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MTC, Golden Gate Bridge District And Other Agencies Sign Equity In Infrastructure Contracting Pledge

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The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) announced it joined 17 other Bay Area agencies in signing an Equity In Infrastructure Project (EIP) pledge on Monday. Some of the other signatories were the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, the Valley Transportation Authority, and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority.

“The pledge is a voluntary commitment to create more opportunities for Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBs) in public infrastructure contracting. HUBs are businesses in which at least 51 percent ownership of the business is by a woman, minority and/or service-disabled veteran.” DeNise Blake, an MTC executive and current president of the Northern California Chapter of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials, commented that the pledge “is not just a promise; it’s a vital step and a call to action to ensure that underrepresented businesses and individuals are included on shaping our communities through transformative projects.”

To date, 74 other entities — public infrastructure agencies as well as engineering, financial, and construction firms — have signed the pledge. (Participants include the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the Illinois Tollway Authority, and LA Metro.)

Philippine Drivers Without An AET Account Will Be Penalized Starting In March

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BusinessWorld reports, the executive director of the Philippine Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) says motorists who enter an expressway without an electronic toll collection device will be fined starting in March. Penalties were originally scheduled to be implemented last summer, but the government postponed the effective date to “give tollway operators and concerned agencies time to fine-tune their operations.” At a later, unspecified date, the government will start imposing a penalty on motorists who use a toll road without having a sufficient toll account balance.

The country’s principal tollway operators, San Miguel Corporation Infrastructure and Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation, have been preparing for years to transition to cashless toll collection. The penalty measure is a condition precedent to the companies’ initiation of all-electronic tolling and the government’s delayed imposition of a toll interoperability mandate.

The article notes that the penalty policy is subject to criticism based on claims that the companies’ electronic collection systems are not sufficiently reliable and a belief that interoperability should proceed cashless conversion.

VDOT Makes Plans For Installation Of “Massive” I-495 Bridge Girders

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Virginia DOT announced the schedule for installation of “five lines of massive steel girders extending 295-feet in length across northbound I-495 (Capital Beltway) for a new express lanes ramp that will connect the Dulles Toll Road to northbound I-495.” Weather permitting, the operation — VDOT is calling it “Big Beam Weekend” — will take place between Friday night, January 24, and early Monday morning, January 27. Due to the scale of work and the lane closures it will require, the department is urging motorists to avoid the area over the entire weekend. Work zone maps and information on detour planning are available online.

Lane Construction is building the ramp as part of the $660 million I-495 Express Lanes Northern Extension (495 NEXT) project. The extension, scheduled to open late this year, is a public-private initiative under development by VDOT and Transurban.

USDOT Rule Terminates General Buy America Waiver For Manufactured Products

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USDOT today published a final rule that amends FHWA’s Buy America regulation to terminate the general waiver for manufactured products and establish requirements for manufactured products used in federal-aid highway projects.

According to a department news release, “The Buy America Requirements for Manufactured Products Final Rule ends the previous Manufactured Products General Waiver, a general applicability waiver in existence for more than four decades that waived FHWA’s Buy America requirement for manufactured products. The new rule aims to maximize the use of domestically produced manufactured products permanently incorporated in federal-aid highway and bridge projects.” It adds that a two-phase rollout is contemplated. “For projects obligated on or after October 1, 2025, final assembly of all manufactured projects must occur in the U.S. For projects obligated on or after October 1, 2026, in addition to the final assembly requirement, the cost of components of products that are mined, produced, or manufactured in the U.S. must be greater than 55 percent of the total cost of all components of the manufactured product.”

“The new rule does not change the Buy America requirements that currently apply to iron or steel products. For clarity, the new rule does provide definitions of iron or steel products and manufactured products to differentiate between products that must comply with FHWA’s existing Buy America requirements for iron and steel and products that must comply with FHWA’s new Buy America requirements for manufactured products.”

The Federal Register notice includes information on the origin and purpose of the rule and the waiver, the decision to rescind the general waiver on manufactured products, and the final rule’s impact on projects in development.

FHWA’s Buy America web page has extensive information on the rule and its application to federally aided surface transportation construction.

 

TransCore Obtains TCA Contract Extension Following Positive Roadside System Assessment

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During their January joint meeting, the boards of the Transportation Corridor Agencies received a briefing on an HNTB assessment of their roadside toll system. The assessment was initiated as part of the agencies’ planning for an eventual upgrade or replacement of the system. According to the board meeting summary, “Results showed the system is performing well, with high levels of availability, reliability, and performance, and the report recommended future hardware and software upgrades to maintain performance levels and enhance reliability. To further maintain system performance, the Board of Directors authorized the CEO to execute up to three one-year extension options with TransCore LP, for continued tolling system maintenance services.”

For more information on the system assessment, see the TCA boards’ January 9, 2025, agenda packet at Item 7. Item 9 of the packet has details of the TransCore contract extension authorization.