- Two Bidders in the Running for VDOT's I-66 Outside the Beltway Toll Lanes Project
- Currituck Toll Bridge Construction Estimate Climbs as Traffic Projections Drop and Opponents Press Their Case
- MassDOT on New AET Rates: This Is Not a Toll Hike.
- TxDOT's $100 Million Plan to "Untangle" the I-35 North
- Larimer County (CO) Approves Local Cost-Sharing Plan for I-25 Toll Lane Project
- OTA Gears Up for AET Pilot Project
- Williamson County Commissioners Approve Studies for 45 Toll Extension
- Streetsblog Hits the TX SH 130 Bankruptcy
- Cintra Exec Hits San Antonio Newspaper for Editorial on TX SH 130 Bankruptcy
- NY Assembly Majority Leader Says AET Is Likely in NY Thruway's Future
- Bridgegate Testimony: Baroni Described as Governor Christie's "Attack Dog"
- Small Crowd for Trucker's Rally Against RI Toll Plan
- Google's Sidewalk Labs Partners with 17 Cities to Study and Test Mobility Technologies
- Fitch Issues Short-Term Rating Correction (MTA Bridge and Tunnel Bonds)
- Moody's on Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District Bonds, TIFIA Loan
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Two Bidders in the Running for VDOT's I-66 Outside the Beltway Toll Lanes Project
WTOP News reports, ‘Two private bids to build and operate toll lanes on Interstate 66 outside the Capital Beltway appear to meet Virginia’s terms to limit state subsidies for the lanes, the state’s transportation secretary said in an interview. The bid deadline had been extended twice, but Aubrey Layne told WTOP [on October 18] that the two interested teams submitted bids in time that include creative alternative designs — which, in some cases, could reduce costs.” Layne expects the preferred bid to be announced sometime next month.
Express Lanes Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)Currituck Toll Bridge Construction Estimate Climbs as Traffic Projections Drop and Opponents Press Their Case
The Virginian-Pilot reports, “An updated report shows the cost to build the Mid-Currituck Bridge to Corolla could rise by up to $85 million [to an estimated $569 million to $679 million]. Meanwhile, estimates of summer traffic on N.C. 12 – one problem the bridge is meant to fix – are falling even without the bridge. The project . . . has risen and fallen in priority over more than 25 years despite strong support from elected officials.” The proposed two-lane toll bridge across Currituck Sound, including approaches and connectors, would measure 7 miles. Kym Hunter, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents the group opposing the bridge, tells the newspaper, “With the higher cost estimates, toll rates could rise up to $50 for a one-way trip on a summer Saturday.”
North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT)MassDOT on New AET Rates: This Is Not a Toll Hike.
WCVB News reports that MassDOT Secretary Stephanie Pollack, in an AET media briefing, covers the waterfront, reminding motorists of the discount available for Massachusetts E-ZPass transponder users. On new toll rates, Pollack says, “This is not a toll increase. This is a rate-setting process.” The report adds, “Overall the state expects toll revenues to slightly decrease, dropping from $128.1 million to $127.7 million on the portion of the Pike from Weston westward, and dropping from $225 million to $216.3 million on what’s called the Metropolitan Highway System – encompassing the eastern part of the Pike, the Tobin Bridge and the harbor tunnels.” Pollack also touched on privacy and data retention issues, saying “the department would work to secure and ultimately dispose of data collected by the system, holding onto it only for the purposes of billing.”
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) Massachusetts TurnpikeTxDOT's $100 Million Plan to "Untangle" the I-35 North
The Dallas Morning News reports, “That miserable stretch of highway just north of downtown Dallas where Woodall Rodgers Freeway and the Dallas North Tollway flow into Interstate 35E is getting a makeover. State officials say they can loosen traffic there by 2019 — without redoing a single main lane. State funds totaling $100 million were approved for the project earlier in the year. This week, the Texas Department of Transportation offered more details about how it will change the 2-mile stretch of I-35E dubbed Lowest Stemmons.” The newspaper provides a detailed summary of the project, including a look at how it ties “into the $800 million Horseshoe project, a reconstruction of the highway section south of downtown Dallas where I-35E and I-30 connect. That project is scheduled to be completed next year.”
Texas Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)Larimer County (CO) Approves Local Cost-Sharing Plan for I-25 Toll Lane Project
The Coloradoan reports that the Larimer County Commissioners “formally signed onto an idea that originated in its halls: The county, cities and towns pooling what amounts to about $25 million over five years to help pay for a new toll lane on I-25.” The report adds, “The local dollars make up more than 10 percent of the project, which is expected to cost $235 million. The state will contribute another $165 million and $30 million will come from the federal government.”
Colorado Department of TransportationOTA Gears Up for AET Pilot Project
KWTV News reports, “Drivers must get ready for ‘Plate Pay’ on the Creek Turnpike. The upgraded Peoria-Elm ramps and interchanges in Jenks are getting the new toll technology.” The report adds that the Oklahoma Turnpike has scheduled Plate Pay to start in January 2017. The turnpike authority’s Plate Pay FAQs say, “This is a pilot project for all-electronic tolling on the Oklahoma Turnpike system. The OTA will continue to evaluate all-electronic tolling at other toll [plazas] across the state when necessary.”
