- "Follow That Car!" AP Reports on Stepped-Up Efforts to Enforce Toll Payment
- CFX Kills Planned 15 Percent Toll Hike and Approves Much Smaller Annual Increases
- WA Lawmakers Propose to Revive I-5 Bridge Project
- RiverLink Tweaks Business Rules in Response to a Tolling Dispute
- Is ATA Softening Its Opposition to Tolling?
- Kane County (IL) Closes In on Land Needed for Longmeadow Parkway Project
- CA Lawmaker Files Bill to Kill Caltrans 710 Tunnel Project
- Local Officials Oppose IL Tollway Plan for Widening Tri-State Tollway
- WI Governor's Transportation Plan "Vexes" Lawmakers as Speaker Says Tolls Remain an Option
- WV Lawmakers Split on Governor Justice's Plan to Raise Turnpike Tolls to Fund Other Road Projects
- Washington Metro's Rehab Project Drives Up Express Lanes Traffic and Tolls
- Indiana Lawmakers Open a $600 Million Budget Hole with Amendment to Transportation Funding Plan
- Massey Tunnel Bridge Replacement Project Clears Environmental Hurdle
- Financial Times: Lenders Rethink Sale of Britain’s M6 Toll Road
- Despite Lack of Discussion on Trump Infrastructure Plan, Carlyle and Blackstone Are "Turning Their Attention" to US Deals
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"Follow That Car!" AP Reports on Stepped-Up Efforts to Enforce Toll Payment
Associated Press reports, “No one likes to pay tolls, some more so than others. And toll-collection agencies across the country are fed up. Some drivers blatantly zip through toll gates without paying. Others get more creative, like the truck driver accused of using fishing line to flip his license plate to avoid capture, or the motorcyclist who used a toggle switch to retract his plate.” AP adds, “Interstate [reciprocity] agreements are on the rise, said J.J. Eden, president of the Alliance for Toll Interoperability. . . . Loss caused by toll evasion ‘gets to be a financial hit for the toll agencies, so they see these high numbers and realize they have to do something,’ he said. ‘It’s just basically a matter of fairness.’”
ScofflawsCFX Kills Planned 15 Percent Toll Hike and Approves Much Smaller Annual Increases
Orlando Sentinel reports, “The Central Florida Expressway Authority voted unanimously Thursday [February 9] to kill a scheduled hike of 15 percent in tolls, replacing it with a much lower one that will occur annually.” The newspaper adds, “In killing the 15 percent hike, the board set in motion annual increases of 1.5 percent or an amount reflecting inflation, whichever is greater. [Link added.] They will start next year for drivers who pay electronically. . . . For drivers who toss coins, an increase to the next quarter may not occur for some years.”
Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) Toll Rate ChangesWA Lawmakers Propose to Revive I-5 Bridge Project
The Oregonian reports, “Seven Southwest Washington legislators want to resurrect plans to build a new Columbia River bridge linking Portland and Vancouver. Just don’t call it the Columbia River Crossing. Vancouver-area lawmakers will drop bills [today, February 10] labeling a new I-5 bridge a project of statewide significance and directing Washington Transportation Department officials to sift through millions of dollars’ worth of feasibility studies, environmental impact statements and financial analyses from the last go-round to determine what could be salvaged of the abandoned interstate bridge project.” The newspaper notes that opposition to tolling was one reason the Columbia River Crossing proposal failed.
Oregon Washington State Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)RiverLink Tweaks Business Rules in Response to a Tolling Dispute
News and Tribune reports, “RiverLink is tweaking its operations after a local business filed a tolling dispute and appeared on TV news, claiming discrepancies on its account. . . . [It] will now allow a grace zone for vehicles near or slightly above the 7.5 feet maximum that, once passed, bumps tolling rates for drivers. The tolling company has also stopped listing license plate numbers on RiverLink account transactions.” RiverLink spokesperson Mindy Peterson tells the newspaper, “We’re a new system that is growing and improving every day. If customers have issues or concerns and if we find a way to streamline or improve the process for them, we’re going to do it.”
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River BridgesIs ATA Softening Its Opposition to Tolling?
POLITICO’s “Influence” blog reports that American Trucking Associations president Chris Spear told a POLITICO interviewer “he sees room to compromise on one of the organization’s most historically loathed revenue streams for roads and bridges — tolling.” Spear reportedly said ATA is still opposed to tolling existing highways, “[b]ut if a toll would help alleviate congestion on a newly constructed road or bridge . . . ‘I think we’ll compromise on that.’” Click here to access the full POLITICO article (subscription required).
