Daily News Brief, July 27, 2016

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$125 Million TX Turnpike Corp. Proposal Draws Criticism

San Antonio Express-News reports, “Residents here [Cibolo] filled a meeting room at a Tuesday night [July 26] town hall to voice worries over the possible construction of a $125 million toll road by the Dallas-based Texas Turnpike Corp., a measure the City Council unanimously voted to explore in June.” The report adds that the proposed “Cibolo Parkway” would be a $125 million, 7-mile-long expansion of FM 1103, beginning at the existing intersection of Wagon Wheel Way and FM 1103 and connecting with I-10. The city is  one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation, according to the report.

Texas

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PA Pike Capital Plan Review Continues

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, “The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s decision last week to review all construction projects came two months after the majority of the five-member board approved a $5.7 billion, 10-year capital plan over the objections of the chairman and vice chairman.” The report adds, “The majority say that they were aware of potential financial shortfalls but the capital plan is a necessary working document. . . . PennDOT Secretary Leslie Richards, who is a member of the commission, said in a statement that a capital plan is important to bond-rating agencies.”

Pennsylvania

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A Crystal Ball Look at Impact of Debt, PennDOT Payments on PA Pike Toll Rates

LancasterOnline.com looks at the daunting math behind the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s debt forecasts, which are driven largely by annual payments to PennDOT for transit operations around the state, and reports, “According to [the newspaper’s analysis], the cumulative impact could mean tolls five times higher than they are today — or $155 (EZ-Pass) to $216 (cash) to cross the state from east to west in a passenger car in 2044 (not including bridge tolls).” Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo tells the newspaper, “‘It’s really impossible to speculate. . . . I think that the 6 percent . . . is just a rough kind of approximation on what would be needed to pay down our debt. Certainly, there are ways we could try to mitigate those increases.’”

Pennsylvania

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MTA Board Takes Up Its Financial Plan and ORT Procurement Process Today

Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY) looks ahead to this morning’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority board meeting at which directors are scheduled to review an update of the authority’s long-range financial plan and preview its 2017 budget. The newspaper adds that toll and fare increases are expected in 2017.

According to board materials (scroll down to Master Page 139), the authority’s Bridges and Tunnels division is also seeking board approval to enter into a competitive RFP process (in lieu of sealed competitive bidding) for anticipated open road tolling projects, including construction and installation of gantries and electrical, communication and power equipment, and demolition of toll booths and other superseded infrastructure.

New York

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Federal Grant for CDOT's Proposed I-25 North Express Lanes

Coloradoan (Ft. Collins) reports, “U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet announced [on July 26] a $15 million federal grant will help add a tolled express lane in each direction” on I-25 between Fort Collins and Loveland. “That grant, added to the $25 million pooled by local communities, gives the Colorado Department of Transportation hope that shovels could hit ground on north I-25 expansion come next fall,” the newspaper says.

Colorado

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New Support for THEA's Selmon Extension Project

Tampa Bay Business Journal reports, “More groups are signing up to support the Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority’s Selmon Extension project. The Brandon Chamber of Commerce has endorsed the 1.6-mile elevated toll road.” THEA’s CEO, Joe Waggoner, tells the newspaper, “The support of the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce demonstrates the benefits provided by the Selmon Extension for residents throughout all of Tampa Bay.”

Florida

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Mass Pike to Offer Some Motorists Toll Relief with New AET System

Boston Globe reports, “Drivers in the Worcester and Springfield areas will gain some relief from Massachusetts Turnpike tolls under an all electronic [tolling] system being tested and set to go live in October.” The report adds, “Jacquelyn Goddard, a spokeswoman for the state transportation department, confirmed that when the gantries go live, drivers in Worcester and Springfield ‘can scoot on and scoot off the Mass Pike between gantries and not pay a toll.’”

AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Massachusetts

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DRJTBC Buys Site for New Headquarters Building

BucksLocalNews.com reports that local officials in Pennsylvania have agreed to sell 10.2 acres of public property adjacent to the Scudder Falls Bridge site to the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission, which will locate a new 23,040-square-foot headquarters building on the site. An underutilized park-and-ride commuter parking lot currently occupying part of the property will be reduced in size.

Pennsylvania

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New Garden State Parkway Bridge Set to Open in August

NJ.com reports, “Drivers on the southbound Garden State Parkway will have a new bridge to use starting in August. A new Great Egg Harbor bridge has been under construction since 2013, and is being built next to two existing Parkway bridges.”

New Jersey

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UDOT Discovers High Rate of I-15 HOT Lane Violations

KSTU-TV News (Salt Lake City) reports that a Brigham Young University study conducted in cooperation with UDOT reveals that about twenty percent of the motorists using the I-15 Express Lanes are violators. (Lane rules, which are visually enforced, give priority to HOV-2 vehicles and require solo drivers to have an Express Pass transponder.) UDOT plans more education and enforcement efforts, but will increase tolls or vehicle occupancy requirements if necessary.

Utah

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Fitch Expects Continued Growth of Australian Toll Roads Traffic

Fitch Ratings has released a report on the outlook for the Australian transportation sector (stable) that concludes, among other things, “Toll roads will benefit from continuing healthy economic growth. . . .” In a news release, Fitch notes, “Toll-road traffic has remained robust in 2016 following the completion of road-expansion works, continuing the trend of recent years. In the nine months to March 2016, traffic growth on Transurban’s Sydney network grew by 7.7% year-on-year, with a slower pace in Melbourne and Brisbane. Fitch expects overall traffic growth in the low- to mid-single digits for the agency’s rated Australian road portfolio in 2016.”

Australia

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Tolling Proposed to Keep CA Tourist Route Open in Winter

Visalia Times-Delta reports that Porterville, California, officials and local business owners are looking for ways to keep a segment of Tulare County Road M90 (the Great Western Divide Highway) open to tourists during winter, and one proposal is to toll the road to provide funds for snow and ice removal.

California

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New Toll Collection Scam Reported in Arkansas

KFSM-TV News (Ft. Smith, AR) reports on a local couple who received several letters purportedly from the Illinois Tollway demanding payment for tolls and fines. “The letters look authentic with an Illinois Tollway graphic, photo of a car and license plate [not the couple’s] and even a return envelope for payment.” The Arkansas Attorney General’s Office tells the station the letters are fraudulent.

Arkansas Illinois

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Former Mass Pike Toll Collector Turned Author Laments AET

Boston Globe publishes an op-ed by toll collector turned author Roland Merullo who recounts his days in the booth, noting, “Anyone who deals with the public knows there’s a particular weight to engaging humanity in all its various manifestations.” He adds, “For the most part, though, the days were a blur of greasy bills and slippery quarters, a parade of expressionless faces.”

AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Massachusetts

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