- A Toll Modernization Project Is Remaking 20 Ohio Turnpike Interchanges
- Researchers Suggest Toll Industry Focuses On Wrong Metric For Benchmarking Value
- "Solar Parking Lots Are a Win-Win Renewable Energy Solution. Why Aren't They Everywhere?"
- These are just some of the toll industry developments TRN is following.
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A Toll Modernization Project Is Remaking 20 Ohio Turnpike Interchanges
In an Ohio Turnpike news release, executive director Ferzan Ahmed updates the public on the $232 million toll collection system and toll plaza renovation project now underway, “the largest construction project” the turnpike commission has undertaken since its 1955 opening. When work is completed, conventional toll lanes at 20 interchanges will no longer have entry gates. In addition to getting updated collection system technology, the lanes will have dynamic message signs installed at eye level to tell an E-ZPass user whether a transaction was successful or she needs to take a ticket and attend to the status of her account or transponder. Four new or renovated plazas will have the turnpike’s first E-ZPass open-road toll (ORT) lanes. The news release notes that ORT construction was substantially completed late last year at one of the four plazas, Swanton (mile marker 49), which is “currently being used for testing components of the new system.”
AETolls E-ZPass ETC Systems Ohio Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission Open-Road TollingResearchers Suggest Toll Industry Focuses On Wrong Metric For Benchmarking Value
An “Infrastructure Investor” research article concludes that the cost-per-mile benchmarking metric commonly relied on by toll project analysts and consultants is a “fundamentally flawed” and “misleading” indicator of value for money. Veteran transportation investment analysts Robert Bain and Sylvain Senechal argue, “From an economics perspective, cost per mile is focused on supply. It attempts to summarise a toll facility in terms of two of its physical attributes: length and price. This is like benchmarking restaurant cuisine simply by comparing the kitchen floorspace. It conveys nothing about [consumers’ demand for time savings and route utility]. That is where the benchmarking metric needs to focus if value is to be assessed and communicated.” The authors, using publicly available data, benchmark 68 US toll facilities by price (cost-per-mile) and by value (cost-per-minute saved), and conclude that “[v]alue-based conclusions cannot be drawn from price alone.”
Investment Ratings P3 & Privatization Transportation and Infrastructure Research & Development"Solar Parking Lots Are a Win-Win Renewable Energy Solution. Why Aren't They Everywhere?"
CNET reports, although mounting solar panel arrays over parking areas has obvious benefits in terms of expediting America’s transition from dependence on fossil fuels, it also helps shield vehicles from sun, snow and rain, a plus any motorist used to scraping snow off a parked car in the dead of winter would immediately recognize. Despite the obvious advantages of erecting solar “canopies” in parking lots, there are logistic and financial obstacles that this article explores.
Climate Change & Infrastructure Resilience Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Environmental Protection Policies Procedures And InitiativesThese are just some of the toll industry developments TRN is following.
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