- For North Texas, a Toll Road Penalty?
- Bertha's Breakdown Results in $223 Million in Cost Overruns
- Roughly 500 RiverLink Accounts Opened on Day One
- Treasure Island to Hire Consultant to Develop Tolling Plan
- TN Toll Bridge Project Is Dead
- Auditor General Says PA Pike is Right: Debt Is Unsustainable
- Employers Press Mid-Bay Bridge Authority (FL) for Commuter Discount
- NJ Funding Stalemate Continues as Senate Considers Christie Counteroffer
- TxDOT's SH 249 Extension Spurs Lawsuit Threat by Property Owners
- Alachua County Commission Candidates Agree: No Dice on FDOT Toll Road Proposal
- Locals Object to Delay in Adding Lane to Bay Area Bridge
- Tesla Incidents Won't Turn Federal Regulators against "Self-Driving Car" Technology
- The Crime Beat (New Wrinkle: Fake Transponders!)
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For North Texas, a Toll Road Penalty?
Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that Dallas-Fort Worth transportation officials are worried that the state government “will effectively penalize North Texas” for answering highway expansion and improvement needs by building toll roads. “As the state prepares to portion out tax-supported funds over the next 10 years, North Texas — which has already handled its most glaring traffic problems with an estimated $14 billion investment in roads with a toll component — could see a smaller portion of tax-supported highway dollars,” the newspaper reports.
TexasBertha's Breakdown Results in $223 Million in Cost Overruns
The Seattle Times reports, “Tunnel-machine Bertha’s two-year breakdown will cost Washington state an estimated $223 million in cost overruns, and delay the Highway 99 tunnel grand opening even more — now until early 2019, lawmakers were told [on July 21].” WSDOT officials said they do not yet have a plan for covering the losses, but the state and contractors are cooperating and moving forward in the belief that a funding impasse would only increase costs for everyone in the long run.
Washington StateRoughly 500 RiverLink Accounts Opened on Day One
RiverLink spokeswoman Mindy Peterson reports that the new tolling system had a busy first day: nearly 500 accounts were opened as of 4:15 p.m. Although the majority of customers opened their accounts online, additional staffing was required to serve the people who came to the Jefferson, Indiana, customer service center.
Indiana Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges OhioTreasure Island to Hire Consultant to Develop Tolling Plan
Tampa Bay Times reports that the city commissioners of Treasure Island, Pinellas County, recently voted to “pursue hiring a consultant to come up with a financial plan for tolling.” The city is considering reintroducing toll collection on the Treasure Island Causeway.
FloridaTN Toll Bridge Project Is Dead
Chattanooga Times Free Press reports, “The proposal for a new toll bridge across the Tennessee River in north Hamilton County is dead, the Tennessee Department of Transportation says. The reason: Slower than expected growth and people’s unwillingness to pay a high-enough toll, said Jennifer Flynn, spokeswoman for TDOT.” The proposed bridge was one of several “candidate tolling projects” under study by TDOT.
TennesseeAuditor General Says PA Pike is Right: Debt Is Unsustainable
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, “State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said Wednesday [July 20] he concurs with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s concerns about the amount of debt the agency is carrying and the need for financial relief.” The report adds, ‘“I know for a fact they can’t keep raising tolls or borrowing money because people will quit using the turnpike,”’ Mr. DePasquale said Wednesday. ‘“If that happens, it will put a lot of that traffic on local roads that can’t handle it. Things have to change.”’
PennsylvaniaEmployers Press Mid-Bay Bridge Authority (FL) for Commuter Discount
WEAR-TV News reports that the Mid-Bay Bridge Authority board is hearing more complaints about toll rates from employers in Destin, FL. They say the cost of commuting makes it difficult to fill available jobs. One employer told the board, “We have no employees. I’m putting in the job of 3 to 4 people. I’m getting exhausted.” A proposal to offer a discounted annual pass is before the board.
FloridaNJ Funding Stalemate Continues as Senate Considers Christie Counteroffer
NJ.com reports, “After calling the Senate president’s proposal to end a stalemate over funding for [infrastructure] construction projects ‘ridiculous’ earlier this week, Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday [July 21] delivered a counteroffer. No details of either proposal are known.” NJ.com adds that the governor’s July 8 order to stop construction work during the impasse is “affecting more than 900 road and bridge projects and hundreds more rail projects. . . .”
New JerseyTxDOT's SH 249 Extension Spurs Lawsuit Threat by Property Owners
The Texas Tribune reports that some rural property owners in Grimes County are threatening to sue TxDOT over the routing of a segment of the SH 249 extension, a proposed toll road. The department has rejected the route it originally favored and is now considering two others. An official tells the newspaper, “The fact that we’ve had to look further and adjust that alignment some and go deeper with other alternatives . . . that wasn’t expected or anticipated but [it] did occur, and that’s part of the environmental process.”
TexasAlachua County Commission Candidates Agree: No Dice on FDOT Toll Road Proposal
The Gainesville Sun reports on an Alachua County Commission candidates’ forum at which all four candidates agreed that “a proposal by the Florida Department of Transportation to construct a toll road through the western part of the county to alleviate I-75 congestion is a bad idea.”
FloridaLocals Object to Delay in Adding Lane to Bay Area Bridge
Twin Cities Times (Marin County, CA) reports, “While Caltrans and other transportation officials congratulated themselves while unveiling a plan that would open a third lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge by the end of 2017, some” — including a state assemblyman from Marin — “are wondering why it will take so long.”
CaliforniaTesla Incidents Won't Turn Federal Regulators against "Self-Driving Car" Technology
Politico reports, “Federal regulators aren’t letting recent controversy around Tesla’s semi-autonomous vehicle technology deter them from embracing self-driving cars as part of the future of safety on the nation’s roads. NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind acknowledged ‘the elephant in the room’ during a speech [on July 20] . . . by vowing that ‘no one incident’ would make DOT turn away from the potential those technologies hold for lowering the fatality rate among U.S. drivers.” Rosekind spoke at this week’s Automated Vehicles Symposium 2016.
Self-Driving VehiclesThe Crime Beat (New Wrinkle: Fake Transponders!)
WJLA-TV News (Washington) reports, “Some creative criminals have come up with a new way to cheat you out of your money — by stealing your [E-ZPass transponder] and replacing it with a fake one.” The article spotlights a Laurel, MD, contracting company that lost $52,000 as a result of the scam, which is under police investigation.
Crime Beat Washington (DC) Metro Region