POLITICO reports, lawyer and former congressman and television personality Sean Duffy was confirmed as President Trump’s transportation secretary today. The US Senate voted 77-to-22 in favor of his nomination. Democratic senators cast the negative votes. At least two of them said Trump’s move to freeze congressionally approved spending convinced them to oppose Duffy’s nomination.
USA Today also covers this story.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC), PennDOT, and Pennsylvania’s emergency management agency are partnering with the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study how snow squalls affect driving. According to a PTC news release, “Due to their isolated and intense nature, snow squalls can catch drivers off guard and lead to major transportation impacts, including multi-vehicle crashes.”
A virtual reality snow squall simulator under development at Hofstra University will be employed in the research. The simulator will be used to evaluate drivers’ responses in a snow squall. The resulting data will be used by PTC and the other participating agencies to inform procedures for activating roadside electronic sign messaging, variable speed limits, and wireless emergency alerts. The news release includes information on PennDOT’s use of variable speed limit signs along I-80 and I-81 to improve traffic safety when adverse driving conditions are in effect.
Toll rate increases on the seven state-owned bridges in the Bay Area are a popular topic of news and commentary this month. (You can skim through TRN’s coverage by entering the “Bay Area Toll Authority (San Francisco) (BATA)” content tag in the website search bar.
Last week, a Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) article recapped recent rate-setting and toll revenue spending. In addition to summarizing hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in bridge and highway work, the article reminded readers that the region’s voters approved certain increases expressly to provide funds for transit projects and services. While much of that work directly benefitted rail, bus, and ferry patrons, it also contributed to congestion relief for motorists. Project examples cited by MTC included “interchange improvements in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano counties; an expanded Express Lane network; a direct freeway connector from northbound U.S. 101 in Marin County to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge; upgrades to relieve congestion in the Dumbarton Bridge corridor; and improvements to state Route 37.”
Florida DOT and Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise will hold a public information meeting on the plan to widen a segment of the turnpike mainline (SR 91) from southern Palm Beach County to the Broward County line. The agencies propose to add one additional lane in each direction from the Sawgrass Expressway (SR 869) to Glades Road. The project is classified as a Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) operation because the lane widening involves a partial taking of the corridor shoulders. It is one part of a larger corridor widening plan that aims to accommodate traffic growth and improve safety.
There are two opportunities to participate in the meeting. An online session is scheduled for the evening of Wednesday, January 29. An in-person session will take place the following evening, January 30, at Sugar Sand Park Community Center in Boca Raton. According to this month’s project newsletter, project design is due to be completed in this year’s second quarter and a summer 2025 construction start is anticipated.
West Orlando News reports, “Accelerated congestion relief on Central Florida I-4 project segments will mean travelers will actually start feeling congestion relief by the end of 2025 rather than at the end of planned program completion in 2030. The earlier timeline is a result of innovation and additional acceleration of regional Moving Florida Forward Infrastructure Initiative projects.” The new timeline was first announced by FDOT in June.
The metro Orlando projects — the Moving I-4 Forward Program, as FDOT collectively refers to them — will begin with prioritized work to relieve congestion relief along a 7.5-mile I-4 corridor between US 27 and World Drive. “Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2025, and the congestion relief lanes will open by the end of 2025,” according to the program website. “The new lanes will be located on the inside of the existing mainlines. . . . After those lanes are open, additional work in the Accelerated Start phase will add the pavement to expand I-4 to the full width for 10 total lanes at two interchanges: ChampionsGate Boulevard and World Drive.” The accelerated work will allow FDOT to prepare for five adjoining I-4 projects and build them on a simultaneous schedule.
The five subsequent projects are located on the interstate west of US 27. “These projects will extend the work that was completed as part of the I-4 Ultimate Improvement Project in Orlando and Beyond the Ultimate projects that added two new express lanes, one in each direction.” Project 1 will add two new lanes in each direction, resulting in a final configuration of three general-purpose lanes and two express lanes in each direction. It also involves construction of new direct connectors between the SR 417 tollway and the I-4 express lanes.
