U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for October 12: The Open Road

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

THE OPEN ROAD

Profile America — Monday, October 12^th. The first limited access, divided superhighway in America opened this month 75 years ago — the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  The 1940 road ran for 160 miles, and featured seven tunnels, 10 service plazas, and 11 interchanges. Now part of the Interstate Highway System, the turnpike has been improved and extended, and at 514 miles, is more than triple its original length. A passenger vehicle traveling the entire 360 miles of the main line today pays $39.90 in cash upon exit. Pennsylvania collects some $740 million annually from tolls, while spending $7.6 billion on its highways. Nationally, states spend $112 billion per year on their roads. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Sources:
Turnpike story: https://www.paturnpike.com/yourTurnpike/ptc_history.aspx 
East to west: http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=8188 
Toll calculation: https://www.paturnpike.com/toll/tollmileage.aspx 
Revenue/page 3: http://ibtta.org/sites/default/files/Facts%20in%20Brief%20Revised%202013l.pdf 
State spending: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

Related Links

http://www.census.gov