1-81 construction
stretches to 2010
By JESSICA WEBER
Staff Writer
JLWsso6@psu.edu
Orange Signs. Orange Cones.
Reflectors hitting the light
and workers in bright yellow
vests. These are the colors of
construction. There are several
construction projects planned
for the Harrisburg area in
November that are going to affect
commuters.
According to Pat Kelly of
PennDOT there is only one month
of construction time left before
winter. One major project just
starting is the reconstruction of
the George Wade Bridge. The
construction will take place on
a stretch of 1-81 in Cumberland
County, Susquehanna Township,
and Harrisburg. There will be
three lanes open going northbound
and southbound including an
express lane. This construction
will cause some delays and will
be completed by May 2012.
On 1-81 going northbound and
southbound from exit 48 in South
Middleton Twp. to the George
Philly transit strike a tough sell in down economy
By KATHY MATHESON
Associated Press Writer
Even in the best of times,
waking up to a surprise transit
strike is like a bad dream come
true. When the sudden walkout
comes during an economic
downturn, it becomes more like
a public relations nightmare.
The Philadelphia transit system’s
largest union went on strike early
Tuesday over wage, pension and
health care issues, stalling the
city’s bus, subway and trolley
operations and forcing thousands
of commuters to find other ways
to get to work and to Election
Day polls.
“I think they have a lot of
nerve to ask for more money
in this economy,” said
Robert Washington, of west
Philadelphia, who relied on his
bicycle to get to his office job
downtown. “There are people
who don’t have jobs who would
love to have one of their jobs. It’s
arrogant.”
The sudden strike by Transport
Workers Union Local 234 all
but crippled the Southeastern
Pennsylvania Transportation
Wade Bridge in East Pennsboro
Township there will be some
concrete patching and paving.
This may result in shifting
traffic patterns and temporary
lane restrictions which could
cause delays until July 2010
- the expected completion date
according to the PennDOT
website.
Also, on PA 441 in Middletown
there will be some paving going
both directions so drivers can
expect shifting traffic patterns
and temporary lane constrictions.
The construction will stretch for
2.06 miles. PennDOT stated that
this project is supposed to be
completed by this December.
For commuters the construction
should not cause too many delays.
For student and commuter Austin
Rhoads, it takes twenty five
minutes to commute to campus
and the construction could be a
hassle, “Road construction is really
annoying and gets old real quick
but it needs to get done especially
around here,” Rhoads says. With
a slight delay and another month
the roads should be clear of all
those colors of construction.
Authority, which averages more
than 928,000 trips each weekday.
No new negotiations were
scheduled Tuesday.
Labor experts agree that a
walkout over wages in a down
economy is a hard sell. Striking
transit workers may have a tough
time earning the sympathy of
passengers who are losing their
own jobs and taking salary cuts,
said Harley Shaiken, a labor
studies professor at the University
of Califomia-Berkeley.
“For public employees during
a tough recession, it’s more
difficult, but not impossible, to
gain broader support,” Shaiken
said. “The key is convincing
people that your victory benefits
them rather than comes at their
expense.”
Gov. Ed Rendell, who helped
mediate negotiations for the past
four days, was stunned when the
union walked out on a proposed
deal that included an 11.3 percent
wage increase over five years.
Given the recession, layoffs and
salary freezes in other sectors,
Rendell said SEPTA’s offer was
“sensational.”
“It’s just an excellent contract in
the context of the times,” he said.
“It was, in my judgment, nuts
New software helps avoid
‘overloads’ on finals week
By ALLISON MILLS
Assistant Editor
MXA932@psu.edu
Penn State Harrisburg changed its
system of scheduling final exams
this semester from the old matrix
method to match University
Park’s method. Most Penn State
campuses now use the software
Infosilem for generating final
exam schedules, but many other
colleges still use a matrix system,
according to PSH Registrar,
Margaret Boman.
“[The change] was all about
service,” said Boman. Students
and professors can now access
their personalized final exam
schedules through eLion.
Another advantage of the new
scheduling system is that only
classes giving final exams will
be scheduled. Approximately
340 courses were schedule for
finals this semester. “As part of
the program, we needed to know
who was offering finals and who
wasn’t so we’re able to schedule
just the space that’s in use during
final exam week. In the past, we
to walk out. I think the SEPTA
workers would have jumped at
Several messages left with the
union by The Associated Press
seeking further comment on the
negotiations were not returned
Tuesday.
