- NY Times: Colorado DOT's $1.7 Billion, I-70 Project Draws Ire, Raises Health and Equity Concerns
- PANYNJ's Bayonne Bridge Goes Cashless and First Customer Is "Thrilled"
- Tulsa Officials Hammer Out Plan with OTA, ODOT to Finish Expressway Project as a Turnpike
- WV Lawmakers Close Loophole on Turnpike's Transfer after Debt Retirement as Governor Campaigns to Keep and Raise Tolls
- NC Governor Cooper Nominates 10 New NCDOT Transportation Board Members
- US Surface Transportation Board Is in "Flux" as IL Tollway Awaits Decision on ROW Dispute with Railroad
- INRIX Report: Congestion Cost US Drivers Nearly $300 Billion in 2016
- NCDOT Pressed to Consider Plan B for Proposed Mid-Currituck Toll Bridge
- Cape May County (NJ) Bridge Commission to Install E-ZPass at Toll Spans
- Escambia County Commissioners to Consider Moving to AET or Eliminating Tolls Altogether at Bob Sikes Bridge
- WA Lawmakers Open Debate on I-5 Bridge Replacement Push
- Mass Turnpike AET "Glitch" Results in Past Due Collection Notices Being Issued
- NJ Newspaper Cheers Crackdown on Scofflaws
- Report Recommending Lombard Street Toll Cost $110,000
- Traffic Experts Spar Over the Math Behind Germany's Proposed Toll for Foreign Drivers
- India Toll Road Operators Still Await Compensation for Demonetization Losses
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NY Times: Colorado DOT's $1.7 Billion, I-70 Project Draws Ire, Raises Health and Equity Concerns
The New York Times looks at CDOT’s I-70 East widening project in Denver and its impact on surrounding neighborhoods, reporting that “Colorado is one of many states continuing to grapple with the legacy of the 1956 Federal Aid Highway Act, which laid the map for thousands of miles of interstates. It also sent many highways rolling through black, immigrant and low-income urban communities, saddling people from the Bronx to Los Angeles with pollution, disease and blight.” Shailen Bhatt, CDOT’s executive director, tells The Times, “We are trying to fix the sins of our fathers and mothers.” The report adds, “Already, children living by the highway have asthma hospitalization rates 40 percent higher than Denver as a whole, and residents die of heart disease at a rate 13 percent greater than the rest of the city, according to city data.”
Colorado Department of Transportation Denver CO Metro RegionPANYNJ's Bayonne Bridge Goes Cashless and First Customer Is "Thrilled"
SILive.com staffs the opening of the Bayonne Bridge’s AET system and elevated roadway, riding with the first driver to cross the span (who arrived at 3 AM). “I really wanted to be the first one over the bridge,” Port Richmond resident Francis Cardamone told the website, “It was thrilling.” The report adds, “The project has been no easy task, particularly since the Port Authority has wanted to maintain the integrity of Othmar Ammann’s original historic design.”
NJ.com also covers the opening and provides a video report.
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) PANYNJTulsa Officials Hammer Out Plan with OTA, ODOT to Finish Expressway Project as a Turnpike
Tulsa World reports, “City leaders will announce a plan early next month to complete the Gilcrease Expressway using a unique funding approach that includes turnpike tolls.” The report adds, “The approach being announced March 10 — while still requiring more pieces to fall into place — will be a multisource funding process to complete the loop with a turnpike and a substantially quicker timeline than current funding allows. . . . ‘It will be a turnpike,’” Deputy Mayor Michael Junk tells the newspaper. The report notes that absent the new funding, the expressway wouldn’t be completed until 2050 – 100 years after it was started.
Oklahoma Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA)WV Lawmakers Close Loophole on Turnpike's Transfer after Debt Retirement as Governor Campaigns to Keep and Raise Tolls
MetroNews reports, “A bill that passed the House of Delegates Transportation Committee Monday afternoon [February 20] would close an apparent loophole in existing state law when it comes to placing the West Virginia Turnpike under the control of the state Division of Highways when the current road bonds are paid off in 2019. The bill (HB 2027) mandates the transfer of the 88-mile toll road on June 30, 2019.” [Link added.]
Associated Press reports, “Gov. Jim Justice touted his highways construction program that would be financed by higher taxes and fees as he launched a statewide tour to promote the plan that he says would create tens of thousands of jobs in West Virginia.” The governor’s plan calls for raising turnpike tolls and using the revenue for off-road projects.
West Virginia West Virginia Parkways Authority (West Virginia Turnpike)NC Governor Cooper Nominates 10 New NCDOT Transportation Board Members
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announced the nomination of ten new members to serve on the North Carolina Department of Transportation Board: Michael S. Fox (Guilford County); Grady Hunt (Robeson County); Valerie D. Jordan (Wake County); Anthony T. Lathrop (Mecklenburg County); The Hon. Daniel F. McComas (New Hanover County); Mr. John R. Pope (Catawba County); Ms. Nina Szlosberg-Landis (Wake County); The Hon. Cullie S. Tarleton (Watauga County); Mr. R. Michael Wells, Sr. (Forsyth County); Mr. Landon G. Zimmer (New Hanover County).