Project 2 — it will take place simultaneously with Project 1 — will include I-4 improvements between CR 532 and World Drive in Osceola County, as well as improvements to the SR 429 interchange that now ends at I-4. FDOT will add direct connectors at the I-4 and SR 429 interchange. New connectors will also link the I-4 express lanes with SR 429 and the I-4 general-purpose lanes with the SR 429 toll road. “The final roadway configuration will include four general-use lanes and two express lanes in each direction.”
(TRN inserted links throughout quoted text.)
KHON reported, SB 217 would grant tolling authority to Hawaii DOT, which has a particular interest in exploring toll collection on a segment of the popular and scenic Hana Highway in Maui. The authorization would extend to all state highways, however, including H1, H2, and H3 in Honolulu. HDOT Director Ed Sniffen says the department is researching the practical and legal implications of the legislation, including whether residents could be exempted, how tourism and local businesses would be affected, whether private partners would be involved, and which federal and state highways could be eligible for tolling. HDOT hasn’t taken a position on the bill yet. Sniffen says the focus on Hana Highway is based on the volume of tourist traffic it draws, about which local residents have complaints. Beat of Hawaii, a travel website, looks at Hana Highway traffic issues and the potential impact of tolling.
WPRI reported, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee (D) last week submitted a proposed state budget that anticipates “millions of dollars in new revenue from truck tolls, which state officials now say will have no special carveout for local companies following a recent court decision.”
Budget officials declined to specify a tolling restart date, but they said they expect it will be sometime during the 2025-2026 fiscal year that starts on July 1. “They project collecting $10 million in the first fiscal year, when tolls will only be on for part of the year, and $40 million the next, their first full year back in operation.”
The article discussed the years-long litigation over the toll system’s constitutionality that culminated early last month in a partial victory for the state. A federal appeals court ruling cleared the way for collection to restart, but without caps on the amount of a single day’s toll charges, something that gave intrastate truckers a prohibited advantage over their out-of-state competitors. Cognizance of the limitation imposed by the court decision is making the state careful to ensure that tolling is equitably administered when it resumes.
CDLLife covered this story. It notes, “RIDOT is currently working on inspecting all of its tolling equipment, and implementing upgrades to its equipment and back-end system. New software contracts will also need to be put in place before tolls can resume. There is not yet a specific date for the resuming of truck tolls.”
At their January joint meeting, the boards of the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) received a staff update on the proposed 241/91 Express Connector Project, according to an agency news release. It’s expected that the project partners — the project is a multi-agency collaboration with Caltrans, the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), and the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) — will reach “the next major milestone” with the execution of master and operational agreements this spring. A project fact sheet has detailed information about the proposed connector.
Inside INdiana Business reported on a forthcoming Indiana Toll Road Concession Company improvement project. From March through November, crews will repave about 34 miles of roadway and carry out safety upgrades, toll barrier improvements, and plaza beautifications along the corridor, one interchange and 26 bridges included. “Once the project is completed, ITR Concession Co. will have reconstructed 94% of the pavement and invested more than $1 billion in infrastructure upgrades on the Indiana Toll Road since 2016, the company said.”
In a news release, TransCore and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) reflected on this month’s successful launch of the first phase of a “groundbreaking” open-road toll (ORT) collection system developed on TransCore’s Infinity roadside tolling platform. The longtime partners collaborated to strategically relocate tolling points on the turnpike’s eastern segments from interchange toll plazas to overhead gantries. “The newly deployed Infinity system provides electronic tolling at highway speeds with a combination of RFID technology to read E-ZPass transponders and advanced in-lane sensors to identify, classify, and process Toll By Plate transactions.”
The innovations will improve motorist safety and convenience by eliminating stops at turnpike entrances and exits. PTC expects to realize gains in efficiency and infrastructure scalability, as well as a $25 million savings in annual operations and maintenance costs. The environment will also benefit: by eliminating interruptions in traffic flow, the new system will bring about even more reductions in vehicle CO2 emissions than were achieved when PTC transitioned to all-electronic tolling in 2020.
