The new venture on which the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is embarking should be embraced by motorists who use the toll road. It has the potential to greatly improve the service plazas on which travelers and commercial drivers depend.

The plan also fits well with turnpike finances. Unlike in the past, when 30 percent to 40 percent of service plaza improvement costs were paid with turnpike funds, the proposed upgrade will be fully the responsibility of the private sector.

While, under the plan, the turnpike's non-operating revenue will drop, it is anticipated that the loss of money will be offset by savings resulting from lower service-plaza capital and operating expenses.

March 31 is the deadline for developers to submit proposals to upgrade 21 service plazas. The turnpike expects to select the best development proposal or combination of proposals by Sept. 30, with work targeted to begin in early 2006.

Food variety and services have expanded on the toll road over what they were during the superhighway's initial decades, when turnpike service plazas were synonymous with the name Howard Johnson's. But the plan currently getting under way provides an avenue for many more possibilities.

That's evident from information accompanying the Turnpike Commission's announcement about the private sector's increasing involvement. For example, plans include adding wireless Internet access at the plazas and putting in high-tech hookups for truckers.

Meanwhile, the commission has taken a positive step to ensure that price-gouging for fuel, food and services is not a product of the coming service plaza improvements. The plan stipulates that prices must be competitive with off-the-turnpike food and fuel prices.

A price differential of more than 10 percent for food will be prohibited, and gasoline prices will not be allowed to be more than 4 cents a gallon higher than average prices at three comparable nearby facilities.

The commission should draw up plans for regular monitoring of the price situation and ensure that the monitoring, once it begins, does not become lax.

"We're asking the private sector to . . . design, build, finance, operate, manage and maintain state-of-the-art service plazas," said Bill Capone, a turnpike spokesman.

He said "people have come to expect a high level of service" at the toll road's service plazas and claimed that a high level of service is "what separates us from other toll roads."

Although some motorists might disagree, the prospects for something much better than what currently exists are now very real.

The turnpike's service plaza statistics are significant. It is estimated that approximately 42 million people stop at the plazas each year. They spent $132.6 million for fuel, food and other items in 2003, the last year for which statistics are available.

The expanded private-sector involvement will mean that the commission will be making good on a promise that the extra $100 million a year that will be generated by last year's 42 percent toll increase will be invested in the highway itself.

Indeed, the condition of the highway is about what the commission should be primarily concerned. The private sector is capable of modernizing the service plazas in ways commission members might not be able to envision.

During its more than half-century of existence, the turnpike has witnessed numerous changes and upgrades, from road surface widening, toll-road expansion and elimination of tunnels to the passing of Howard Johnson's grip on service plaza operations. This new private-sector service plaza initiative opens a new era with many great possibilities.

The "granddaddy of superhighways" is showing that its "beard" won't be getting in the way of 21st century traveling needs.