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA)Williamson County Commissioners Approve Studies for 45 Toll Extension
CBS Austin reports that the Williamson County commissioners have approved design and environmental studies to extend the 45 Toll Road. According to CBS, “County Judge Dan Gattis says, ‘This is an extension off of 130 going east. There’s a lot of development going in there right in the Gattis School Road area or across 130 from Gattis School Road.’”
TexasStreetsblog Hits the TX SH 130 Bankruptcy
Streetsblog USA reports, “From the beginning, there were plenty of reasons to suspect that Texas 130 — a private toll road between San Antonio and Austin — was a bad idea. For one thing, the state of Texas looked into extending the highway in 2006 and concluded it wouldn’t generate nearly enough toll revenue to pay for construction.”
P3 & Privatization TexasCintra Exec Hits San Antonio Newspaper for Editorial on TX SH 130 Bankruptcy
San Antonio Express-News publishes an op-ed by Patrick Rhode, Cintra’s US Vice President, Corporate Affairs, who takes on the newspaper’s recent editorial about SH 130, writing, “Texas 130 was built without any money from the state of Texas, and the state is not liable for any of the project’s debt. To date, Texas has received more than $140 million in payments from the SH 130 Concession Co. — money that has been used to fund other road projects in the state. And, unlike some public toll roads in Texas that have failed to perform as expected, the state has not provided any financial subsidies to make up for revenue shortfalls on this privately operated and maintained facility. Contrary to your recent editorial, SH 130 Concession Co. is not walking away from either the federal loan or the private bank loans used to finance construction of the facility. These debts will be restructured under a new financial plan, while the original private investors in the concession company have lost all equity.”
P3 & Privatization TexasNY Assembly Majority Leader Says AET Is Likely in NY Thruway's Future
Time Warner Cable News looks at an ongoing debate whether the New York State Thruway could or should go cashless, reporting, “Utica area Republican Sen. Joe Griffo recently sent a letter to the Thruway Authority, urging the creation of eight to 10 new exits, which would be fully-automated.” [Link added.] Assembly majority leader Joe Morelle tells the cable news service that going cashless does raise questions, including revenue loss, but he adds, “I think in time, that’s where we’re going.”
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) New York State Thruway AuthorityBridgegate Testimony: Baroni Described as Governor Christie's "Attack Dog"
The Wall Street Journal reports, “A federal prosecutor on Tuesday [October 18] portrayed a former Port Authority executive as a Trenton insider and consummate political performer who served as an ‘attack dog’ for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. During his questioning of Bill Baroni, who is on trial for his alleged role in the George Washington Bridge lane closures, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Cortes noted multiple instances when he said the defendant had performed at the behest of Mr. Christie, including by ridiculing a U.S. senator at a 2012 hearing on toll increases.”
WNYC News reports, “Bridgegate defendant Bill Baroni underwent his second day of cross examination Tuesday, and prosecutors pummeled his defense: that he was duped by Bridgegate mastermind David Wildstein into going along with a ‘traffic study’ that was important to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. But by attempting to show that Baroni was a Christie insider, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Cortes elicited an image of a hands-on governor who is eager to settle scores with his political opponents.”
New Jersey Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ)Small Crowd for Trucker's Rally Against RI Toll Plan
Providence Journal reports, “Saying truck tolls will raise the price of everything Rhode Islanders buy, Rhode Island Trucking Association leaders urged voters to dismiss from office any legislator who voted for the tolls. At a rally Tuesday morning [October 18] . . . RITA President Chris Maxwell told about 30 supporters, many of them politicians and executives of companies that rely on trucks, that tolling is an inefficient way to raise revenue for roads and bridges.”
NATSO, a rally co-sponsor, issued a statement saying, “Tolling existing bridges in Rhode Island threatens the livelihood of the businesses and commercial truck drivers operating within the state, and jeopardizes the economic health of the towns and communities that rely on them for tax revenues, representatives of several leading industry trade groups said today.”
Rhode IslandGoogle's Sidewalk Labs Partners with 17 Cities to Study and Test Mobility Technologies
The Washington Post reports, “Seventeen U.S. cities have partnered with a Washington-based transportation group and Google’s Sidewalk Labs to figure out how best to tap technology to get people around more smoothly – and help tune up local communities in the process.” The newspaper adds, “The cities will break into working groups to wrestle over the next year with the challenges and opportunities of three hot policy realms: automated vehicles, ride-sharing and big data.”
Fitch Issues Short-Term Rating Correction (MTA Bridge and Tunnel Bonds)
Fitch Ratings issued a correction of its October 14 news release regarding Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority bonds. (The correction removes the short-term rating for two subseries bonds.)
Express Lanes Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT)Moody's on Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District Bonds, TIFIA Loan
Moody’s Investors Service “assigns a Baa2 to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel District’s . . . expected $353.985 million Series 2016 first tier general resolution revenue bonds and the $352.426 million (not to exceed $355 million) subordinate Transportation Infrastructure and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan. . . . The rating outlook is stable.” Moody’s notes that the bond and loan proceeds will help fund CBBTD’s construction of the Parallel Thimble Shoal Tunnel.