation in eastern Pennsylvania by 2022, central Pennsylvania by 2024, and western Pennsylvania by 2026.
caption: July 2013 Pennsylvania Turnpike toll ticket from Willow Grove (exit 343), with tolls for Class-1 vehicles (two-axle cars without trailers)
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