- VINCI Unveils ViaPlus, Its New Brand Forged By Merging TollPlus And Cofiroute USA
- Houbolt Road Extension, An Illinois P3 Toll Project, Opens Tomorrow
- Environmentalists Are Denied Rehearing Of Challenge To NCDOT Toll Bridge Project
- These are just some of the toll industry developments TRN is following.
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VINCI Unveils ViaPlus, Its New Brand Forged By Merging TollPlus And Cofiroute USA
VINCI Highways today introduced a new brand, ViaPlus, a product of the merger of two holdings, TollPlus and Cofiroute USA. According to the company’s announcement, ViaPlus will specialize in free-flow digital traffic systems, serving the end-to-end needs of transportation entities “by bringing the full range of back-office technologies for high-volume transactions, customer operations and data analytics.” ViaPlus will assume VINCI Highways’ existing free-flow contracts in America, Europe and India, and lead future market development efforts across the broad sweep of VINCI operations. Belen Marcos, president of VINCI Highways, said her firm, “a world pioneer of free-flow services,” will bring new capacity to the market with ViaPlus, adding, “We will keep operating our existing contracts at best level and grow our presence in the USA and across the international networks of VINCI Highways and VINCI Concessions.”
VINCI Highways is a subsidiary of VINCI Concessions, one of the world’s premier operators of airport, highway and railway concessions. Both firms are wholly owned by VINCI Group, commonly ranked the world’s largest construction and concessions enterprise.
Acquisitions and Mergers Cofiroute USA ETC Systems Intelligent Transportation Systems TollPlus ViaPlus (VINCI Subsidiary) VINCI GroupHoubolt Road Extension, An Illinois P3 Toll Project, Opens Tomorrow
Herald-News reports, Houbolt Road Extension JV, a CenterPoint Properties and United Bridge Partners joint venture, will open the Houbolt Road Extension to traffic tomorrow morning. The new toll facility includes a 1.5-mile-long road extension and a 0.4-mile-long bridge over the Des Plaines River in Joliet, Illinois. Its primary purpose is to create a direct route between the CenterPoint Intermodal Center — a major US inland port used by as many as 20,000 commercial trucks per day — and I-80. The joint venture members financed, designed and built the extension (at an initially estimated cost of $200 million) in a public-private partnership with the City of Joliet, which owns the facility and has leased it to the JV for 99 years. The extension is expected to alleviate congestion on nearby secondary roads and carbon emissions from truck operations.
According to a news release by the JV, the extension’s cashless toll collection system will accept I-PASS, E-ZPass and pay-by-plate payments, and rates are tiered based on vehicle class. “For drivers paying with a transponder, the rate for Class 1/passenger/light vehicles is $2.00, Class 2/medium vehicles are $4.00, and Class 3/large vehicles [pay] $8.00.” Pay-by-plate customers will pay a $3.50 administrative fee in addition to their toll. The JV contracted with a Granite/Kraemer joint venture for engineering, procurement and construction; Burns and McDonnell provided the engineering services; TranSystems acted as the owner representative; and A-to-Be USA (a Brisa company) developed and implemented the electronic toll collection system.
“American Journal of Transportation” also covers this story.
A-to-Be AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Brisa ETC Systems Granite Construction Houbolt Road Extension (IL) I-80 Illinois Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) Kraemer North America P3 & Privatization United Bridge PartnersEnvironmentalists Are Denied Rehearing Of Challenge To NCDOT Toll Bridge Project
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has denied the Southern Environmental Law Center’s application for a rehearing and rehearing en banc of the court’s unanimous decision allowing the proposed Mid-Currituck toll bridge project in North Carolina’s Outer Banks to proceed. In February, the appellate court affirmed a trial court ruling that North Carolina DOT and FHWA did not violate environmental law by approving the span’s construction.
Environmental Protection Policies Procedures And Initiatives Issues of Law North Carolina North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) North Carolina Turnpike Authority US Department of Transportation (USDOT)These are just some of the toll industry developments TRN is following.
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