widening

A joint venture of Aecom, Greenman-Pedersen (GPI) and Parsons Brinckerhoff will be paid $164m for construction management services on the New Jersey Turnpike $2.5b widening project getting under way. The contract has just been signed. The three engineering firms will be responsible for supporting the Turnpike Authority during the construction.

November 22 and 23 Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) opened 1.4km (0.86 miles) of two extra lanes eastbound on the FL408 East-West Expressway over the Lake Underhill Bridge between Conway Rd to Crystal Lake Drive. This links two recently widened segments either side eliminating a "pinch point".

Transportation Corridors Agencies who run The Toll Roads in Orange County California celebrated the opening of a third lane each direction at the 241 or Foothill/Eastern Toll Road this week. For about 6km (4 miles) each direction third lanes have been added in the median of the far northern end of the 241 right up to the connector ramps of the interchange with the CA91 freeway.

Maine Turnpike Authority's ten year plan forecasts much slower growth in traffic, and as a result a widening project through the western edge of the Portland area is being deferred at least five years. Traffic on the Maine Turnpike grew steadily from around 100k/day in 1990 to an average 170k/day in 2004 and remained at about that level through 2007.

A lot of the campaigning for the next governor in New Jersey is about who will get the most windmills erected and taxes contained and jobs saved, but incumbent Gov Jon Corzine is making a major pitch for enhancing tollroad capacity, showing up at two big groundbreakings in recent days, playing for the cameras.

July 2 Corzine and leading officials were at Hightstown for ceremonies to celebrate a start on widening the NJ Turnpike Exits 6 to 9.

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has finished a total reconstruction and third laning on the westernmost 15km (10 miles) of the east-west mainline.

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission have suspended further work on a 10km (6 mile) rebuild project and a new all electronic toll (AET) interchange on the northwest fringe of the Philadelphia area because of inability to gain acceptance of normal stormwater basins. They said in a March 24 letter that local demands for expensive poured concrete stormwater storage or dispersion technologies rather than regular stormwater dams make the project unaffordable.

Kris Kolluri, the departing chairman of the New Jersey Turnpike is reported as saying Governor Corzine is hot for a start on the big Turnpike widening project. NJBIZ this afternoon quotes Kolluri as saying: "Governor Corzine told me he wants the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway with shovels in the ground by January. But I said to him, 'Give me time until March and April.' "

Senate leaders are discussing with the Corzine administration a private toll concession to manage truck and bus lanes on the New Jersey Turnpike. Richard Cody, president of the senate and Raymond Lesniak chair of an economic committee are both reported by Joe Donahue in the Star-Ledger as saying they are looking at a partial toll concession - either for truck and bus lanes or for premium service lanes for cars.

Kansas Turnpike Authority has embarked on its largest rebuild project, letting a contract for new bridges over the Kansas River in Lawrence and reconstruction of interchanges and a toll plaza on one side. Project cost is around $140m of which construction is $113m. The existing steel truss bridges are 52 years old - they go back to the original construction of the Turnpike - and are judged in need of replacement.

Florida Turnpike Mainline through the Orlando area is changing from being a longdistance highway to one with a heavy local traffic load. Tuesday night (Mar 7) the Turnpike Enterprise took away the barriers on the first wider segment between I-4 and FL528 aka Beachline West Expressway, about 7km (4.5 miles). It is now 4+4 lanes compared to the original 2+2 lanes going back to original construction in 1965.

Indiana Toll Road Concession Company (ITRCC) has opened the first stretch of widened roadway - 2.8km (1.8 miles) - at the eastern end of a stretch of 16km (10 miles) being widened with a third travel lane plus inside shoulder each direction.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority is moving ahead with detailed engineering on its largest widening project in two decades - taking 56km (35mi) of mostly 3+3 roadway to 3+3+3+3 lanes which the Turnpike calls "dual-dual" roadway.

They say that the gambling houses of Atlantic City want to make it easy for customers to get there, but they don't give a damn how you get out. Evidence: the Atlantic City Expressway (ACE) into town eastbound has three lanes and you fly, while the expressway westbound out of town has only two lanes, and you crawl.

Ten and 15 years ago it was tough to get political support for road widening in the US.