As recently as Monday evening,
union officials had given no
walkout deadline as talks
continued. So early morning
commuters on Tuesday were
bewildered and frustrated by
locked subway stations and
vacant bus stops.
“Everybody hates SEPTA, and
this is why,” said Ranisha Allen,
who said she had no option but
to count on the kindness of car
owning neighbors to get her to
work from her north Philadelphia
home. “These people go on strike
and they don’t think about people
they hurt, people who can’t get
to work, kids who can’t get to
school.”
Willie Brown, the local’s
president, said workers decided
to strike at 3 a.m. Tuesday after
both sides agreed that they had
gone as far as they could in
negotiations.
Generally speaking, management
can afford to be tougher in an
sort of assumed that everyone was
giving a final, and so all space was
in use,” said Boman.
Boman said the new method
is a lot clearer and easier to
understand. Interpreting the
schedule composed by the matrix
system confused students and even
some professors, she said. Now,
however, students and professors
only need to log into eLion to
view their schedules.
All went smoothly with the
new software until the time
came to upload the schedule into
eLion. To do so, said Boman, the
schedule is sent to University
Park through a pass-through file.
When University Park updated
their final exam schedule, no one
cleared the pass-through file, so
PSH courses were grouped with
UP courses, which resulted in
multiple locations for PSH finals.
This issue was resolved as of
Thursday, Oct. 15.
Despite the new system, which
Boman predicted will decrease
the number of problems in the
future, students still had conflicts.
Boman said only a handful
of direct conflicts, or having
economic downturn in part
because more labor is available,
said Robert Trumble, director of
the Virginia Labor Studies Center
at Virginia Commonwealth
University.
At the same time, he said,
workers are more determined to
hang on to what they have and
tend to look more critically at
things like income distribution.
Philadelphia did avoid a black
eye over the weekend after the
union, which represents more
than 5,000 SEPTA drivers,
operators and mechanics, held
off on its threat to strike while
the city hosted three World
Series games. The subway ferries
thousands of fans to the baseball
stadium.
But coming as it did on Election
Day, there were complaints
that voters scrambling to find
alternate transportation would be
left with no time to cast ballots.
A judge turned down a request to
keep polls open an hour later.
Wednesday will be another
test as the Philadelphia public
schools, which were closed for
Election Day, reopen. On an
average weekday, about 54,000
public and parochial students
take SEPTA to school.
exams scheduled for the same
time, needed to be resolved. The
registrar’s office also resolved
about 40 overload conflicts, or
having three exams scheduled in
back-to-back time slots. Theperiod
to resolve an overload conflict
ended on Oct. 18, but students
may still request a resolution by
contacting the registrar’s office,
located in Swatara Building.
The biggest complaint with the
new system is having classes
scheduled on a day other than the
days the class meets, said Boman.
But the system is set up this way
to avoid overload conflicts, said
Boman.
Another disadvantage of
switching to the Infosilem is that
the final exam schedule will not
be ready until after the drop/add
period, or about five weeks into the
semester. With the matrix system,
the schedule was available at the
start of classes.
Boman was pleased overall with
the switch. “A final exam schedule
sounds a lot more simple than it
is,” she explained. But overall
it should reduce conflicts and
confusion, she said
“Our expectations are for
students and employees to do
their best to come to school,”
district spokesman Fernando
Gallard said. “We’re just hoping
for the best here.”
The strike also affects buses
that serve the suburbs in Bucks,
Montgomery and Chester
counties. Regional rail service
is still operating, but trains were
delayed as they experienced
larger-than-normal crowds.
Union workers, who earn an
average of $52,000 a year, are
seeking an annual 4 percent wage
hike and want to keep the current
1 percent contribution they make
toward the cost of their health
care coverage. They have been
without a contract since March.
SEPTA was offering an 11.5
percent wage increase over five
years, with a $1,250 signing
bonus in the first year, and
increases in workers’ pensions,
SEPTA spokesman Richard
Maloney said.
“We’re very anxious to get back
to the bargaining table, ASAP,”
Maloney said. “We haven’t heard
back from them.”
A 2005 SEPTA strike lasted
seven days, while a 1998 transit
strike lasted for 40 days.