Daily News Briefs, February 24, 2017

PA Turnpike Chair Logan Resigns, Takes Post at Gaming Board

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, “Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission Chairman Sean Logan resigned Thursday [February 23] and immediately was appointed to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.” The report adds, “Gov. Tom Wolf is expected to nominate a new turnpike commissioner in the next few weeks who must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the state Senate. The five-member commission then will select a new chairman.” Logan was appointed to the Commission in 2013 and became chair in 2015.

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Crews to Begin "Repositioning" the Closed Delaware River Turnpike Bridge Today

Burlington County Times reports, “Crews are expected [early this morning, February 24] to begin the ‘very deliberate and delicate process’ of returning the Delaware River Bridge to its original position, said the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s chief engineer. The structure was displaced about 2 inches after a 14-inch I-beam was severed below the bridge’s road surface along the Pennsylvania side of the structure.” PTC chief engineer Brad Heigel outlines the $9 million repositioning project and says, “We are very optimistic that it will work.” The newspaper adds that the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Turnpikes are “are each losing between $1 million to $2 million in revenue per week while [the bridge] is closed, spokesman Carl DeFebo said previously.”

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Moroun Lawsuit Is a Bid to Ship Hazardous Materials across the Ambassador Bridge

CBC News reports, “The owner of the Ambassador Bridge has taken legal action in his fight to allow the shipment of hazardous material along his privately owned international crossing, according to a lawsuit filed [February 21]. Documents from the U.S. District Court show the Detroit International Bridge Company wants to overturn a decision by the Michigan Department of Transportation that prohibits the shipment of materials, such as explosive gases, flammable material, organics and poison.”

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WSDOT Envisions 40-Mile Corridor of Dynamic Tolling Lanes in Puget Sound

Lens reports, “As the central Puget Sound regional population grows in the coming decades, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) envisions a 40-mile long corridor of dynamic tolling lanes on the Eastside to manage the new traffic and provide reliable trips for commuters.” The website adds that HB 2071, which had a House Transportation Committee hearing on February 21, proposes to designate WSDOT’s State Route 167 HOT lanes pilot project “a permanent eligible toll facility.”

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Key Players in VDOT-Elizabeth River Crossings P3 Open Up on the Deal

WAVY reports that key players behind the concession agreement between the State of Virginia and Elizabeth River Crossings agreed to be interviewed by WAVY and provide insight into the “controversial deal.” The station reports that former Governor Bob McDonnell is criticized for being so “desperate” to make a deal to tackle tunnel traffic problems that he “became blinded.” McDonnell’s response: “I’m not going to let this go and not get done. The best we could do was come up with a Public-Private Partnership. Our Secretary (of Transportation) negotiated the best arrangement he could.”

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Port Mann Bridge Is "Still Bleeding Money" and Losses "Cast Doubt" on Viability of Project to Replace Massey Tunnel with Toll Bridge

NEWS 1130 reports, “The Port Mann Bridge is still bleeding money, even though government expectations had the toll crossing in the black by this year. The bridge is expected to lose $90 million this year and $172 million over the next two years while ridership remains lower than expected as drivers head for the toll-free Alex Fraser [Bridge]. Delta Mayor Lois Jackson says it’s time to slap a flat fee on all of the region’s bridges so everybody is on the same page.”

The Province reports that the Port Mann Bridge’s anticipated annual loss and failure to hit its original break-even projection is “casting doubt on the viability of building another tolled bridge to replace the George Massey tunnel.”

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GDOT Commissioner Talks Up Atlanta Express Lanes, Eyes Truck-Only Lanes Down the Road

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, “Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry laid out a litany of projects estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars that are expected to transform a large swath of metro Atlanta’s southside.” McMurry, addressing a conference of business leaders, cited the I-75 express lanes project and added, “Down the road, expect to see new entrance ramps, interchanges ‘truck-only’ lanes and the like.”

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TxDOT Calls Portion of I-35 West Project "Substantially Complete"

Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that a “3.6-mile portion of [I-35 West] from Loop 820 north to just past the U.S. 287 ‘Decatur cutoff’ is now ‘substantially complete,’ according to a Texas Department of Transportation spokesman.” He tells the newspaper the main lanes, frontage roads and new TEXPress lanes are now in their final locations.

