- Indiana and Kentucky AGs Receive RiverLink Customer Service Complaints
- CDOT Makes Switchable Transponders Free for Carpoolers
- Uncertainty over Administration's Infrastructure Plan Is Affecting Some Projects in the Pipeline
- Yale Lecturer Shatters the Arguments of CT Toll Opponents
- Commuters Save Two Hours a Week Thanks to Mass Turnpike Tollbooth Removals
- Missouri Anti-Tolling Campaign Surfaces
- Website Observes That Toll Complaints Don't Stop Motorists from Using Toll Roads
- WSDOT Tackles I-405 Express Lanes Slow Spot
- What Do You Do When a Power Station Blocks Your HOT Lane Route? VDOT and Contractors Weigh Options.
- VA Newspaper Urges Support for HOT Lanes in Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Plan
- Florida Local Official Floats US 1 Tolling Proposal
- Tolling of Private BC Road Tied to Land Use Dispute
- Protesters Crash Massey Tunnel Groundbreaking Ceremony
- Fitch Affirms Its Rating of Richmond MTA Toll Bonds
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Indiana and Kentucky AGs Receive RiverLink Customer Service Complaints
WDRB reports that about ten motorists dissatisfied with their RiverLink customer service experiences have taken complaints to the attorneys general of Kentucky and Indiana. “While small in number, the complaints shed additional light on the toll network’s early months, which have been marked by long wait times [for telephone assistance] and examples of vehicles charged incorrectly.”
Customer Service Experience Indiana Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges OhioCDOT Makes Switchable Transponders Free for Carpoolers
KUSA reports, “Drivers who travel on I-25 and U.S. 36 Express Lanes, and plan to use the lanes for carpooling, can now get the switchable HOV passes for free. In a release, the director of the High Performance Transportation Enterprise . . . says the free pass is one less obstacle for drivers. Previously, transponders cost $15 for all drivers, but CDOT says the change was made to make carpooling easier for people who do it every day.” [Link inserted.]
The Denver Post also reports.
Colorado Department of Transportation Express LanesUncertainty over Administration's Infrastructure Plan Is Affecting Some Projects in the Pipeline
The New York Times reports, “When President Trump pledged during the campaign to spend $1 trillion to restore America’s crumbling bridges and roads, supporters across the country cheered. . . . Then came Mr. Trump’s budget proposal,” which called for a thirteen percent reduction in USDOT spending. Now, The Times observes, until President Trump and the circle of real estate and business executives advising him on infrastructure come up with a detailed plan, “several infrastructure projects remain in limbo — even ones approved by voters. And local governments may now have to scramble to secure private investors.”
Infrastructure Investment Trends US Department of Transportation (USDOT)Yale Lecturer Shatters the Arguments of CT Toll Opponents
New Haven Register publishes an op-ed column in which a Yale political science lecturer deconstructs some typical arguments made by Connecticut lawmakers opposed to highway tolling. He acknowledges that philosophical differences about government underlie the tolling debate, but concludes, “We are paying one way or another. You either pay a toll or you pay for a car repair or pay for the time you could have spent doing something else while stuck in traffic for hours. I understand the need for principle, but principle is no substitute for reality.”
ConnecticutCommuters Save Two Hours a Week Thanks to Mass Turnpike Tollbooth Removals
ConstructionEquipmentGuide.com highlights an AASHTO Transportation TV interview with Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack in which she reports that motorists who commute to Boston from its western suburbs have been saving twelve minutes’ travel time in each direction (two hours per week) since MassDOT removed middle-lane tollbooths from the turnpike last year. (AASHTO has posted Secretary Pollack’s 4.5-minute interview about tollbooth removals online.)
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) Massachusetts TurnpikeMissouri Anti-Tolling Campaign Surfaces
Springfield News-Leader reports that a nonprofit group started by the head of a convenience store chain, “has proposed asking Missourians in 2018 whether to ban future tolling on existing state roads.” A Better Road Forward has filed three initiative petitions with the Missouri Secretary of State. “The wording of the proposed constitutional amendments vary,” the newspaper adds, “but the objective is the same. ‘Our goal with this initiative is simple: To ban double taxation and preserve the freedom of our roadways current and future generations of hard-working Missourians,’ Baker said in [a news release].”
