Hello again and I hope your summer is going well. Hot weather has set in and, as many of you may have noticed, those "damn" orange barrel and cones are with us again. Wish there was some other way to do our work but the summer weather is when we, so to speak, have to "make hay".
I wanted to comment today on the construction project that we have on the turnpike just east of Lawrence. This project, from MP 204 to MP 210, provides for complete pavement replacement. This is the last section of our roadway between Topeka and Kansas City that has not been rebuilt, from the ground up. When the road was built in the mid 1950's, this section was built with rigid cement. Through the years, the pavement base has failed and it no longer can be repaired with an asphalt overlay. The deteriorated and now-unstable base of the roadway must be rebuilt, as I said, from the ground up.
As a result, throughout the estimated year and a half to complete the project, one side of the roadway will be closed to traffic. That means that all traffic in that area will be two lanes, one in each direction. And with pinching traffic down to two lanes often comes slow traffic and delays, sometimes even stopped traffic for disabled vehicles or accidents. As a result, I wanted you to know that we are doing everything in our power to keep traffic flowing in that area. We know how terribly frustrating it is when our customers are delayed and, believe me, we share your frustration.
Typically, Friday afternoon and evening are the busiest traffic periods and when delays are most likely. Eastbound travelers may wish to consider an alternate route at that time. But keep two important things in mind. One, we can't close our roadway to do work -- it must be done under traffic. And second, the roadway must by rebuilt. Unfortunately, mixing those two facts often leads to diminished service.
Finally, if you travel in this area, I ask for your understanding and patience. We know your frustration can lead to anger and I respectfully ask that you don't take out your frustration on our collectors; none of this is their fault!

With the summer travel period's traditional kick off of Memorial Day nearly here, I thought it would be a good time to remind people of the importance of being always "engaged" in travel safety.
The most important thing I always try to remember is "defensive driving". You never know what the other drivers are going to do. As a father of two teenage drivers, safety on the roadways is never far from my mind. I recall when my youngest daughter was learning to drive how hard is was for me to convince her that she needed to look both ways before she proceeded after a red light. Just because you get a green does not mean that some other driver will stop on the red light coming from another direction. How many crashes, and injuries, happen because one driver will run a red light and T-Bone the driver who didn't look before proceeding on a green. And that is before you even get to the open highway!
And perhaps an even greater challenge today are the many "technology" distractions that have become a serious safety hazard. Of course they include trying to dial a phone number from your cell, or worse, texting while driving a vehicle. Many of us are occasionally guilty of a lapse in our "safety duty" while driving because of some kind of cell phone use. And every time we don't give our full attention, we dodge a deadly bullet. We don't stop to think that we are operating a 3,000 lb. missile that meets other 3,000 lb. missiles traveling at high speed in the opposite direction -- just feet apart. One minor distraction can literally have deadly consequences. It happens every day!
Finally, let me reiterate that we must always drive defensively because we never know what the other person will do. Always look in both directions before proceeding on a green light. Never let your cell phone become an instrument that threatens the lives of other travelers because of your inattention. Always be mindful that unfortunately some of the vehicles you meet on the roadway have inattentive drivers that create special hazards. In short, when you are behind the wheel, you have a special responsibility to yourself and other travelers to do your part to keep our roadways as safe as they can be!
Have a safe and happy summer!

In the 53 years the Kansas Turnpike has operated, nothing like what we witnessed on February 14, Valentine's Day, has ever occurred. And I mean nothing!
Because of a sudden and unexpected burst of snowfall that led to brief periods of whiteout and slick pavement, approximately 45 vehicles piled into one another on a westbound bridge on I-70 at Milepost 223 in western Wyandotte County. It was bumper tag taken to another level. Almost miraculously, no life threatening injuries occurred to the large number of individual passengers in the vehicles involved. In addition, in the eastbound lanes at the same time and in the same general area, multiple multi-vehicle accidents occurred that involved another 30 or so vehicles. The pictures reminded me of the photos you occasionally see when fog is the cause of multi-vehicle crashes. I can't imagine the horror of being in the middle of the a frightening motor vehicle scrum, watching as still more vehicles aren't able to stop before plowing into the pile.
If there is a lesson in this very dangerous and remarkable event, it is that nothing can be taken for granted when you are behind the wheel. Because of their very nature, motor vehicles of all types are little more than heavy missiles traveling, sometimes at high speed, in very close proximity to one another. Make no mistake about it, there is constant danger in operating motor vehicles. As a result, we must always be mindful of how outside factors, in this case unexpected bad weather, can alter the safety equation and thereby the safety of operating motor vehicles.
Al Capone and Bugs Moran don't have anything on the Kansas Turnpike!

Those words will be exchanged many times over today as Christians the world over celebrate Christmas. As I write this and prepare to celebrate the occasion with my wife and two daughters, I can't help but think that many of my fellow turnpike maintenance and toll workers who will not be with their families tonight --- we are a business that never closes and in the beginning stages of a major winter storm. Many of our maintenance personnel, and many others with similar jobs throughout the state, will be out on the roadway throughout the day and night to keep travel at least a possible option for our customers. Naturally, in times of nasty weather, we recommend that only "essential travel" take place.
At the same time, we also realize that many of you will see being with your loved ones on Christmas as "essential travel" and will journey out to make that possible. When you see one of our trucks dispensing salt and sand or plowing snow, please keep in mind that our employees are out doing their jobs so you, our customers, can travel during these weather conditions.
Finally, also say a little prayer for them so they can return home to their families safe and sound once their work is done.
May God bless each of you!

