- CFX Tolls Likely to Remain after Current Debt Paid Off. (Upside: $3 Billion to $4 Billion in Projects Ahead.)
- Good News: Arkansas Is Studying Toll Roads. Bad News: State Spokesman Calls Tolls "Losing Propositions"
- IL Tollway Battle with Canadian Pacific Heats Up
- Data Suggests Crashes Have Spiked in One OH Turnpike Construction Zone
- DRPA's Ben Franklin Bridge Named "Best Urban Hike." And, Better Still, Agency Traffic and Finances Are All Good.
- Last Chance for Longmeadow Parkway Opponents?
- NJ Distracted Driving Legislation Sparks Outcry. (Hint: Second Amendment Cited.)
- PA Pike's Mon-Fayette Project Would Need up to 650 Properties
- Ultimate I-4 Moving Along, SR 408 Widening Next Up
- Vancouver Mobility Pricing Plan Garners BC Chamber of Commerce Support
- Heavy Rains Delay MoPac Once Again
- TRIP Issues Report on Cost of Deficient Roads to California Motorists
- Sentencing of Former PANYNJ Chair Samson Pushed Back
- Fitch Affirms Ratings of SJTA Bonds
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CFX Tolls Likely to Remain after Current Debt Paid Off. (Upside: $3 Billion to $4 Billion in Projects Ahead.)
Orlando Sentinel reports, “In the year 2042, something interesting will happen. The Central Florida Expressway Authority, which operates 109 miles of toll roads in Orange County and is the second-biggest regional tolling authority in the nation, will have paid off its $4.3 billion debt.” However, the report adds, “because Central Florida has growing transportation needs and will need to build more roads and support commuter rail, removing tolls are unlikely, experts say. The authority’s 2040 preliminary plan is looking at building another 80 miles of roadways with a projected cost of $3.2 billion to $4.5 billion.” (The article includes a video Q&A with the reporter.)
Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) FloridaGood News: Arkansas Is Studying Toll Roads. Bad News: State Spokesman Calls Tolls "Losing Propositions"
OzarksFirst.com (KOLR News) reports that the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) and Metroplan (central Arkansas’s MPO) are partnering on a toll study that focuses on HOT lanes. According to the report, “They say we can’t build our way out of congestion and there has to be another way for people to get around.” However, the study team have their work cut out for them, as an AHTD spokesman, Danny Straessle, tells the station, “Most tolling operations are losing propositions. That would also be something seriously looked at. You could start out and it would pay for the initial, but over time, really would somebody use it?”
ArkansasIL Tollway Battle with Canadian Pacific Heats Up
Crain’s Chicago Business reports, “A bitter dispute between the Illinois Tollway and Canadian Pacific Railway is going public, and it threatens to derail long-anticipated plans for western road access to O’Hare International Airport and construction of a bypass road around the airfield.” The report adds that tollway chairman Bob Schillerstrom “charges that, after a recent change in management, CP has walked away from negotiations over using some of its property needed for the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway and now refuses to talk at all.”
Illinois Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (IL Tollway)Data Suggests Crashes Have Spiked in One OH Turnpike Construction Zone
WEWS News (Cleveland) reports, “The stretch of the Ohio Turnpike where a 14-year-old New York girl was killed [on August 14] is the same area where there has been a spike in the number of crashes recently, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.”
Ohio Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure CommissionDRPA's Ben Franklin Bridge Named "Best Urban Hike." And, Better Still, Agency Traffic and Finances Are All Good.
Courier-Post reports that “Philadelphia Magazine” has named the Ben Franklin Bridge “the ‘2016 Best Urban Hike’ in Philadelphia — and the Delaware River Port Authority officials who own and operate the span are beaming about it.” The report adds that at DRPA’s August 17 board meeting, “DRPA chief financial officer James White gave the 2015 annual traffic and revenue report on the four DRPA bridges and its PATCO Hi-Speedline transit service that reflected increases in all categories.”
Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA)Last Chance for Longmeadow Parkway Opponents?