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IL Tollway to Replace "Iconic" Coin Buckets with Touch Screens that Process Cash, Coins and Credit Cards

Daily Herald reports, “The Illinois tollway is introducing an innovation 1990s drivers digging frantically for change would have cheered. Agency leaders approved a contract Thursday [February 23] to replace the iconic buckets at toll booths with updated machines featuring touch screens that can accept credit cards or bills as well as coins.” The report adds, “The machines will be installed gradually on ramps with the rollout finishing within one year of a contract being signed this spring with Colorado-based BIT Mobility Solutions, a subsidiary of Brisa Innovations headquartered in Portugal.”

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IL Governor Backs Tollway over Canadian Pacific RR in O'Hare Access Dispute

Crain’s Chicago Business political columnist Greg Hinz reports that Governor Bruce Rauner’s administration has asked the US Surface Transportation Board “to rule in favor of the tollway in its suit against the Canadian Pacific Railway, which has refused to make property it owns available for the long-planned project [to provide western access to O’Hare International Airport] even though the tollway claims it long has had a gentleman’s agreement to do so.”

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Labor Groups Raise Red Flag about NY Thruway's Use of Capital Funds for AET

The Buffalo News publishes an op-ed by three labor leaders who write, “The Thruway Authority and the Cuomo administration are actively considering moving hundreds of millions of dollars from the Thruway’s only recently approved capital program to fund a transition to electronic tolls. This is a recipe for disaster for the Thruway, itself such a vital lifeline not just for our region but the entire state, because the Thruway is already literally falling apart – and without being raided, the existing capital plan is already far too small to meet the system’s growing needs.”

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CT Transportation Committee Chair Backs Tolling, Says Gas Tax Increase Won't Yield Needed Revenue

Fairfield County Business Journal reports, “Bringing tolls back to Connecticut highways may not inspire hosannas from residents, but state Rep. Tony Guerrera thinks it’s an idea whose time has come. ‘The benefit is bringing more revenue into the state,’ Guerrera, a Democrat, who chairs the state’s Transportation Committee, told the Business Journal. ‘And it’s not just the people who live here. People driving back and forth from New York to Boston use our highways. They don’t necessarily pull over to use our gas but they use our roads.’”

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Maine Lawmaker Pushes Bill Authorizing Turnpike Authority to Build a New Spur

Portland Press Herald looks at legislation sponsored by Representative Andrew McLean that would “authorize the Maine Turnpike Authority to build a 5-mile toll road linking the turnpike with Route 114 south of Gorham,” reporting that, “The idea of creating a turnpike spur has been considered for almost a decade and has already been studied closely by the authority.” [Link added.] Peter Mills, the turnpike authority’s executive director, tells the newspaper, “We need legislative authority to go ahead and build it – it is not part of our general mandate. We just don’t go out and build highways without being told to.”

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Scofflaws Will Have a Tougher Time Because of Wyoming License Plate Changes

Wyoming Business Report looks at a recent change in the numbering and design of Wyoming vehicle license plates. Because of the old design, “trucks, passenger and commercial vehicles could . . . have essentially the same numbers,” which created problems for out-of-state law enforcement and toll road authorities faced with issuing traffic citations and toll bills. A Wyoming DOT official tells the newspaper the change will prevent the “not uncommon” problem of Wyoming residents receiving bills and notices in error.

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Macquarie Atlas Seeks Equity Injection

The Australian Financial Review reports, “Toll road owner Macquarie Atlas Roads Group is seeking an equity injection via an institutional placement to fund managers. Fund managers expect an offer worth $185 million at $4.85 a share, and were awaiting formal terms on Thursday morning [February 23].” The placement’s proceeds will be used to fund the Dulles Greenway purchase previously reported.

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Australian Pension fund IFM Chasing International Toll Roads

The Australian reports, “Australian pension fund IFM is believed to be in hot pursuit of international toll roads after it emerged it made a last-minute approach to the lenders of Macquarie’s M6 toll road in Britain to buy the asset after the sales process collapsed.” An IFM-Abertis consortium was one of three that recently made an unsuccessful attempt to buy the M6 from its lenders, who rejected all the offers. According to the newspaper, IFM then went back alone offering a higher price that the lenders also rejected.

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Trump, GOP Lawmakers May Defer Action on Infrastructure Renewal

The Hill notes that President Trump is expected to discuss “infrastructure issues” in his address to Congress next week, but reports are circulating that “the administration and Republican leaders are considering punting on an infrastructure package until 2018, in an effort to give Congress more breathing room to address other GOP priorities this year.”

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