PTC is now in position to start the next phases of its ORT conversion process. On its eastern segments, it will demolish obsolete toll plaza structures that can still disrupt traffic flow. And together with TransCore, it will begin expanding ORT technology to the turnpike’s western segments, a process slated for completion in 2027.
PTC chief executive Mark Compton commented that the arrival of “the future of toll collection” has made the past several weeks exciting. He added, “We have been working tirelessly behind the scenes for more than a decade to modernize operations and meet customer expectations for seamless, nonstop travel. We are grateful to TransCore for their partnership and work to make this a reality as we begin this exciting new chapter for America’s First Superhighway.” Whitt Hall, TransCore President and CEO, noted that the company and PTC have been collaborating on toll system development for 85 years. “We are grateful,” he said, “for the opportunity to partner with trailblazers in the industry to help deliver on their vision. With the first phase of work now live, we are looking forward to completing the statewide deployment in the coming years.”
Bloomberg (via Transport Topics) reported, “President Donald Trump ordered his administration to consider eliminating subsidies and other policies that favor electric vehicles, laying the groundwork for moves that risk slowing adoption of cleaner cars in the U.S.” Trump’s directive –it’s included in his January 20 “Unleashing American Energy” executive order — pauses federal agency disbursements of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for programs including National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program. It stopped short of revoking Biden administration regulations and waivers intended to promote electric vehicle adoption but implicitly threatens state-level policies to limit sales of gas-powered cars.
POLITICO noted that the wording of Trump’s order “could bring a wide range of infrastructure, transportation and energy projects to a halt — including those already delivering jobs to Republican-led states,” and “imperil billions of dollars in funding for projects that states have already begun working on, some lawmakers and policy experts said Tuesday, for everything from roads and bridges to broadband and withstanding the effects of climate change.”
Governing reported on official and stakeholder efforts to understand the still-uncertain implications of Trump’s executive order. The article also looked at Trump’s Tuesday announcement of a proposed $500 billion public-private venture to create computing technology needed to support artificial intelligence development. The proposal — dubbed Stargate — has already ignited a controversy on which Trump supporters are taking different sides.
MLive.com (via Governing) reported, after failing to secure necessary funding from the state legislature or the federal government, Michigan DOT decided not to conduct a proposed mileage-based road-use charging (RUC) pilot project. Instead, it will rely on insights from the research experience of other states to determine what kind of RUC program might be appropriate to Michigan.
The CEO of the state association of county road agencies was critical of the decision, characterizing it as a setback in the search for an equitable and sustainable alternative to the insufficient and continuously diminishing tax sources that the state currently relies on to fund surface transportation.
Michigan DOT said it is pursuing RUC research by other means. The article reported on what the department is doing now and delved into the shortcomings of the current transportation funding system.
The MDOT website has additional relevant information.
KOKH reported, a bill being prepared for introduction in the Oklahoma House (as HB 1324) would require the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) to obtain legislative approval for “any” toll rate increases. One of the proponents, first-term State Representative Gabe Woolley (R-98), said the “Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Modernization Act of 2025” is a response to public and lawmaker concern over the average 15 percent toll rate hike the OTA implemented on January 1 and board members’ approval of a process for adopting discretionary six-percent rate hikes in future years. OTA officials said the recent rate change was necessary in light of inflationary increases in the ACCESS Oklahoma expansion project budget.
Woolley told KOKH, “There has been a large interest [in recent OTA rate setting]. I’ve surveyed on social media, talked to people, clearly we had a turnpike increase all over the news not long ago, and people are frustrated with this.” The freshman lawmaker also maintained that rates should be set by a vote of elected representatives rather than the unelected board members of an administrative agency.
KOKH and Oklahoma Energy Today reported on other legislative proposals to limit the discretion of OTA board members and executives.
As veteran transportation reporter Ed Blazina noted in a Pittsburgh Union Progress article, all US states “are in the same predicament as Pennsylvania as they try to find sources to fund transportation projects: The long-used gasoline tax is stagnant, and in many instances it’s been hard to sell the public on other sources of revenue to pay for roads, bridges and public transit.”