Kane County (IL) Closes In on Land Needed for Longmeadow Parkway Project
Daily Herald reports, “By this time next week, Kane County officials will either own or have the power to own 100 percent of the land needed to build the Longmeadow Parkway.” The county board’s executive committee this week unanimously approved about 20 properties for possible “quick take,” an eminent domain procedure. The newspaper notes, however, there is still some localized opposition to the Illinois road and toll bridge project.
Illinois Kane County (IL) DOTCA Lawmaker Files Bill to Kill Caltrans 710 Tunnel Project
Pasadena Star-News reports, “Assemblyman Chris Holden introduced legislation [AB 287] that would prohibit building a tunnel to close the 6.2-mile gap of the 710 Freeway between the 10 and 210 freeways, the assemblyman announced [on February 9]. This is the first time a piece of legislation would aim to kill the controversial project proposed by Caltrans. The freeway tunnel project would run through El Sereno, South Pasadena and Pasadena[,] and has divided communities in the San Gabriel Valley.” The report adds, “The tunnel would not allow trucks as currently proposed and would be a toll road.”
California Caltrans (CA Department of Transportation) Los Angeles (CA) Metro RegionLocal Officials Oppose IL Tollway Plan for Widening Tri-State Tollway
Pioneer Press (via Chicago Tribune) reports, “Hinsdale village officials are preparing to oppose a developing plan to widen Interstate 294 that could move a sound wall west into backyards and village parks. The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority started planning more than two years ago to reconstruct and possibly widen the central Tri-State Tollway. [Link added.] One option being considered is widening the tollway from four lanes to five in each direction from O’Hare International Airport south to 95th Street, officials said.”
Chicago Metro Area Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (IL Tollway)WI Governor's Transportation Plan "Vexes" Lawmakers as Speaker Says Tolls Remain an Option
The Capital Times, reporting on Governor Scott Walker’s budget address, notes, “The transportation budget continues to vex legislators who say the governor’s funding proposal doesn’t do enough to address a projected $1 billion shortfall.” Although Walker insisted, “We should not raise the gas tax,” Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) responded that “lawmakers will look at all possible funding options, including a gas tax increase, vehicle registration fee increase or implementing tolls.”
WisconsinWV Lawmakers Split on Governor Justice's Plan to Raise Turnpike Tolls to Fund Other Road Projects
MetroNews looks at the $3 billion highway construction initiative proposed this week by West Virginia Governor Jim Justice and state lawmakers’ split reaction to the plan. The governor proposes to finance the projects by issuing bonds backed, in part, by a turnpike toll increase.
West Virginia West Virginia Parkways Authority (West Virginia Turnpike)Washington Metro's Rehab Project Drives Up Express Lanes Traffic and Tolls
WAMU reports that Transurban’s DC-area express lanes appear to have gotten busier because of Washington Metro’s SafeTrack reconstruction program. Some of the busiest days in the toll lanes’ history coincide with rail maintenance surges, and “[t]he extra traffic drove up toll prices.” The station adds that “commuters who reached for their car keys to avoid the repeated SafeTrack disruptions in Northern Virginia, were well served by the 495 Express Lanes. . . .”
Express Lanes Transurban Washington (DC) Metro RegionIndiana Lawmakers Open a $600 Million Budget Hole with Amendment to Transportation Funding Plan
The Journal Gazette reports that the Ways and Means Committee of the Indiana House of Representatives accepted an amendment to the Republican transportation funding plan (HB 1002) that opens a $600 million hole in Indiana’s next two-year budget. The committee approved the amended bill, which still contains a provision for the study of interstate highway tolling.
IndianaMassey Tunnel Bridge Replacement Project Clears Environmental Hurdle
CBC reports, “The British Columbia government has granted an environmental assessment certificate for the 10-lane, $3.5-billion bridge project to replace the Massey Tunnel over the Fraser River.”
British Columbia CanadaFinancial Times: Lenders Rethink Sale of Britain’s M6 Toll Road
Financial Times (subscription may be required) reports, “The banks that own Britain’s only pay-to-use motorway, the M6 Toll, are considering refinancing the business after struggling to secure a £1.9bn sale price. Bidders, including a consortium formed by Spanish toll-road operator Abertis and IFM Investors, are unwilling to meet the price, forcing the sellers to reconsider, according to people close to the vendors.”
United KingdomDespite Lack of Discussion on Trump Infrastructure Plan, Carlyle and Blackstone Are "Turning Their Attention" to US Deals
Bloomberg posts an op-ed column by Gillian Tan, who writes, “In the 20 days President Donald Trump has been in office, he’s said surprisingly little about infrastructure. Yet the lack of detail surrounding potential government spending hasn’t prevented alternative asset managers including Carlyle Group LP and Blackstone Group LP from turning their attention there.” Tan outlines some of the challenges that face US firms with plans to target infrastructure deals.
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