FHWA

An FHWA spokesman has responded to our strong criticism of their toll 'facilities' data. In what follows they take a sentence from my criticism and comment. We've laid it out FHWA: with their quote and response, and EDITOR: is our response.

Want to see how your federal taxes get misspent? Just go to the Federal Highway Administration's effort to collect data on toll facilities. A toll facility is a road, bridge or tunnel where a toll is collected for passage, right?

Under the heading "Toll Facilities in the United States" the FHWA have a hodgepodge listing not of toll facilities as the heading promises but of organizations connected with toll facilities.

With just one 'slot' to allocate for tolling under the reconstruction pilot program the USDOT/FHWA has given conditional approval to North Carolina's application to toll its 183 miles of I-95 between Virginia and South Carolina to support a $4.4 billion reconstruction.

October was the eighth month in which the trend line for total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on US roads declined in the second dip of the great recession, according to "Travel Monitoring" data released today by FHWA Office of Highway Policy Information.

Populist left Democrat congressmen scored points with their far-left and labor union base this week when they got the FHWA chief Victor Mendez to rescind $1.5m granted earlier in the year to study financial options for the Ohio Turnpike. Ohio will find its own money to continue with procurement of a consultant for the study which will look at a longterm concession lease or 'privatization' of the Turnpike - among various options.

A Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) study finds tolling of longer combination vehicles (LCVs) on a key link between the Chicago and Boston areas won't finance the project. The study finds that tolls on LCVs (mostly for long double trailer trucks) on a newly built truckway between the Ohio Turnpike near Cleveland and the western end of the New York State Thruway would not come close to being financially viable.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Offices of Operations and Innovative Program Delivery have launched a new webinar series, entitled “Overcoming the Challenges of Congestion Pricing.” These webinars are aimed at state and local agencies that are currently in the process of implementing or would like to implement congestion pricing; decision-makers/political leaders who want to better understand the benefits of congestion pricing; metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) that may be interested in incorporating pricing into their planning activities; and others who just want to lear

The word 'freeway' in road signs is a source of confusion at a time of increased toll financing. The Washington Post's Dr Gridlock gives this example, a letter from Paula Wiley of Silver Spring: "If you are driving the Intercounty Connector heading east and approaching the current final exit, the sign says the 'Freeway ends shortly.' Really? FREEway? For whom?"

Patrick DeCorla-Souza emails that the deadline for submissions to the Value Pricing Pilot Program has been extended from January 18, 2011 to February 2, 2011, at 5 PM, Eastern. 

- by Jerry Werner and Peter Samuel   Regular road construction conjures up images of brawny asphalt paving contractors getting together at a hamburger joint to agree whose turn it is to put in the "low" bid for local state highway work, and discussing which official needs to be "helped" in order to ensure that "that new bastard" - not "one of us" - is kept off the list of "qualified contractors."