Blazina explored the funding conundrum, working off a January 14 Pew Charitable Trusts report that identifies the search for transportation budget shortfall solutions as one of the five key challenges state legislatures face this year. He noted that timing is a critical factor. A June 2024 Syracuse University report commissioned by Pew concluded that the states “must quickly develop new transportation funding strategies, or we will face a significant national crisis.”
To-date, state solutions have focused on surcharging electric vehicle owners, seeing as they no longer pay the fuel taxes that make the principal contribution to transportation budgets. However, a broader approach to allocating funding responsibility is necessary, and that has led Pennsylvania and several other states to convene special panels to study and recommend revenue innovations. Blazina noted that one Pennsylvania proposal — to expand toll collection — has so far met defeat in the legislature and the courts.
Blazina’s article briefly touched on the role of federal funding, which is also at a critical juncture with surface transportation authorization up for renewal and IIJA spending winding down. “Although transportation funding generally isn’t a partisan issue, it’s anybody’s guess what will happen under the Trump administration and a Republican Congress.”
On Wednesday, the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation voted unanimously to recommend that senators confirm Sean Duffy’s nomination to serve as USDOT secretary. Pending Mr. Duffy’s final confirmation, which is almost assured, Judith S. Kaleta, a USDOT deputy general counsel, is serving as acting transportation secretary by presidential designation. Ms. Kaleta is a long-time member of the department’s legal staff and the USDOT’s senior career attorney. Following this week’s departure of Biden administration appointees, most of USDOT’s key leadership posts are vacant. Holdover executive staff members are listed on the USDOT website.
AASHTO Journal reported that Kent Abernathy was recently appointed Indiana DOT commissioner by the state’s new governor, Mike Braun (R). Abernathy, a United States Military Academy graduate, served as a US Army officer and has banking and business consulting experience. Between 2010 and 2017, he held Indiana state government executive posts, including a two-year term as Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles commissioner. In recent years, he served as executive director of a national commission on military and public service and president of a non-profit war memorials foundation.
Mr. Abernathy succeeded former INDOT commissioner Mike Smith. HNTB recently announced that Mr. Smith has joined the firm as a national practice consultant and vice president. He will promote HNTB services to highway and toll facility clients in the firm’s Great Lakes Division and help “support HNTB’s national DOT and toll market teams in building and fostering relationships with clients across the country.”
WVNS reported, Stephen Todd Rumbaugh, PE, a West Virginia DOT veteran, was named the state’s transportation secretary by recently inaugurated Governor Patrick Morrisey (R). He will also serve as Division of Highways commissioner. “Rumbaugh’s career involves more than 30 years with [WVDOT and the highways division], including positions such as: Staff Engineer, Chief Engineer of Construction, Construction Inspector, Regional Construction Engineer, Director of Contract Administration, Designer, and Area Supervisor.” Morrisey concurrently appointed Michael DeMers to serve as deputy secretary and deputy highways commissioner. Mr. DeMers joins the department from North Highland, a management and workforce transformation consulting firm. Before engaging in consulting, he was a Missouri DOT division director and served in an Arizona DOT planning post. Mr. Rumbaugh succeeded Jimmy Wriston, who self-announced his departure from WVDOT on January 14.
Portland Press Herald reported, the Maine Turnpike Authority (MTA) board’s search for a new executive director is still underway months after the retirement of longtime agency head Peter Mills. However, chairman Michael Cianchette says the board is now in the process of scheduling final interviews with several of the “highly qualified individuals” who applied for the post, and “We hope to make a selection in the weeks ahead.” MTA Chief Operations Officer Peter Merfeld continues to serve as interim executive director.
The SH 130 Concession Company announced Wednesday that Ananth Prasad, PE, is its new CEO. In a news release, the tollway operator noted that Mr. Prasad has “more than 30 years of experience in public and private-sector transportation leadership positions,” including a 22-year career at Florida DOT capped by his service as the state’s secretary of transportation. He joined the company from the Florida Transportation Builders’ Association, where he has been president since 2018. Mr. Prasad replaced Adam Hesketh, who has relocated to his native Australia with his family. Board co-chair Jennifer Aument commented that under Hesketh’s leadership, the concession company “has built a solid foundation of operational excellence and expanded partnership opportunities with local communities to meet the transportation needs of one of the nation’s fastest growing corridors.”
