Daily News Briefs, December 27, 2019

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WA Post: Maryland, Fortify Your Case for Those Express Lanes, Because They're Needed

The Washington Post editorial board continues to insist that any solution to Washington, DC, traffic congestion problems must include highway expansion. For that reason, it urges the Hogan administration to step up its effort to win approval of the plan to widen area interstates with new express lanes built and operated by public-private partnership. At the same time, the editors warn project opponents not to pervert their duty of due diligence by using the Hogan proposal as a “political punching bag.”

Transportation Today reports on an echo of The Post’s commentary: “Maryland’s full Congressional delegation recently sent a letter to Gregory Slater, head of the Maryland Highway Administration, urging the state to provide the public with more information on three transportation projects. The public deserves more information and greater transparency on the replacement of the American Legion Bridge, the widening of the Beltway, and the widening of I-270, the letter said.”

Express Lanes Maryland Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) Washington (DC) Metro Region

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Newspaper Advises NY Drivers To Take Toll Complaints to New Advocate Offices

SILive.com urges readers with E-ZPass toll account or toll bill issues to contact one of New York’s new Offices of the Toll Payer Advocate. The article describes the responsibilities of the advocates (there’s one each for the MTA, PANYNJ and the thruway) and recounts prior efforts by the state’s toll entities to improve customer service.

E-ZPass Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York New York City New York State Thruway Authority PANYNJ

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West Virginia City Needs $800,000 to Demolish Closed Private Toll Bridge

WTRF reports that the West Virginia city of Benwood will ask taxpayers to fund an $800,000 project to demolish a 2,500-foot-long private toll bridge that was closed in 1991. Officials maintain that the structure, reportedly the oldest truss bridge in the state, is unsafe and shedding concrete onto structures and city streets beneath it.

Highway-Tunnel-Bridge Maintenance West Virginia

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Chinese Official Reports on Progress of National Conversion to Electronic Tolling

Caixin’s CX Tech portal reports, a Chinese official told a Beijing conference audience today that 192 million of the country’s drivers have “signed up for” the electronic toll collection system that the government is promoting as part of its “ambitious plan of building a national smart transport system to reduce chronic traffic jams.” The article adds, China has eliminated staffed toll booths on all its provincial borders and turned 487 “physical tollgates into ones that can offer the ETC service.”

China ETC Systems Transponder RFID Technology

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These are just some of the toll industry developments TRN is following.

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