The title to my latest blog is what many in and around Lawrence will remember most about the old bridges that span the Kansas River. Shortly, the fourth and final blast of high explosive charges will be used to "drop" bridge sections of steel superstructure down to the ground or into the river. These blast events are part of the process to remove the original bridges that had to be taken out of service because they were at the end of their useful lives. One of the new bridges to take their place is now in service and carrying all four lanes of traffic on the Turnpike at that location. Once the old bridges are removed, construction of the second and final replacement will begin. The second bridge is expected to be in service by the spring of 2011.
I have written about this project to replace the bridges over the Kansas River previously for several reasons. First, its sheer size and cost of over $130M makes it the mother of all previous Turnpike projects. Beyond that, however, any project that is expected to take over three years to complete deserves special mention. Add to that the traffic management challenges maintaining reasonable access to a university city (KU) the size of Lawrence and you begin to see how this project impacts our customers and our neighbors. We don't take the importance of those relationships lightly. Many of my associates here at the Turnpike have worked very hard at serving the interest of our customers and the community to inform and prepare them for what they can expect as the project progresses. The most difficult of our project management and customer and community service challenges comes in March of 2010 when our East Lawrence Interchange (MP 204) will be closed. This is necessary because the entire plaza is being rebuilt. We expect the plaza to reopen in late fall of that year. During its closure, Lawrence will lose one of its three plazas on the turnpike and will leave only the Lecompton (MP 197) and West Lawrence (MP 202) plazas to serve the Lawrence and surrounding community.
During the period of closure of the East Lawrence Interchange, we ask for your patience and understanding. There will likely be periods of high traffic, such as when large sporting events are held at KU, that some delay may be the experience of some of our customers. We will do everything in our power to manage the traffic as expeditiously as possible with safety always our priority.
I hope you and your families have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season!

Here I go again, blogging. Somehow, this just doesn't seem natural. Maybe, just maybe, someone somewhere will get something out of my comments or get some questions answered. Let's hope! In any event, no ghost bloggers here, just me.
Just a touch of personal information. I have been privileged to serve as the President/CEO for the Kansas Turnpike Authority now for nearly fifteen years, having begun on January 1, 1995. My prior lives were, for nearly twenty years, a mix of business and politics. Married rather late in life (42) and now have the joy/horror of two teenage daughters. The good Lord has blessed the Johnston household!
As always, there is much going on here at the Turnpike in addition to the usual daily provision of travel services to our customers. From sheer size and scope, the replacement of the bridges over the Kansas River in Lawrence is, for us, the "mother of all projects". Think of it this way, when the Turnpike was constructed in the mid 1950's, the entire roadway, all the bridges, the service areas, etc., cost approximately $150 million. The project in Lawrence to replace the two bridges, in addition to assorted other improvements in close proximity will cost approximately $140 million. Even though the $140 million, when adjusted for inflation, is the equivalent of $17.5 million in 1955, it does put the matter in some perspective. We are over a year into the project and it is expected to be complete by late 2011.
As I near my blog bloat for today, I wanted to comment on the toll increase structure that will go into effect tomorrow, Thursday, October 1st. Cash passenger vehicles will see their fares increase approximately 15% while cash commercial vehicles (5 or more axles) will see their fares increase approximately 5%. K-TAG or electronic customers will experience NO increase in their fares. You might wonder why this new structure. Obviously, this toll structure is designed to encourage, through pricing, current cash customers to become K-TAG or electronic customers. Since our costs for collecting fares for cash customers is dramatically higher than for electronic customers, moving substantial numbers of cash customers to the electronic lanes will provide valuable operating efficiencies. We realize that this may not be welcome news to some cash customers but, in these very challenging operating conditions, we feel compelled to take advantage of opportunities to more efficiently manage our business.
More later!

I recently wrote the following memo to the Turnpike's Board of Directors and thought it was appropriate to include with my first post. "In the interest of full disclosure and with some level of pain, you should know that I have finally been drug, kicking and screaming into cyberspace. I will soon have my very own blog!
That's right, now I can post on the web to my heart's content about anything! And what is really great about blogging is you don't really know whether anybody ever reads it. Kind of like talking and not being sure whether any sound travels.
You should also know why I have my very own blog ---- Lisa Callahan and her merry band of cyber geeks have been after me for some time to agree to start a blog and they just would not give up. I finally gave in. Got me on Twitter as well, so now I can tweet like a little bird and be happy as a lark...."
On a more serious note, I decided to participate in this blog because I really do believe there is value to my direct communication with the Turnpike's customers and bondholders. In future posts, I will address common questions and thoughts about the Turnpike as well as providing more information about how I see this organization's future and what our role is in the transportation system in Kansas.
Until next time, I wish you safe and happy travels!