Daily News Briefs, September 20, 2024

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Illinois Tollway Contract Awards Draw Attention To Mentoring Program

The Illinois Tollway Authority board approved three professional engineering services contracts totaling more than $10.8 million during its monthly meeting yesterday. The awardees were:

  • R.M. Chin and Associates, Inc. (Chicago), for construction management services related to the I-490 Tollway project ($4.8 million);
  • Cotter Consulting (Burr Ridge, IL), for construction management services upon request systemwide ($3 million); and
  • H.W. Lochner, for planning studies upon request systemwide ($3 million).

Two of the three contracts involve Partnering For Growth program mentorship opportunities. The program “encourages primes and subs to assist disadvantaged, minority and women-owned business enterprise (D/M/WBE) firms and veteran-owned small businesses (VOSBs) in remaining self-sufficient, competitive and profitable. More than 260 mentoring agreements have been put in place since the program started. While the majority of agreements include prime firms mentoring subs, in some cases reverse Partnering for Growth agreements have subs stepping up to assist the prime firms.”

Highway-Tunnel-Bridge Maintenance Illinois Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (IL Tollway) Transportation and Infrastructure Leadership And Workforce Diversity

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NTTA Board Elected Officers And Welcomed New Member

The North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) announced the results of a recent board officers election and the seating of a new board member.

Over the next year, Scott Levine and Mojy Haddad will serve as NTTA chair and vice chair, respectively. Lorelei Griffith and Karen Madison-Ponds were elected board secretary and assistant board secretary, respectively. Horatio Porter will be the board treasurer, and Kelley McGuire, assistant board treasurer.

Prominent attorney Andy Wambsganss was sworn during the meeting as a new Tarrant County representative.

NTTA noted that former chair Marcus Knight remains a board member representing Dallas County.

Appointments-Promotions-Retirements Dallas-Ft. Worth Metro Region (DFW) North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) Texas

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Smishing Scam Is Getting More Sophisticated, Says Oklahoma Turnpike Spokesperson

Oklahoma Voice reports, “Scammers are trying to get into the wallets of Oklahoma Turnpike Authority [OTA] customers. Many people have been receiving text messages indicating they owe tolls” and luring them into becoming smishing victims. OTA spokesperson Lisa Shearer-Salim sees evidence the scam has gotten more sophisticated over the past two week. “Text messages are sent leading to websites that closely mimic the agency’s, she said,” in addition to advising the public how to spot and handle fake messages. (An article photo shows a fraudulent text that includes an authentic OTA logo.)

Shearer-Salim indicated OTA “is being proactive and having fraudulent websites removed.” She also noted that turnpike customers who fall victim to smishing remain financially responsible for paying legitimate toll invoices.

KTUL also covers the surge of text messaging by OTA imposters.

AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Crime Beat ETC Systems Oklahoma Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) PIKEPASS

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These are just some of the toll industry developments TRN is following.

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