Still a decade away, the proposed revamp of the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Breezewood interchange will likely take a toll on businesses that have built up around the highway’s connections to Interstate 70 and Route 30.
The changes are expected to make the trip more convenient for the more than 2.5 million motorists who pass through that area of Bedford County each year.
But for business owners and workers along Breezewood’s short section of Route 30, the commercial area will no longer have a captive audience of travelers who are switching between the turnpike and the leg of Interstate 70 that heads south into Maryland.
Breezewood — an unincorporated area of East Providence Township — has seen better days. The dilapidated remains of several closed motels and restaurants have become part of the landscape along parts of Route 30 and South Breezewood Road.
Donna Bryant, 64, is a lifelong resident of the township. Her father managed a restaurant where a gas station and convenience store now stands.
“We certainly don’t need business to get any worse than it is,” Bryant said while discussing the potential effects of the turnpike interchange project.
Turnpike officials have suggested it could be a decade before they follow through with a plan to restructure the Breezewood interchange so that truckers and other motorists can move directly from the turnpike to I-70 without having to detour through the small Route 30 community. The project has an estimated cost of about $200 million.
Planners say one of the advantages the project is expected to provide is less congestion on Breezewood’s section of Route 30.
In 2022, according to turnpike statistics, 2.65 million vehicles exited the toll road at Breezewood and 2.83 million entered there. Trucks accounted for 37% of that traffic.
Thinning the congestion could have its upside, Bryant acknowledged, including fewer wrecks for local first responders to handle.
“When there’s less congestion in Breezewood, that might actually help encourage more people to come,” she added. “I would be more apt to stop in an area that’s not as congested.”
Still, she said of the planned turnpike work, “I kind of hate to see it happen, in case I’m wrong thinking it will improve business.”
Exit will remain
Nazeer Ali, who oversees two gas stations with convenience stores on opposite sides of Route 30, doesn’t foresee a good outcome for those businesses and others in the compact Breezewood commercial area if the interchange project comes to fruition.
“All these businesses will be closed,” he predicted.
The updated interchange still will provide a way for travelers on the larger roadways to exit at Breezewood. The business community that is largely focused on serving the driving public has a big question: How many drivers will choose to continue making a pit stop there?
“I’d like to think trucks are still going to stop here for fuel,” trucker Seth Price of Everett said as he filled the tank of his rig recently at Breezewood’s TA Travel Center. He said there aren’t any truck stops of comparable size nearby.
“I think it’s going to kill some of the car traffic,” he said of the planned interchange makeover. “I guess we’ll find out.
“It all depends if people want to get off here and get fuel and something to eat. Vehicles are more comfortable than they used to be, so you can stay in one longer.”
The turnpike traffic change could have a trickle-down effect on some of Price’s family members. His mother works at the TA truck stop while his sister is employed at the neighboring Gateway Travel Plaza. The two-story complex offers amenities for all types of motorists, including food and gifts for purchase and a laundromat, fitness center, arcade, TV lounge and chapel.
Managers who were on duty at the two businesses declined to comment to TribLive.
“It will definitely hurt,” Tristan Crawford said of the turnpike project, in between waiting on customers at his family’s Steelers-themed Crawford’s Gift Shop in Breezewood — also known as the “Black & Gold Headquarters.”
While the shop does sell some of its estimated 500,000-plus items online, Crawford said, “a lot of our best customers are the truck drivers that come through. They’re our most loyal ones.”
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Originating as a department store in Everett, about 8 miles to the west on Route 30, the store evolved into a taxidermy museum and gift shop when it moved to Breezewood in the late 1950s. Starting in the early 2000s, the store refocused on apparel and memorabilia related to the Steelers — along with other NFL and college football teams and Pittsburgh’s Penguins and Pirates.
“If the Steelers have a good year, we have a really good year,” Crawford said of the store. “If they get a playoff game, that starts our year off really big.”
He said another boom period for the store occurs during the weeks of July and August, when Steelers fans from afar stop in Breezewood during their travels to the team’s training camp near Latrobe.
A place to stay
Devendi Patel manages the 11-unit Budget Inn, one of a cluster of three independent motels that operate in Breezewood along with larger locations that are part of the Days Inn and Holiday Inn Express chains.
Patel agreed that the revamped interchange won’t be good for local business. But he sees a less severe impact on the accommodations he offers.
“It might take away some business,” he said, “but since it’s a motel, if somebody wants to stay, they will.”
He said weekends are among the busiest times at the Budget Inn, which doesn’t rely heavily on truckers, given its smaller parking lot.
Manager Michael Ickes is guardedly optimistic that the turnpike project will have minimal impact on traffic at the Sultan Kabob restaurant and breakfast shop, a newer addition to the Breezewood business community.
“I believe it will slow down a little bit, but not too much,” he said. “It will give people an option whether they want to come in (town) or not.
“If you need to, you’ll stop and get gas and food to eat.”
Bob Evans has welcomed diners in Breezewood for more than 30 years. Today, it is the sole traditional full-service restaurant in town. It’s also one of a limited number of locations in the chain that include a gift shop.
“I think people will still stop here,” part-time manager Alex Francis said when considering how the eatery might fare after interchange reconstruction. “I think if people want something to eat, they’ll probably still come in.”
Joan LaSalle, a longtime local resident and co-owner of a Breezewood engine and chassis shop, lamented the town’s decline through the decades.
“As a kid, I remember all these really nice hotels and nice restaurants,” she said. “There were lots of choices of food.
“As time went on, it just started dying. People moved away and buildings were abandoned.”
LaSalle, who has served on the township planning commission, thinks the smaller number of gas stations and fast food eateries that are left should continue to survive.
But, she said, after the interchange is revised, “We’re going to have to step up our game to make people stop. We have to have clean, well-stocked, friendly places for people.”
She pointed out that the lower gasoline tax in Maryland may provide an incentive for some motorists to keep driving south on I-70.
East Providence Township covers about 50 square miles with a population of 1,760, according to the 2020 census.
At the end of the 2023-24 academic year, the Everett Area School District closed the local Breezewood Elementary School, where enrollment had dropped to about 60.
The township supervisors could not be reached for comment.
Kellie Goodman Shaffer, president and CEO of the Bedford County Chamber of Commerce, said the organization doesn’t have a say concerning the interchange project, which she noted is still early in the planning stages.
“We’ll support the (Breezewood) businesses in any way that we can,” she said. “We’ll do our best to make the most of whatever the situation is.”
Trail draws interest
Director Dennis Tice said the Bedford County Visitors Bureau will need to make plans for how to continue engaging visitors down the road, after changes have occurred at the Breezewood interchange.
“It is something we need to deal with in the future,” he said, noting the bureau needs to gather more information about the project. “We have not made hard plans yet.”
Turnpike officials have suggested the redesigned interchange could improve the quality of life and economy in the community while offering connections to local biking and hiking trails. The western access point for The Old PA Pike Trail is in the Breezewood area.
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The 13-mile trail, which is under the auspices of the Bedford/Fulton Joint Recreation Authority, follows 13 miles of an abandoned section of the turnpike, including two tunnels.
With the trail passable but still in a raw state, Tice said, “We don’t promote it much, but it has been of interest to a lot of visitors. Of all the trails we have, it’s the one that generates the most interest.”