News

2013-04-17: HB1197 introduced in the state legislature today by Republicans would abolish the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission turning its storied turnpike over to the state DOT. The bill's prime sponsor was state Representative and deputy Whip Donna Oberlander from Clarion in the northwest of the state.

2013-04-15: The Toll Roads as they are branded in Orange County California are due to go cashless and all-electronic (AET) in the spring of 2014 according to announcement of contracts the boards of the Transportation Corridors Agencies have just approved with TransCore.

Maryland's general assembly has passed HB420, a bill bringing state law into line with video toll practice. And it gives the state toll authority (Maryland Transportation Authority or MdTA) the power to adopt reciprocal agreements with other states to collect out-of-state video tolls. HB420 was supported by MdTA and the governor is expected to sign it into law. It would go into effect July 1.

2013-04-12: The US Department of State announced today that it has issued the US Presidential Permit that represents the last federal authorization needed for the proposed New International Trade Crossing (NITC) toll bridge that the Canadian Government plans to have built 1.8 miles downriver of the Ambassador Bridge.

A study on the 241 and 73 tollroads in Orange County says that they have unsustainable debt and accuses the Transportation Corridors Agencies of a long record of financial mismanagement.

2013-04-10: After three-and-a-half months operation Los Angeles Metro's 110 ExpressLanes (110XLs) are pretty steadily ramping up volumes while maintaining a solid speed advantage for tollpayers, eligible carpoolers, and buses. But the ExpressLanes are being run with some spare capacity at around 1,000 vehicles/lane/hour. Speeds in the general purpose lanes have dropped a bit.

2013-04-09: A state representative for Detroit and mayoral candidate Fred Durhal (Dem) is seeking a court ruling to void Michigan Governor Rick Synder's agreement allowing the Canadian Government to build a new toll bridge over the Detroit River, downstream of the Ambassador bridge.  In a statement Rep Durhal says his lawsuit seeks to establish the legislature's role in authorizing the project and any agreement with the Canadians.

All too often the state is tempted into activities to which it is either ill-suited or which are beyond its capabilities… It begins to believe that it knows how to manage business. But let me tell you, it doesn't, as we discovered in Britain in the 1970s….

2013-04-08: The Kansas Turnpike lives on, kind of. Governor Sam Brownback's surprise move late January to disband the Authority and turn the state's big tollroad over to the state DOT has been soundly defeated in the state legislature. Late last week the state house and senate agreed on changes to save face for the Governor - they're all Republicans.

2013-04-07: An angry Penn Pike worker writes - You have nothing nice to say ever about the PA Turnpike. You didn't find it newsworthy that one of my coworkers was KILLED in the line of duty in October 2012. And you print an article from a motorist who said we stand around and do nothing. You are truly clueless. You didn't think this was newsworthy on your site?