HARRISBURG, Pa. – PA Turnpike Chairman Sean Logan of Plum, announced today that he is resigning from his Turnpike position to pursue other public-service opportunities, effective immediately.
“It is with mixed emotions that I step down from the PA Turnpike Commission, as I have come to know and respect my fellow commissioners and the entire senior-staff team. I’ve also had the privilege of meeting many of the folks who make the Turnpike run day in and day out: our toll collectors and maintenance workers,” Logan said. “Still, public service remains in my heart, and I am pursuing an amazing opportunity that allows me to continue to expand my involvement in this area.”
Logan, who is executive director and CEO of Visit Monroeville, was first appointed to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in July, 2013 and named chairman in January, 2015.
During his chairmanship, Logan ensured that the commission remained focused on its core duties: operating more efficiently, investing in rebuilding and expanding its system and managing its Act-44 funding obligations to PennDOT. He helped steer the Turnpike through a pair of significant, national-headline-grabbing events in 2016: a blizzard that stranded hundreds of motorists on the Turnpike in the Allegheny Mountains in January followed by an armed-robbery attempt at the Fort Littleton Interchange in March that ended in the killing of a toll collector and a security contractor — as well as the death of the offender.
Several key milestones accomplished doing Logan’s chairmanship include:
- implementation of a 70-mph speed limit across much of the 552-mile toll-road system;
- advancement of the Mon-Fayette Expressway andSouthern Beltway projects in Southwestern PA;
- a redoubled commitment to investing in Total Reconstruction and Six-Lane Widening projects across the aging Turnpike system; and
- the creation and kickoff of an unprecedented, statewide Work-Zone Safety Awareness Campaign called Orange Squeeze to protect Turnpike workers.
“Early in my Turnpike career, it became clear that we had to work to improve transparency and modernize the culture at the Turnpike to regain public trust,” Logan said. “One the achievements of which I am proudest is that my fellow commissioners and I were able to implement a series of ethics-policy changes and amendments that largely accomplished what we set out to do. And I know the commissioners and senior staff will continue that important effort.”
Logan, who holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Pittsburgh, served three terms in the Pennsylvania Senate representing Allegheny and Westmoreland counties and held several leadership positions including appropriations-committee member. He was mayor of Monroeville and vice president of community relations for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
In the coming weeks, Gov. Wolf expects to nominate a new Turnpike commissioner to fill the vacancy on the five-member panel. That nominee must be confirmed by at least a two-thirds majority of the state senate.