MissouriWebsite Observes That Toll Complaints Don't Stop Motorists from Using Toll Roads
Construction Dive observes, “Similar to legislators around the country, commuters often complain about the increase in tolls, or ‘toll fatigue,’ but many motorists enjoy the faster ride those roads can bring. For example, in Houston, a trip along the full length of the city’s Grand Parkway, which is under construction, will cost more than $10 when complete, but the finished sections of the road had more than 10 million toll transactions in January alone, indicating that area residents will likely continue to utilize fee-based lanes and roads.”
WSDOT Tackles I-405 Express Lanes Slow Spot
Kirkland Reporter reports, “Interstate 405 drivers and bus riders use the express toll lanes for a faster trip but during the peak of the afternoon commute even the fast lanes have their slow spots.” WSDOT plans to deal with one such spot by restriping the highway and opening a new lane between Northeast 195th Street and SR 527 “to give drivers space to pull out of the express toll lanes before merging into the regular lanes.” The new, almost half-mile lane will open next week.
Express Lanes Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)What Do You Do When a Power Station Blocks Your HOT Lane Route? VDOT and Contractors Weigh Options.
WTOP reports, “Something stands in the way of the $2.3 billion plan to add two toll lanes to Interstate 66 in each direction, from the Beltway to Gainesville. It’s a power substation that serves the Dunn Loring Metro station. One plan involves relocating it, a move Metro would not have to pay for. Another suggested solution,” a flyover ramp, “is included in proposed designs submitted by the companies that will build the lanes. Those were placed online for the first time last week.” The station notes that VDOT has scheduled a round of public information meetings on the project for June.
Express Lanes Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Washington (DC) Metro RegionVA Newspaper Urges Support for HOT Lanes in Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Plan
The Daily Press editorial board focuses on the HOT lanes in VDOT’s plan to widen the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and thereby “roughly double the capacity of our region’s most vital transportation connection and free up our most aggravating bottleneck.” After wading through arguments for and against tolled express lanes, the editors conclude, “The HOT proposal to finance expansion of HRBT is an important step toward fixing our traffic headaches. Let’s all give it a green light.”
Virginia Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)Florida Local Official Floats US 1 Tolling Proposal
Keysnews.com (subscription or purchase required) reports, “Islamorada Village Councilman Mike Forster has proposed placing a toll on U.S. 1, with proceeds going to local road improvement and water quality projects. Forster traveled to Washington D.C. last week and discussed the proposal with U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Homestead, who represents the Florida Keys.”
FloridaTolling of Private BC Road Tied to Land Use Dispute
Times Colonist reports, “A [British Columbia] developer has installed a toll booth and imposed fees for driving on his road and using his wilderness land in a remote area west of Courtenay. Cars are charged $2, large trucks $5. A recreational pass is $5 per day per person.” The newspaper traces the company’s decision to impose tolls to a “bitter” land use dispute with Comox Valley officials.
British Columbia CanadaProtesters Crash Massey Tunnel Groundbreaking Ceremony
Vancouver Sun reports, “As a ground-breaking ceremony, the one organized by the B.C. Liberals [on April 5] for the Massey Tunnel Replacement project was a bit of a bust.” About two dozen protesters, “bent on staging a mock news event of their own in opposition to the plan to replace the tunnel under the Fraser River with a high-level, 10-lane [toll] bridge over it,” forced British Columbia’s transportation minister and other dignitaries to forgo any digging and move the ceremony inside a fire hall “where the minister’s words could be heard by the assembled news media.”
British Columbia CanadaFitch Affirms Its Rating of Richmond MTA Toll Bonds
Fitch Ratings “has affirmed the ‘A’ rating on the Richmond Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s . . . approximately $86 million in outstanding expressway toll revenue bonds, series 1998, 2002, and 2011-D. The Rating Outlook is Stable.”
Investment Ratings Richmond (VA) Metropolitan Transportation Authority (RMTA)