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Illinois Tollway Workshop Equips Small, Diverse Businesses To Navigate Government Contracting

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The Illinois Tollway Authority is hosting a workshop in Chicago today to encourage small, diverse, and veteran-owned businesses to enter the realm of government contracting. In addition to sharing the Tollway’s annual buying plans, the workshop will offer general guidance on government procurement processes. Several other state agencies will participate.

“‘Entrepreneurs will be able to talk face-to-face with agency experts about the steps they can take to better compete for state contracts,’” Illinois Tollway Executive Director Cassaundra Rouse said. “‘This event is part of the Tollway’s efforts to broaden our pool of contractors . . . so our contractors more closely reflect the diverse communities we serve across Northern Illinois.”

TRN notes, the Tollway announced in September that its Partnering for Growth mentorship program for disadvantaged, minority, and women-owned business enterprise (D/M/WBE) firms and veteran-owned small businesses (VOSBs) has surpassed 260 mentorship agreements.

Emanuela Stocchi Elected International Road Transport Association President

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Emanuela Stocchi was elected president of PIARC World Road Association at a council meeting this week. She will serve a three-year term ending in 2028, according to an association social media post.

Ms. Stocchi,

PIARC also elected three vice presidents: ASFINAG executive Alexander Walcher; Dharmananda Sarangi, an official of India’s road transport and highways ministry;  and Mamoudou Alassane Camara, an official of Senegal’s infrastructure and transport ministry.

Oklahoma Contractors Get Unique Immersion In Erosion And Runoff Mitigation Techniques

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Participants in a recent Oklahoma conference on soil erosion and sediment control got a “full-scale interactive experience” instead of classroom lectures, an Oklahoma State University news release reports.

Organizers of this year’s Construction Contractor Compliance Conference (C4) gave attendees the opportunity to “explore and interact closely with demonstrations” of different methods of soil stabilization, erosion mitigation, and stormwater management. Vendors of Oklahoma DOT-approved products contributed by conducting field demonstrations that simulated stormwater runoff flow events, “allowing participants to see how each solution holds up in real-life conditions.”

The annual conference, organized by ODOT, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Oklahoma Association of General Contractors, was staged at a USDA Agricultural Research Services facility. Kathryn Thomsen, an ODOT stormwater coordinator, commented, “This event has become a very unique opportunity for the transportation industry to get various parties in the room (contractors, DOT, regulators, research community, consultants and vendors) and discuss environmental compliance. The effort to expand our [best management practices] toolbox is an ongoing and large undertaking of our agency; opportunities like this will only aid us in the success of that.”

Op-Ed: Eliminating Halifax, NS, Bridge Tolls Would Be “Bad Public Policy”

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In a Saltwire op-ed column, Dr. Tom Urbaniak, a Cape Breton University political science professor, explains why Nova Scotia Premier and Progressive Conservative Party leader Tim Houston’s campaign pledge to eliminate tolling of two Halifax bridges is “bad public policy” that “won’t make a dent in resolving any problem.”

Echoing the objections of some transportation experts, Dr. Urbaniak notes that toll elimination would cost the province CAD 40 million to 50 million in tax revenue each year, a “significant accumulated hit” to a provincial budget that is “already in deficit.” The public expenditure would transfer the burden of paying for the bridges’ operation and upkeep from users to taxpayers, some of whom “can seldom afford to travel to Halifax.” Dr. Urbaniak adds that the cost shifting is unlikely to result in significant traffic congestion reduction, which is the primary rationale for Houston’s proposal.

Dr. Urbaniak also raises an important new issue concerning responsibility for management of the Macdonald and MacKay Bridges. Halifax Harbour Bridges (HHB), an entirely-toll-financed public corporation, operates the span through a staff trained and dedicated to overseeing major suspension bridges. Urbaniak wonders what Houston proposes to do with HHB after its sole source of revenue is eliminated. He asks, “Will it be merged into the arguably less-effective provincial Department of Public Works?” And, if that’s the case, would the new overseers have sufficient focus, funding, and expertise to handle the specialized tasks associated with bridge operations?

Recent Flash Flooding Heavily Damaged Spain Transportation Infrastructure

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Le Monde (subscription required for full access) reports, Spain’s transport ministry released EUR 24.8 million (USD 26.76 million) at the end of last week to cover initial emergency repairs of highway and rail infrastructure severely damaged by recent flash flooding in and around Valencia. “But this will just be the beginning. The priority is to rebuild the section of the A-7 freeway viaduct destroyed by the floods. The viaduct, which forms part of the [Valencia city] ring road, usually handles 78,000 vehicles a day. While waiting for it to reopen, a temporary three-lane detour will be set up.” The article also discusses the region’s extensive rail network damage.

“Global Construction Review” reports that “two carriageways of the Valencia metropolitan area bypass have been out of service. The section is used by around 77,600 vehicles a day and it can’t be diverted to the regional or local network because they are also seriously damaged, the [transport] ministry said.” The N-322 and the N-330 highways outside the metro area were also damaged by rivers swollen by a year’s worth of rain in just eight hours. “Experts have blamed global warming for [the] catastrophic flash floods in Spain. ‘We’re going to see more of these flash floods in the future,’ Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology at the University of Reading, told Reuters.”

Associated Press reports on the storms that caused the flooding, the consequent loss of life and damage to property, and current recovery measures.