- How Kansas Turnpike Engineered Its Successful Transition To Cashless Tolling
- UBP Subsidiary Suspends Implementing Bridge Toll Pass Increase
- Trump Administration Policies Start To Impact Transportation Research
- These are just some of the toll industry developments TRN is following.
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How Kansas Turnpike Engineered Its Successful Transition To Cashless Tolling
A “case study” newly contributed to the IBTTA website by Kansas Turnpike Authority technology director Bruce Meisch and HNTB engineering executive Derek Vap explores how the toll agency, with the collaboration of key partners HNTB and TransCore, planned and executed a strategy for modernizing tolling technology. The project — it included an efficient transition to cashless collection — was first envisioned in 2014 and came to fruition last summer. The article summarizes how a patient and methodical approach to requirements planning, design, and procurement ensured the new system would serve the needs of both KTA and its customers.
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) ETC Systems HNTB Kansas Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA) KTAG Procurement of Tolling Equipment & Services TransCoreUBP Subsidiary Suspends Implementing Bridge Toll Pass Increase
WJRT reports, Bay City Bridge Partners (BCBP) announced today it is suspending the March 1 effective date of an increase in the fee for a monthly unlimited crossing pass offered to ETC account holders. The company’s decision to double the fee to $30 and entirely eliminate the pass program in July was met with protests by customers and Bay City, Michigan, officials. BCBP, a United Bridge Partners subsidiary, operates two toll bridges under a lease agreement with the city.
BCBP stated it will continue discussions with city officials before making any changes to the pass program. It did not specify a deliberation timeline.
Bay City Bridge Partners (UBP Subsidiary) Michigan P3 & Privatization Toll Exemption, Discount And Equity Programs Toll Rate Changes United Bridge PartnersTrump Administration Policies Start To Impact Transportation Research
Bloomberg CityLab reports, the Trump administration’s “multipronged assault on scientific research across an array of fields” has impacted agencies and experts in the transportation field. Government actions over the past six weeks have alarmed researchers and industry experts, and caused concern about the future of the federally supported Transportation Research Board (TRB). Specific administration-triggered actions include:
- dozens of layoffs at USDOT’s Volpe Center and Bureau of Transportation Statistics, and a Department of Energy office focused on vehicle technologies;
- TRB cancellation of at least 14 research projects deemed not to conform to administration edicts on diversity, equity, and inclusion;
- advice to TRB-affiliated researchers to “halt parts of ongoing projects and adjust written language” seen to be in conflict with presidential executive orders; and
- an FHWA directive that its staff ensure that the TRB committees and panels in which they participate comply with Trump administration priorities.
TRB, its parent entity, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and USDOT have not issued public statements about turnover or changes in the direction of research. According to the article, that lack of communication has raised concerns about which projects and fields of research may be at risk. And, “Looking ahead, questions about funding, censorship and data access could push aspiring researchers into other fields, diminishing the quality and quantity of future transportation discoveries.”
Company and Agency Financial Issues And Reports Transportation and Infrastructure Leadership And Workforce Diversity Transportation and Infrastructure Research & Development Transportation And Infrastructure Workforce Issues Transportation Research Board US Department of Energy US Department of Transportation (USDOT)These are just some of the toll industry developments TRN is following.
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