Daily News Briefs, February 8, 2017

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DRPA to Hire Private Collectors to Work Weekends, Holidays for Nearly $1 Million

Courier-Post reports, “The Delaware River Port Authority expects to pay a private employment agency nearly $1 million this year to provide toll collectors on weekends and holidays at its four bridges. DRPA officials said despite an increase over 2016, the use of non-union workers saves the authority money because temporary and part-time collectors are paid less than DRPA toll taker employees.”

Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA)

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Maryland Toll Penalties and Alleged "Poor Customer Service" by E-ZPass Collection System Draw Fire

MarylandReporter.com reports, “Excessive penalties and poor customer service at the E-ZPass electronic toll collection system have put some Marylanders on the path to ‘toll bankruptcy,’ Sen. Roger Manno told the Senate Finance Committee last week. ‘Folks [are] exasperated because they’ve been caught in a system that is not working,’ Manno said. Broad enforcement powers enacted in 2013 to address toll violations have led to wage attachments, financial hardship and non-renewal of vehicle registrations at MVA, witnesses testified.” The report adds, however, that Kevin Reigrut, the new Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) executive director, “told the senators that only a tiny percentage of drivers have been affected. ‘I don’t want to minimize the pain that certain customers have gone through, but running the numbers only .001% wound up in a circumstance’ like this. . . . He said 99.3% of Maryland toll customers are paying their tolls without incident.”

AET (All-Electronic Tolling) E-ZPass Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA)

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"Surprise Move" Puts Two Miami-Dade Officials on MDX Board. Toll Revenue Eyed as Funding for Rail Projects.

Miami Herald reports, “Miami-Dade’s mayor will take a seat on the county’s unpopular toll board at a time when elected officials want the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority to use its surging revenue to help pay for new rail projects. The surprise move by the County Commission on Tuesday [February 7] installs Mayor Carlos Gimenez as one of nine MDX board members, along with Commissioner Audrey Edmonson. The County Commission fills five of the seats, and broke with past practice Tuesday by naming one of its own and the mayor instead of civilians.”

Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX)

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CTRMA's New Board Members Include a Newspaper Executive and a River Authority Member

Community Impact Newspaper reports, “For the first time in five years, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority will have new faces on its board of directors. On Tuesday [February 7], Williamson County commissioners approved appointing John Miri from the Lower Colorado River Authority and Amy Ellsworth from Community Impact Newspaper to the Mobility Authority’s board with a 4-1 vote. Precinct 1 Commissioner Terry Cook, who was elected in November, was the lone dissenter and said she could not support the appointments.”

Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA)

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As San Antonio Region Booms, Tolls Could Be in the Cards

KENS reports, “Every day, 150 new cars are registered in our area, according to the San Antonio Mobility Coalition,” and the region is not keeping up with the demands on its highway system. The Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization “has already set aside $17.6 billion” for new projects, and “has another $26 billion worth of projects that are needed to keep up with all the new cars, but doesn’t know where the money to fund those is going to come from. Many experts agree that could eventually mean tolls.”

Texas

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CFX Looks at Delaying Planned Toll Hike until 2017

News 96.5 WDBO reports, “Tolls on several highways in Central Florida are scheduled to increase this summer, but the [Central] Florida Expressway Authority is looking at delaying the price hike until 2018.” The report adds, “As the toll increase policy currently stands, a person spending $100 a month in tolls would end up paying $115 this summer and $132 by 2022. Under a new policy officials are looking into, toll prices wouldn’t increase at all until 2018 and would then increase by about 1.5 cents every year after that.”

Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX)

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Marin Transportation Agency's $7.7 Million Project to Improve Access to Richmond-San Rafael Bridge

Marin Independent Journal reports, “The Transportation Authority of Marin is embarking on a $7.7 million, three-pronged project to improve access for motorists and bicyclists to the [Richmond-San Rafael] bridge.” The report adds that the improvements are “planned to pave the way” for a third bridge lane due to open in November.

Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) San Francisco Bay Area (CA)

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Wyoming Lawmakers Advance Bill to Study I-80's Future and the Findings in a Tolling Report

Casper Star Tribune reports, “The future of Interstate 80 in Wyoming would be the subject of a major study under a bill [Senate File 140] passed out of the Wyoming Senate on Monday [February 6].” The study will “list potential construction and safety improvements – including additional lanes and the reconstruction of I-80’s interchange with Interstate 25 in Cheyenne – as well as ways to pay for those projects.” An I-80 tolling study conducted several years ago will also get consideration.

Wyoming

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Arizona DOT in Final Design Stages of Wrong-Way Drunk Driver Warning System

KPNX reports, “The Arizona Department of Transportation is in the final design stages of [a] wrong-way drunk driver warning system that would be triggered by sensors on roadways. The prototype system involves sensors at key exit ramps on the I-17 that would alert law enforcement of a wrong way driver entering the freeway.”

Arizona

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Ohio Turnpike Eyes Smart Corridors to Test Driverless Vehicles

Toledo Blade reports, “Ohio wants to experiment with changing highway speed limits based on traffic and road conditions at different times during the day in addition to developing ‘smart corridors’ to test driverless vehicles. ‘We’re confident that computer sensors will not fall asleep, shave, put on lipstick, text, or drive drunk,’ Anthony Yacobucci, chief engineer for the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission, told a House Finance subcommittee [on February 7].”

Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission

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As Verrazano Narrows Bridge Goes AET, Brooklynites Want to Stick It to Joyzee

Brooklyn Paper wonders, will the arrival of AET on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge create an opportunity for Brooklyn to stick it to Joyzee? A Park Slope community board, disenchanted with New Jerseyites who use the bridge to avoid paying a toll to enter Brooklyn and Manhattan, wants a two-way toll system abandoned in the 1980s restored.

AET (All-Electronic Tolling)

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Financing for Trump Infrastructure Plan Has "Big Gaps"

Associated Press reports, “President Donald Trump has promised to revitalize America’s aging roads, bridges, railways and airports, but a plan put forward by his economic advisers relies on a transportation financing scheme that hasn’t been tried before and comes with significant risks. The plan was set out just before the election by billionaire leveraged buyout specialist Wilbur Ross, Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, and conservative economics professor Peter Navarro, whom Trump has tapped to head his National Trade Council. They recommended the government allocate $137 billion in tax credits for private investors who underwrite infrastructure projects.”

P3 & Privatization

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Bloomberg: The Best and Worst of P3s

Bloomberg posts an article on P3s stating, “At their best, these public-private partnerships . . . make infrastructure projects faster and cheaper. At their worst — well, ask Chicago about its parking meters.” The report adds, “Some scholars trace the P3 concept back to the Roman Empire, which gave investors contracts to build and operate postal stations and highways. The U.S. chose a different path: New York State sold bonds to build the Erie Canal in the early 19th century after the federal government refused to provide funds.”

P3 & Privatization

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Indiana House Democrats Offer a Transportation Funding Plan, Minus Gas Tax Hike, Tolls

The Times of Northwest Indiana reports that Indiana House Democrats have unveiled their alternative to the House Republicans’ plan for increasing highway funding. It calls for state spending cuts, budget shifts and “freezing already approved business tax reductions” instead of the gas tax increase and tolling some Republican lawmakers favor.

Indiana

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Oregon Legislative Panel Releases Initial Funding Plan That Is, by Design, Light on Specifics

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports, “A joint House and Senate panel of the Oregon legislature is getting down to work this month on crafting a massive transportation funding package. However, an initial plan released by the committee doesn’t list specific projects that would be funded. Democratic House Speaker Tina Kotek said if she has her way, the final legislation won’t include specifics either.”

Oregon

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Opponents of NCDOT's I-77 Project Get Their Day in Court

WSOC reports, “The North Carolina Court of Appeals will hear arguments [today, February 8] in the lawsuit to stop the Interstate 77 widening project. Widen I-77 is arguing North Carolina Department of Transportation’s transfer of power to the company building the lanes I-77 Mobility Partners is unconstitutional.” Click here to see the appellate court record.

I-77 Express Lanes (NC) North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT)

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