- PA Pike Unveils New Plans for $1.6 Billion Mon Fayette-Project
- IL Tollway Expected to Fund Part of Proposed Interchange Project
- Pinellas County Approves FDOT Agreement on $412 Million Gateway Toll Road Project
- Salem, OR, Advances Bridge Project. Tolls Are an Option.
- Bridgegate Trial Date Set. Defense Still Hunts Governor Christie's Cellphone Records.
- SCDOT's I-73 Extension Project Is Hotly Debated
- NYC DOT Will Study Feasibility of Widening Brooklyn Bridge Pedestrian and Bike Paths
- OTA Opens New Plaza on Indian Nations Turnpike
- OK Town Eyes Expansion Driven in Part by New Turnpike
- NY Thruway Upgrades Travel Plaza Gas Pumps
- French Government Is Open to More Highway P3s, If No Tax Money Is Involved
- Abu Dhabi Investments Authority Sells All Its Transurban Shares
- NJ Editorial Board Finds "Ham Sandwich" Distracted Driving Bill Too Intrusive
- Alleged Toll Scofflaw Ditched Transponder
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PA Pike Unveils New Plans for $1.6 Billion Mon Fayette-Project
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, “Residents got their first look Tuesday evening [August 9] at updated plans by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission for the proposed $1.6 billion toll road. . . .” The report adds, “Commission Chairman Sean Logan . . . has said he believes this probably is the last chance for the toll road plans to move forward. He and other supporters say it would provide a necessary, alternative link from the eastern suburbs to Pittsburgh International Airport.”
PennsylvaniaIL Tollway Expected to Fund Part of Proposed Interchange Project
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) reports, “The city of Marengo hopes to know by early September whether McHenry County is committed to funding the next step of the proposed Route 23 and Interstate 90 interchange project.” The report adds, “The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is expected to pay 50 percent of ramp construction and existing bridge replacement, and 50 percent of the bridge expansion from three to five lanes. . . .”
IllinoisPinellas County Approves FDOT Agreement on $412 Million Gateway Toll Road Project
SaintPetersBlog reports, “Pinellas County commissioners unanimously agreed Tuesday [August 9] to sign an agreement with the state Department of Transportation for a project [the Gateway Expressway] designed to improve transportation in the Gateway area.” The report adds, “When complete, portions of the roadway will have tolls, some variable and some static. But there will also be non-tolled lanes.” Click here for the county’s video of the vote and agenda item.
Express Lanes FloridaSalem, OR, Advances Bridge Project. Tolls Are an Option.
Statesman Journal reports that the City of Salem City adopted a resolution that “precedes more decisions about a third bridge connecting West Salem to Marion County.” The report adds that, “Four funding options are possible: local fuel taxes, vehicle registration taxes, property taxes and tolls.”
Bridges OregonBridgegate Trial Date Set. Defense Still Hunts Governor Christie's Cellphone Records.
New Jersey News 12 reports that a federal judge has scheduled jury section in the Bridgegate criminal trial for September 12, with opening arguments to follow on September 19.
NJ.com reports, “Lawyers for the defendants in the Bridgegate case are back on the trail of Gov. Chris Christie’s cell phone.”
New JerseySCDOT's I-73 Extension Project Is Hotly Debated
The Greenville News reports that by the time the public comment period ended, the Army Corps of Engineers received over a thousand submissions — “including boxes of statements by backers” — about SCDOT’s application for a permit to extend I-73 to the beach, potentially as a toll road. The vigorous debate over the construction proposal pits advocates like Mike Wooten (chairman of the state transportation commission and president of a Myrtle Beach engineering company) against critics (including former state transportation officials Sarah Nuckles and B.K. Jones) who claim there are alternatives to the $2.4 billion project.
South CarolinaNYC DOT Will Study Feasibility of Widening Brooklyn Bridge Pedestrian and Bike Paths
Streetsblog NYC reports that New York City DOT is studying the feasibility of expanding the pedestrian and bicycle paths on the Brooklyn Bridge, and construction, if approved, could start as early as 2019. The New York Times also reports. Click here for more NYCDOT information about the study and the project.
Bridges New York CityOTA Opens New Plaza on Indian Nations Turnpike
News 6 (Tulsa) reports, “The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority opened up a new toll plaza on the Indian Nations Turnpike Tuesday [August9].” The report quotes OTA Executive Director Tim Gatz: “This new plaza increases the safety for the traveling public and allows for faster, safer travel through the Pikepass lanes.”
OklahomaOK Town Eyes Expansion Driven in Part by New Turnpike
KOKH-TV News reports that Jones, Oklahoma, officials are “hoping to annex a 6-mile area east of town, hoping the move will bring in more sales tax revenue” and notes, “When the controversial new Eastern Oklahoma County Turnpike is built, there will be an exit on Britton.”
OklahomaNY Thruway Upgrades Travel Plaza Gas Pumps
Times Union (Albany) reports, “You might want to top off your tank before you take your next trip on the New York State Thruway. . . . Between November and July, various Thruway travel plazas on at least 52 occasions had some kind of outage at their gas pumps. . . . ” A thruway spokesman says there is no gasoline shortage, but some intermittent shutdowns have been necessary as the thruway upgrades the credit card processing mechanisms on its pumps.
New YorkFrench Government Is Open to More Highway P3s, If No Tax Money Is Involved
WorldHighways.com reports that France’s president, François Hollande, announced that his government “is open to many more road improvement ideas from private road operators and concession holders if the work is at no cost to the taxpayer.” A French newspaper report says Hollande’s comments, made during the ceremonial opening of an A9 AutoRoute upgrade, were a response to suggestions from Vinci Concessions executive Pierre Coppey and Patrick Vignal of Herault.
France P3 & PrivatizationAbu Dhabi Investments Authority Sells All Its Transurban Shares
The Australian Business Review reports that the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) sold what is believed to be its entire holding of Transurban shares (AUD$253.6 million, about one percent of the company) to institutional investors after the market closed on August 9.
AustraliaNJ Editorial Board Finds "Ham Sandwich" Distracted Driving Bill Too Intrusive
Courier-Post (Cherry Hill, NJ) editors don’t like the taste of Assemblyman John Wisniewski’s proposed legislation (A 1908) to combat distracted driving, dubbed the “ham sandwich bill” because it would prohibit drivers from doing anything (such as eating) except operating their vehicles. According to the editors, “We can appreciate the goal of trying to make our roads that much safer; bans on hand-held cellphones and texting while driving are certainly appropriate and needed. But . . . this just goes too far. . . .” They note that the bill is modeled after a Maine law.
New JerseyAlleged Toll Scofflaw Ditched Transponder
NJ.com reports, “An Orange [NJ] woman who allegedly told police she had removed her [E-ZPass] unit because she did not like the way it looked on her windshield skipped on tens of thousands of dollars in tolls, Port Authority spokesman Joseph Pentangelo said [August 9].”
Crime Beat PANYNJ