Daily Herald reports, “A public hearing set for the end of August might be the final time outside a courtroom that Longmeadow Parkway opponents will get significant time to voice concerns about one of the largest transportation projects in Kane County history.”
IllinoisNJ Distracted Driving Legislation Sparks Outcry. (Hint: Second Amendment Cited.)
The New York Times goes all-in to report on the “outcry” over New Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski’s distracted driving legislation. The lawmaker, who chairs the assembly transportation committee, tells the newspaper, “The relationship between people and their cars, it’s almost like a Second Amendment thing — it may not be enshrined in the Constitution, but people think it is. . . . That’s the peculiarity of New Jersey.” The Times notes that the bill, “which mimics a distracted-driving law in Maine, does not ban drinking coffee, eating or any other specific activity. It does, however, empower police officers to issue a summons to drivers doing anything “unrelated to the operation of the vehicle, in a manner that interferes with the safe operation of the vehicle.” (And that includes texting, drinking coffee and reading, say, the Constitution.)
New JerseyPA Pike's Mon-Fayette Project Would Need up to 650 Properties
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports, “The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission estimates it will need to acquire all or part of between 600 and 650 properties to accommodate the current plan for the proposed Mon/Fayette Expressway extension.”
The Trib (scroll down) also reports that “Monroeville [Borough] Council voted unanimously to formally express support” for the Mon-Fayette Project.
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Turnpike CommissionUltimate I-4 Moving Along, SR 408 Widening Next Up
WFTV reports, “The Ultimate I-4 widening project is underway, and State Road 408 [is] next on the list.” CFX spokesperson Kelda Senior tells the station, “This current area has a traffic count of over 70,000 cars per day, and by 2035, that’s expected to rise to more than 100,000 vehicles.” Work is scheduled to begin in October.
Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) FloridaVancouver Mobility Pricing Plan Garners BC Chamber of Commerce Support
Vancouver Sun publishes an op-ed by Maureen Kirkbride, Interim CEO of the British Columbia Chamber of Commerce, who writes, “Backed by 36,000 businesses across the province, the B.C. Chamber fully supports the mayors’ proposal to introduce mobility pricing as one of a number of tools to fund Metro Vancouver’s transportation plan.” The mayors’ current transportation plan was introduced earlier this year.
British ColumbiaHeavy Rains Delay MoPac Once Again
KVUE reports, “The contractor for the Mopac Improvement Project has upped their staffing to try and get express toll lanes open, but recent heavy rains have pushed back the opening date of part of the project. “’When you have a few days of rain and this kind of position where we are at with the work, you lose almost a week,’ said Jeff Dailey, Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority Deputy Executive Director.”
Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) TexasTRIP Issues Report on Cost of Deficient Roads to California Motorists
Los Angeles Daily News reports, “Driving on ‘deficient roads’ costs motorists in California more than $53 billion a year, and those in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana area are shelling out on average $2,800 annually as a result, according to a new report from a transportation research group.”
KPBS reports, “Poor road conditions in the San Diego area cost the average motorist about $1,900 a year due to higher vehicle costs, traffic crashes and congestion-related delays, according to a report released Wednesday by TRIP, a national transportation research group.”
CaliforniaSentencing of Former PANYNJ Chair Samson Pushed Back
Associated Press reports that the sentencing hearing for David Samson, former chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has been pushed back until December. “Samson admitted he used his position as head of the agency that runs New York-area airports to get personal favors from United Airlines,” the wire service reports.
Crime Beat New Jersey PANYNJFitch Affirms Ratings of SJTA Bonds
Fitch Ratings “has affirmed the South Jersey Transportation Authority’s (SJTA) $433.3 million outstanding transportation system revenue bonds at ‘BBB+’. Fitch has also affirmed SJTA’s $14.5 million outstanding subordinate transportation system revenue bonds at ‘BBB-‘. The Rating Outlook on both ratings remains Stable.”
Investment Ratings New Jersey South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA)