Daily News Briefs, April 4, 2017

Boston Globe Charts AET's Spread Throughout the Northeast US

Boston Globe reports, “Sorry, Boston drivers. Your free ride through Connecticut could be ending. Two top Connecticut lawmakers are saying new tolls are inevitable. And a legislative committee there just narrowly endorsed a bill that would bring all-electronic toll collecting to the state, although the precise locations haven’t yet been decided.” The report adds, in Massachusetts, “The coalition known as Transportation 4 Massachusetts . . . is saying a bill from Senator Thomas McGee that would impose more tolls within Route 128 deserves consideration. . . . Meanwhile, Senator Karen Spilka filed legislation [S 1987] that would require . . . officials to study imposing all-electronic tolls on highways other than the Mass. Pike.”

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NBC's Look at P3 "Successes and Failures" Leads with the SH 130 Bankruptcy

NBC News posts a two-part series on P3 projects that begins with a review of the SH 130 project’s bankruptcy. NBC describes the Texas tollway as “the kind public-private partnership model that President Donald Trump and some conservatives say the nation needs to rebuild its crumbling infrastructure,” and notes that “a decade after Texas and its partners first shook hands, the corporation running the road is in bankruptcy — with more than $430 million still owed to U.S. taxpayers stemming from a loan approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation . . . and more than a billion owed to other investors, too.”

The second segment focuses on a “success story,” Dallas’ Klyde Warren Park, which “was built out of thin air, when a community group determined to connect two neighborhoods put a roof on the freeway that divided them.”

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FBI Is Investigating Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Contractors

WFPL reports, “The FBI is conducting an antitrust investigation into contractors working on road and construction projects with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. First reported by the Lexington Herald-Leader, the cabinet recently issued a notice for all contractors who work with the state to preserve contract data as a result of the investigation. Cabinet employees are also required to preserve all data relating to state contracts dating back to 2010. . . .” [Link inserted.]

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VDOT's Layne to 300-Plus Potential Contractors: The Multi-Billion Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel Expansion Will Happen

Daily Press staffs a VDOT meeting for contractors eyeing the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion project and reports that VDOT Secretary Aubrey Layne told the attendees, “We’re not wasting your time, guys. This project is going to get built. We’re taking some time to figure it out, but it’s going to get done. We’re not here talking about something that may or may not happen.” [Link inserted.]

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I-77 Express Review: Questions Raised about NCDOT Consultant's Previous Work with Cintra

The Charlotte Observer reports, “Some Lake Norman residents are saying that the N.C. Department of Transportation’s independent review of the Interstate 77 toll lanes contract is compromised because the firm chosen – Philadelphia-based Mercator Advisors – worked with the project’s developer, Cintra, in the past.” The report adds, “Mercator has no involvement with the toll lane project. But the firm did work with Cintra on a Texas project in 2004, according to Texas Department of Transportation documents obtained by the Observer.”

WBTV is also on the story.

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2016 Is Garden State Parkway's Deadliest Year Since 2007

NJ.com reports, “Traffic deaths on the Garden State Parkway spiked to 32 people killed in 29 crashes last year, making it the deadliest year on the toll road since 42 people died in 2007. In 2015, there were 10 crashes and fatalities on the Parkway.” (The article includes a map of the crash sites.)

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Cape May (NJ) Toll Bridge Closed Due to Crack in Supporting Pier

The Press of Atlantic City reports, “A crack 30 feet below water in one of the supporting piers of the Townsends Inlet toll bridge has resulted in its indefinite closure. . . .” The Cape May County-owned bridge, opened in 1940, connects Sea Isle City and Avalon. The county engineer is hopeful repairs can be completed before Memorial Day.

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Caltrans Temporarily Closes Lanes for Carquinez Bridge Emergency Repair

KGO reports that the Carquinez Bridge required emergency repair work on April 3 that forced Caltrans to close three eastbound lanes of I-80 near the bridge’s toll plaza.

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With Deadline Looming, Lobbying Intensifies for CA's Funding Overhaul Bill

The Sacramento Bee reports, “With the deadline to pass a $5.2 billion a year road-spending package looming, interests are ramping up lobbying campaigns to propel or doom California’s largest potential transportation funding overhaul in a quarter century.” The report adds, “The governor and Democratic legislative leaders set a Thursday [April 6] deadline to approve the legislation, setting the stage for a highly concentrated lobbying effort this week.”

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Ottawa Lawmakers Study Congestion Pricing

StittsvilleCentral.ca reports that Ottawa lawmakers ordered a study of congestion pricing as a possible solution for city traffic problems. “The study looks at the potential effects of four pricing models: highway tolls, ‘cordon’ charges (a toll to enter downtown), parking rate changes and a gas tax increase. The authors conclude that raising the cost of parking downtown would be the most cost-effective tool. . . .”

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Bertha Triumphs: Tunnel Boring Machine Will Cross the Finish Line Today

KIRO reports that contractors expect Bertha “to complete her journey underneath downtown Seattle” today, April 4.

KIRO also features a timeline of WSDOT’s Alaskan Way Viaduct project marking the ups and downs Bertha experienced along the way. “Maybe it’s not on par with the pyramid of Giza, or even the Great Wall of China, but the tunnel that Bertha just bored beneath Seattle is still a marvel,” the station observes.

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Police Are Investigating Fatal Crash Involving HCTRA Traffic Control Vehicle

KIAH reports police are investigating a fatal crash on SH 249 involving a truck that ran into the back of a Harris County Toll Road Authority traffic control construction vehicle last week. The truck driver died at the scene.

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Three Die in Wrong-Way Driver Crash on HCTRA's Hardy Toll Road

KPRC reports, “Authorities are investigating a deadly head-on collision involving two vehicles Sunday morning [April 2]. Officials closed the Hardy Toll Road at I-45 around 3:45 a.m. after a wrong-way driver collided head-on with another vehicle.”

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SCDOT's Use of Revenue Is Driving a Gas Tax, Highway Funding Debate

The Greenville News reports, “At the heart of the ongoing and heated debate over whether to increase the gas tax to improve South Carolina’s roads is how DOT has spent its money and why the state’s roads are in such poor condition after years of budget increases for the agency.”

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Louisiana Funding Bill, Tolling Under Microscope

The Times-Picayune takes a detailed look at Louisiana’s transportation funding challenges. (The prospects for tolling and for Louisiana reaping benefits from a Trump administration infrastructure renewal plan are discussed.)

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PANYNJ Police Arrest Trucker with $234,000 in Unpaid Tolls, Fees

SILive.com reports that PANYNJ police arrested a trucker at the Outerbridge Crossing for driving with a suspended license and discovered the company he works for owes more than $234,000 in tolls and fees.

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