North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT)US Surface Transportation Board Is in "Flux" as IL Tollway Awaits Decision on ROW Dispute with Railroad
Daily Herald (scroll down to “One more thing” heading) reports the US Surface Transportation Board will be in “flux” until President Trump appoints two new members later this year. A pending item on STB’s agenda is the dispute between the Illinois Tollway and the Canadian Pacific Railroad over right-of-way the tollway needs to complete a road around O’Hare Airport. A Chicagoland congressman who serves on the House Transportation Committee tells the newspaper he “doesn’t like the tollway’s odds. ‘I hate to say this — I want the toll road to get done, it’s very important — but I’m afraid the STB’s statutory bias is in favor of freight rail.’”
Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (IL Tollway)INRIX Report: Congestion Cost US Drivers Nearly $300 Billion in 2016
INRIX publishes its “all-new Global Traffic Scorecard” based on an analysis of 1,064 cities (240 in the US) across 38 countries, which it calls the largest-ever study of traffic congestion’s impact. The US ranks as the most congested developed country in the world, with drivers spending an average of 42 hours a year in traffic during peak hours. For the first time, the Traffic Scorecard also provides the direct and indirect costs of congestion to all US drivers, which INRIX estimates to be nearly $300 billion in 2016, an average of $1,400 per driver.
Austin Business Journal follows, reporting, “While Los Angeles still tops the country for the worst overall traffic delays, according to a global study by transportation analytics firm Inrix Inc., Austin now tops the country when measuring what percentage of drivers’ total commute time is spent barely moving — a whopping 28 percent on highways leading in and out of the city.”
TexasNCDOT Pressed to Consider Plan B for Proposed Mid-Currituck Toll Bridge
Daily Advance reports on the “group of residents and property owners from both the Currituck County mainland and the northern Outer Banks want the Tar Heel State’s new chief transportation official to look at what it believes would be a more affordable and less-damaging solution to traffic congestion than the proposed Mid-Currituck Bridge.” The article adds that NCDOT’s “present 10-year statewide master plan calls for a proposed seven-mile, toll-based crossing over the Currituck Sound between Aydlett and Corolla.”
North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT)Cape May County (NJ) Bridge Commission to Install E-ZPass at Toll Spans
Cape May County Herald reports, “The future of Cape May County Bridge Commission toll spans along Ocean Drive from Lower Township to Ocean City will include an E-Z Pass method to pay fees. Freeholders approved a resolution Feb. 14 allowing the county to buy E-Z Pass equipment and related services for the commission not to exceed $500,000.” The report adds that the commission “had partnered with the South Jersey Transportation Authority for the ‘implementation, operation, and management’ of the E-Z Pass toll collection system.”
Cape May County (NJ) Bridge Commission E-ZPass South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA)Escambia County Commissioners to Consider Moving to AET or Eliminating Tolls Altogether at Bob Sikes Bridge
Pensacola News Journal advances an Escambia County Commissioners public hearing on “the congestion management plan drafted last year by consultants hired to study beach traffic” that includes recommendations to improve operations at the Bob Sikes Toll Bridge. The commission will vote on the plan March 9, and options include moving to AET at the bridge or eliminating tolls entirely and charging motorists for beach parking.
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) FloridaWA Lawmakers Open Debate on I-5 Bridge Replacement Push
The Columbian covers the introduction of “process” legislation (SB 5806) that would “make replacing the Interstate 5 Bridge a project of statewide significance.” “This is just the beginning of a very, very long journey ahead,” the sponsor, Senator Annette Cleveland, says.
Washington State Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)Mass Turnpike AET "Glitch" Results in Past Due Collection Notices Being Issued
WFXT looks at a “glitch” in the Massachusetts Turnpike’s AET system that resulted in some motorists receiving “past due” collection notices on previously suspended accounts.
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Massachusetts TurnpikeNJ Newspaper Cheers Crackdown on Scofflaws
The Press of Atlantic City editorial board makes the case for strong enforcement measures against scofflaws, citing efforts by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. The editors write, “Frankly, toll cheats also victimize themselves. To justify their stealing from the public and its institutions, they have to devalue others and aggrandize themselves, which limits their potential for fulfillment and happiness. Vigorous enforcement, then, would benefit law-abiding drivers, transportation infrastructure and even the toll cheats themselves.”
PANYNJ Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) ScofflawsReport Recommending Lombard Street Toll Cost $110,000
San Francisco Chronicle columnists Matier and Ross report, “The latest study of what to do about San Francisco’s twisty Lombard Street cost $110,000 and kept nine city staffers and two outside consulting firms busy for more than a year — with the result being a call for even more studies. . . . Two suggestions in the new 76-page report that got a lot of attention were to implement a toll on Lombard and require drivers who want to negotiate the hill to make reservations.” [Link added.]
San Francisco Bay Area (CA) San Francisco County Transportation AuthorityTraffic Experts Spar Over the Math Behind Germany's Proposed Toll for Foreign Drivers
Handelsblatt reports, “New projections aren’t painting a pretty picture of Germany’s proposed road tax for foreign drivers in Germany, with traffic experts trading barbs over the proposal’s financial sense – or lack thereof.”
GermanyIndia Toll Road Operators Still Await Compensation for Demonetization Losses
Bloomberg’s Quint reports, “For 23 days after [India’s] prime minister announced the demonetisation exercise on November 8, toll collection remained suspended across the country. It has been two months since collections resumed but operators are yet to be compensated for their losses as promised by the government.”
India