- Moroun Claims Michigan Is "Cheating" His Company Out of Millions in Ambassador Bridge Tolls
- Caltrans, BATA Eye Climate Change Impact, Risk that Bridge Toll Plazas Could Be Underwater during Storms by 2050
- OTA Approves 12 Percent Toll Hike
- Longmeadow Parkway Project Construction Is Coming in under Budget
- WisDOT Audit: Agency "Overlooked" $550 Million Interchange Project
- Dubai Extends TransCore's Salik Toll System Contract
- Louisiana DOTD Will Host Transponder "Swap Meets" to Roll Out New Sticker Tags
- PANYNJ Draws Editorial Fire for Police Officer Compensation
- TxDOT, CTRMA Make Case for SH 45SW Project
- New App Is Designed to Encourage More Travel through Detroit-Windsor Tunnel
- Louisiana Lawmakers: Yes, to Projects. On Funding? Not So Much . . .
- Arizona DOT Eyes Expanding Use of Road Sensors
- WV Debt Rating Downgraded as Lawmakers Express Doubt about Governor Justice's Toll Hike, Bonding Plan
- Hill Op-Ed: P3 Projects Don't Need Tolls to Work. PA's Rapid Bridge Replacement Project Cited as a Model "Availability Payment" P3
- Indonesia Inks Plans for $3.8 in Toll Road Projects
- Nova Scotia's Proposal to Toll Trans-Canada Highway Segment to Pay for Twinning Project Gains Traction
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Moroun Claims Michigan Is "Cheating" His Company Out of Millions in Ambassador Bridge Tolls
MLive.com reports that Matty Moroun’s Detroit International Bridge Company claims in a February 21 federal lawsuit that the State of Michigan “is improperly diverting trucks hauling hazardous cargo from crossing the Ambassador Bridge and cheating the company out of millions in tolls. The bridge company, which has been at odds with state efforts to build a competing span, the Gordie Howe International Bridge . . . , claims the state is creating hazardous materials routes that prohibit truckers from crossing the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor without the authority to do so.”
Gordie Howe Int'l Bridge MichiganCaltrans, BATA Eye Climate Change Impact, Risk that Bridge Toll Plazas Could Be Underwater during Storms by 2050
East Bay Times reports, “By 2050, the toll plazas at three of the Bay Area’s four major bridges, including the Bay Bridge, could be underwater during severe storms,” and railroad tracks, airport runways and corporate campuses could also be threatened by the anticipated effects of climate change. According to the newspaper, “two nascent efforts are addressing these challenges and looking for solutions: A three-year $1.2 million study, funded by Caltrans and the Bay Area Toll Authority will focus on the region’s transportation network, and a roughly 15-month, $4.6 million design competition funded by the Rockefeller Foundation will select 10 at-risk sites to implement solutions that lessen the impacts of climate change and rising tides.”
Bay Area Toll Authority (San Francisco) (BATA) California Caltrans (CA Department of Transportation)OTA Approves 12 Percent Toll Hike
Tulsa World reports that Oklahoma Turnpike tolls “will go up 12 percent on March 1, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority announced Tuesday [February 21]. The authority in December approved the new rates, which apply to both passenger vehicles and heavy trucks.”
Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) Toll Rate ChangesLongmeadow Parkway Project Construction Is Coming in under Budget
Daily Herald reports, “The next construction phase for Longmeadow Parkway is expected to cost 25 percent less than the initial estimate, leaving Kane County officials hopeful the price of traveling across the anticipated toll bridge will continue to decline. The county board’s transportation committee [on February 21] approved a $13.3 million contract with Hoffman Estates-based Plote Construction to reconstruct and widen Longmeadow Parkway from west of Randall Road to Karen Drive.”
Illinois Kane County (IL) DOTWisDOT Audit: Agency "Overlooked" $550 Million Interchange Project
FOX6Now.com reports, “Wisconsin’s new transportation secretary told lawmakers on Tuesday, February 21st that the state Department of Transportation overlooked a massive interchange project in Dane County last year, symbolic of cost overruns and mismanagement uncovered by a recent state audit. Secretary Dave Ross, who took the position after previous secretary Mark Gottlieb resigned in January, told lawmakers that he would change the culture at the agency. The audit showed 16 ongoing major projects had more than doubled in cost from their original estimates, from $2.7 billion to $5.8 billion, and revealed that the DOT wasn’t accounting for inflation in its cost estimates.”
Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT)Dubai Extends TransCore's Salik Toll System Contract
TransCore announced that Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has granted a five-year extension of the company’s contract to provide customer service operations and maintenance services for the Salik Toll System. TransCore will also provide system upgrades and enhancements. TransCore’s announcement notes that it “began its long-standing partnership with the RTA in 2006 when the Authority selected TransCore to design, build, install, and maintain a groundbreaking Open Road Tolling (ORT) system to better manage area traffic. Once completed, the Salik Toll System became the world’s widest, free-flowing tolling zone, spanning seven ORT lanes in either direction.”