USDOT appointed Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Bay Area Toll Authority chief executive Andrew Fremier to a two-year term on the Federal System Funding Alternative (FSFA) Advisory Board, MTC announced. A former IBTTA president, Mr. Fremier was selected to represent toll facility owners and operators. The 11-member advisory board, chaired by Utah DOT Executive Director Carlos Braceras, was established under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to assist the USDOT secretary by providing recommendations on development and implementation of a national per-mile user fee pilot program. It is also tasked with exploring per-mile vehicle user fees (RUC) and other innovative approaches to providing sustainable funding for transportation infrastructure. The board will report to Congress on RUC feasibility.
The Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) announced that Raul Rosario is its new director of toll technology and customer experience. He will oversee toll system operations and customer service, and lead technological development. THEA noted that Mr. Rosario has “over two decades of expertise in tolling systems, technology innovation, and customer service excellence. . . . Previously, he served as Associate Vice President and Senior Director of Operations at TransCore LP, leading daily operations across 13 tolling facilities in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Smart Cities Dive reported, on Wednesday, President Trump nominated Steven Bradbury, a lawyer, for the post of USDOT deputy secretary. Bradbury served as USDOT general counsel — and intermittently performed the duties of deputy secretary — during the first Trump administration. He was acting secretary of transportation for a brief time after Elaine Chao resigned in protest over the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot. During the George W. Bush administration, Bradbury held executive positions in the Department of Justice. He clerked for US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The nominee is currently a “distinguished fellow” at the conservative Heritage Foundation and, according to the article, a critic of Biden administration policies on electric vehicles and vehicle emissions standards.
“Mass Transit” Magazine reported on what Trump and Bradbury are saying about the nomination and on Bradbury’s professional career. (The brief article suggests he had no transportation system experience prior to his three years as USDOT’s chief lawyer.) In 2017, Bradbury’s nomination as general counsel barely achieved the Senate votes necessary for confirmation. As POLITICO reported at the time, he was a controversial choice because of his role in Justice Department legal review of interrogation techniques used in terrorism investigations.
Clearing up rumors that he’s planning to freeze new infrastructure initiatives, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said during a recent public appearance that he intends to engage the private sector in project development, “Tempo” reported. “He argued that private entities are more efficient, innovative, and experienced in handling infrastructure development.” The country’s growing list of National Strategic Projects (PSN) includes toll roads and the proposed “Giant Sea Wall” project to protect the Jakarta region from coastal flooding.
The Gleaner reported, on Tuesday, during remarks at a national investments and capital markets conference, Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that the government will make a public sale offering of its entire 20-percent holding in TransJamaican Highway LTD, the concession company operating the Highway 2000 East-West toll roads network. (It recently rebranded as “TransJam Highways.”)
The Jamaica Stock Exchange transaction will take place an unspecified date later this year. The government’s equity, which is held through the National Road Operating and Constructing Company LTD (NROCC), has a current market value of JMD 10.55 billion (USD 67.05 million). NROCC is the largest shareholder in the concession company.
“Mobile app Trucker Path released an annual ranking of the independent and chain truck stop locations most preferred by the trucking community,” CDLLife reports. “The top honor this year went to the Ohio Turnpike Tiffin River Service Plaza located at mile marker 20.8 Eastbound on the Ohio Turnpike.” Truck parking, a lounge, free showers, a coin-op laundry, and lottery terminals are among the plaza’s amenities for commercial drivers. “Every day of the year, 24 hours a day, Ohio Turnpike Service Plazas are open to give truck drivers the best possible experience on the road,” said turnpike commission chief executive Ferzan Ahmed. “We are proud that the Tiffin River location has been recognized by drivers as the number 1 location in the nation for safe, clean facilities and services that truckers value.” (TRN inserted links in quoted text.)
Ohio plazas also got a recent shout-out from RVtravel.com, which stated, “They provide a convenient overnight stop with electric and dump station access at a very affordable rate.” On its website, Ohio Turnpike Authority promotes overnight RV parking at eight travel plazas.