california

We wrote January 26 that toll financing was never discussed for the $1,045m Presideo Parkway, one of the approaches to the Golden Gate Bridge. That's because an official at Caltrans emailed us in response to a query about why tolls hadn't been discussed: "No discussion about tolls and none anticipated." We were misled.

Bay Area Toll Authority's (BATA) oversight committee after public hearings and discussion is recommending to the board that different peak, off-peak and weekend toll rates for autos be introduced at their big Bay Bridge and flat rate toll increases be adopted at the other six bridges. Truck tolls would more than double. And for the first time in the Bay Area tolls would be collected from carpool vehicles (mostly 3 or more occupants.)

TransCore have the contract to modernize the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) toll systems for their seven toll bridges.

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.

San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge was closed Tuesday evening and remained closed today after steel girders and plates collapsed onto the upper deck of the two level span. The debris was part of patchwork repairs made September 5 through 7 after cracks had been discovered in the truss structure of the old span.

This old span is in process of being replaced with a new cable stayed bridge going up alongside.

Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) are next week requesting proposals for a new toll system called ATCAS II to serve their seven toll bridges in the San Francisco Bay area. The existing system is called ATCAS which stands for Advanced Toll Collection and Accounting System. Advanced back then in the early 1990s meant Intel 386-based PCs running MS DOS as lane controllers, which BATA now wants replaced. (ADDITION: We worked from a slightly incomplete version of the RFP.

US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez today sided with radical environmentalists in southern California rejecting the alignment for the 241 Foothill South (CA241) tollroad that has been supported by USDOT, USEPA, US Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as by the state of California and local governments in the area as well as the local public Foothill/Eastern toll

There's strong public support for completing the 241 Toll Road (Foothill South) in Orange County California despite an unscrupulous and noisy campaign of opposition, magnified by an antagonistic Los Angeles Times and other local media. In southern Orange County where the tollroad will be built a survey of 757 voters shows 58% support completion while 31% oppose with 10% undecided.

Construction of the last leg of the Foothill South Toll Road (CA241) to join the I-5 in San Onofre California will have no discernible effects on the famous surf beach nearby, a famous oceanography has concluded.

With the prospect looming of a federal coastal permit for the Foothill South tollroad in southern Orange County California a native American group has cut a deal with The Toll Roads. David Bedares head of one Juaneno tribe with burial grounds and other tribal interest in parts of the tollroad corridor has signed a settlement agreement under which The Toll Roads will provide $350k compensation in return for acceptance of the tollroad.

The Federal Highway Administration is urging the US Secretary of Commerce to override a state coastal commission's bar to the Foothill South Toll Road (FSTR) in southern Orange County California.

The Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) have filed an appeal with the US Secretary of Commerce asking the US Government to overrule an attempt by the extreme environmentalist California Coastal Commission (CCC) to block completion of their CA241 Foothill Toll Road in San Clemente, between Los Angeles and San Diego. The CCC comprises mostly leftists opposed to road construction who think government should "get people out of cars". They voted Feb 6 against the tollroad 8 to 2.

Radicals with an anti-car/anti-road/anti-wealth agenda on the California Coastal Commission voted 8 to 2 last night against the Orange County TCA toll authority's application for approval for the CA241 Foothill South tollroad extension which will link the stub end of the tollroad in Rancho Santa Margarita with the I-5 in San Clemente.

The long running dispute over completing the CA241 Foothill Toll Road with the 26km (16 mile) Foothill South extension goes to the California Coastal Commission Wednesday Feb 6.

A small portion of the Transportation Corridors Agencies tollroad where it meets I-5 comes within the jurisdiction of the Commission because it is within a coastal zone.

There's a potential east-west tollroad of 80km (50 miles) between Palmdale and Victorville in the high desert country just over the mountains north of Los Angeles. A Request for Proposals (RFP) has been issued by the High Desert Corridor Joint Powers Authority, an agency of San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties within whose jurisdiction the proposed corridor lies. The authority was formed about a year ago to develop the highway.

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is planning another push to get legislation passed to facilitate public private partnerships (PPPs). Previous efforts to get law more hospitable to private sector ownership of infrastructure including toll concessions have run into opposition from civil service unions and their supporters in the Democratic Party which has majorities in both houses of the legislature.