Louisiana DOTD Will Host Transponder "Swap Meets" to Roll Out New Sticker Tags
The Daily Comet reports that the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development plans to hold “swap meets” at which motorists with a GeauxPass tag for the Louisiana 1 toll bridge can exchange “their large hard-case toll tags with new smaller, more secure sticker tags.” Scott Rundell, DOTD’s tolling director, tells the newspaper, “We’re moving to a new technology which will allow us in the future to be interoperable with other states.”
LouisianaPANYNJ Draws Editorial Fire for Police Officer Compensation
The New York Post editorial board rips the PANYNJ police force, writing, “Next time you cross the GW Bridge and fume about the $15 Port Authority toll, consider: Some two dozen PA cops made more than $234,000 last year — including three who snagged over $300,000. Your toll money, in other words, is going straight into the pockets of wildly overpaid PA cops. It’s beyond outrageous — and reason enough to scrap the PA police. As DNAinfo reported Monday [February 20], one cop, Sgt. Kevin Cottrell, was paid $319,922. Another, Officer Andrew Kurpat, got $316,213.” [Link added.]
PANYNJTxDOT, CTRMA Make Case for SH 45SW Project
Law360 (subscription required) reports, “The Texas Department of Transportation on Monday [February 20] told a Texas federal judge [the SH 45 Southwest project] outside of Austin, Texas, had gone through proper environmental screening, firing back against claims from project opponents that the project should be halted.” The report adds that TxDOT and CTRMA said in a joint brief that because SH 45SW is a state project, “it did not need to reviewed under the National Environmental Policy Act.”
Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)New App Is Designed to Encourage More Travel through Detroit-Windsor Tunnel
CKLW reports, “A new phone app aims to get more people using the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. Called Tunnel Perks, the app is a free download on both iTunes and the Google Play stores. [Links added.] Tunnel President and CEO Neal Belitsky says the idea is to share offers and deals with tunnel travellers to encourage more travel through the tube.” Belitsky adds, “As of now we probably have about ten different offers between Detroit and Windsor and the app has been downloaded just under 500 times since we unveiled it 2 weeks ago.” DWT is seeking more business participation.
Louisiana Lawmakers: Yes, to Projects. On Funding? Not So Much . . .
The Advocate covers a press club luncheon at which Louisiana transportation department chief Shawn Wilson offered an insight into his (and the state’s) budget problem: “[O]n Sunday,” he said, “he got calls from two state lawmakers asking for projects, and both had supported a resolution that would result in a $20 million cut in the fund used for road and bridge improvements. ‘There is an appetite for projects. . . . There is not an appetite to pay for it,’ [Wilson told the audience].”
LouisianaArizona DOT Eyes Expanding Use of Road Sensors
12 News (KPNX) looks at ADOT’s use of road sensors, Road Weather Information Systems, along I-40 in the northern part of the state, reporting that the department has plans to expand use of the sensors, but lacks funding.
ArizonaWV Debt Rating Downgraded as Lawmakers Express Doubt about Governor Justice's Toll Hike, Bonding Plan
West Virginia Public Broadcasting reports that Delegate Marty Gearheart, Chair of the House Transportation Committee, says committee members are not interested “in the proposed 10 cent increase on the gasoline tax, $1 on the tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike, and increasing some DMV fees the governor mentioned during his State of the State Address.” The report keys on news that Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the state’s general obligation debt rating on February 21.
West VirginiaHill Op-Ed: P3 Projects Don't Need Tolls to Work. PA's Rapid Bridge Replacement Project Cited as a Model "Availability Payment" P3
The Hill publishes an op-ed by John Buttarazzi, an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy and a founder of the Liberty Hall Advisors consulting firm, who makes the case for availability payment P3s – projects that don’t rely on tolls and, he contends, can work in rural areas. Buttarazzi cites Pennsylvania’s Rapid Bridge Replacement Project and notes, “P3s are not a panacea for rural infrastructure. However, they can deliver value-for money by transferring risk, contractually obligating maintenance (mitigating the problem of deferred maintenance).”
P3 & PrivatizationIndonesia Inks Plans for $3.8 in Toll Road Projects
Xinhua reports, “Indonesian government and private firms [today, February 22] signed schemes to finance the construction of five toll road projects, which are part of national strategic projects. The projects, worth a total of 50.9 trillion rupiah (about 3.8 billion U.S. Dollars), are aimed at spurring economy activities in North Sumatra, West Java and the national capital city.”
Nova Scotia's Proposal to Toll Trans-Canada Highway Segment to Pay for Twinning Project Gains Traction
The Globe and Mail reports, “Nova Scotia is proposing to toll 304 kilometres of the Trans-Canada Highway to cover the cost of twinning 213 km of highway in six sections and converting 91 km of highway in Cape Breton to limited access.” Bruce Fitzner, executive director of infrastructure for Nova Scotia’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, tells the newspaper, “It would be the largest highway-building project we’ve ever done in the province.”
Canada