- CT Governor Malloy Puts $2 Million into Developing a Plan to Add I-95 Lanes
- Will Toll Roads Make a Comeback in Connecticut?
- Cause of Delaware River Bridge Beam Fracture Remains a Mystery. One Theory, If Proved, Could Have National Ramifications.
- PA, NJ Turnpikes Take a Financial Hit on Bridge Closure
- NY Governor Cuomo Touts Power of License Plate Scanners to Catch Toll Scofflaws, Car Thiefs and Other Miscreants
- Feds Move to Dismiss Class Action Suit Challenging Use of Dulles Toll Road Money for Train Project
- 407 ETR Toll and Fee Increases Take Effect
- Talk of Tolling A WV Section of I-77 Is Likely Just Talk
- AJC Provides a Primer on Who Pays to Use Which Express Lane in Atlanta Region
- Ohio River Bridges Advises Motorists to Avoid Toll Cheating Scams
- NPR: As Highway Funding Debate Continues, Shuster Calls Tolling Existing Interstates "a Political Non-Starter"
- NJ Judge Will Rule Next Week on Validity of Bridgegate Criminal Complaint Filed against Governor Christie
- Proposal to Twin and Toll Nova Scotia Highways Bombs at Public Meeting
- Tacoma Narrows Bridge Advisory Committee to Meet
- Intoxicated Driver Backs into State Police Car on the ITR
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CT Governor Malloy Puts $2 Million into Developing a Plan to Add I-95 Lanes
WTNH reports, “Governor Malloy has now successfully appropriated over $2 million to start the wheels turning on a project so pricey that no one will even speculate on how many billions it will cost; adding a lane in both directions of the entire length of Interstate 95.” The report adds, “The Governor continues to evade answering questions about imposing electronic tolling, but this kind of project is the kind that the federal government advocates. The kind that’s been done in New Jersey and Massachusetts and soon for trucks in Rhode Island.”
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) ConnecticutWill Toll Roads Make a Comeback in Connecticut?
WNPR reports, “Connecticut’s perennial debate over road tolls starts again this month, but this year there is more momentum after a state panel recommended automated tolling.” The report adds that Emil Frankel, former CDOT chief and USDOT assistant secretary, now a member of Governor Malloy’s transportation funding panel, says, “[I]f Connecticut wants to keep its roads open, lawmakers would have to raise the gas tax, divert a portion of sales tax toward transportation, and reinstate tolls.”
ConnecticutCause of Delaware River Bridge Beam Fracture Remains a Mystery. One Theory, If Proved, Could Have National Ramifications.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports, “Engineers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey faced a mystery as they investigated the cause of a fractured beam on the Delaware River Turnpike Bridge last month. Poring through more than 50 boxes of records on the bridge’s history, in addition to giving the bridge a close inspection, officials have gathered clues but aren’t ready to announce a cause. The answer could have ramifications across the country for the maintenance of America’s aging infrastructure. Plug welds, used to patch excess holes, are a leading contender for creating a weak point in the beam, officials said.”
New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC)PA, NJ Turnpikes Take a Financial Hit on Bridge Closure
Bucks County Courier Times (subscription may be required) looks at the early stages of the massive Delaware River Bridge repair project, and reports that the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Turnpikes are each losing “an estimated $1 million to $2 million in toll revenue each week the bridge is closed,” according to PTC spokesman Carl DeFebo.
New Jersey Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC)NY Governor Cuomo Touts Power of License Plate Scanners to Catch Toll Scofflaws, Car Thiefs and Other Miscreants
New York Daily News reports, “Cashless tolls are proving far more useful in far more unexpected ways around the city. The state’s new license plate-reading technology allows all cars, with or without E-ZPass tags, to sail through the lanes where tollbooths once created regular traffic woes — but are also offering instant identification of scofflaws, stolen cars, expired registrations and other sorts of wrongdoing, Gov. Cuomo told the Daily News Editorial Board.” The report adds, “In the three weeks after the cashless tolls debuted at the Queens Midtown Tunnel on Jan. 10, cops averaged 50 tickets issued per week to drivers for charges from toll evasion to outstanding warrants.”
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) New YorkFeds Move to Dismiss Class Action Suit Challenging Use of Dulles Toll Road Money for Train Project
Law360 (subscription required) reports “The federal government has asked a judge to toss a proposed class action alleging the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is unconstitutionally using toll revenue from Dulles Toll Road motorists to fund Washington Metrorail’s Silver Line extension, calling the class claims meritless and untimely.”
Dulles Greenway Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA)407 ETR Toll and Fee Increases Take Effect
407 ETR’s new toll and fee schedule became effective this week, on February 1. The Ontario highway’s concession company announced the changes last December.
Acquisitions and Mergers Canada OntarioTalk of Tolling A WV Section of I-77 Is Likely Just Talk
WSAZ reports, “Discussion about putting a toll on Interstate 77 between Charleston and Parkersburg may be just that — talk only.” Greg Barr of the West Virginia Parkways Authority tells the station, “The only tolling near existing interstates that’s taking place presently is in like big cities around Washington, D.C. or Atlanta, where they add a couple of new lanes in each directions and toll those new lanes, because it’s called new capacity. But they don’t toll the older existing interstate lanes.”
West Virginia Parkways Authority (West Virginia Turnpike)AJC Provides a Primer on Who Pays to Use Which Express Lane in Atlanta Region
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution provides a detailed look at who pays and who doesn’t pay on the various toll lane projects in the region. It can get tricky, honestly. The report does note, “A reminder, though: Everyone who uses any of the express lanes – free or not – must have a Peach Pass.”
Express Lanes GeorgiaOhio River Bridges Advises Motorists to Avoid Toll Cheating Scams
Courier-Journal reports, “Trying to avoid bridge tolls on the Ohio River? It’s not as easy as you think. A rigorous license plate tracking system and hundreds of dollars in fines await drivers that try to dodge paying bridge tolls.”
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River BridgesNPR: As Highway Funding Debate Continues, Shuster Calls Tolling Existing Interstates "a Political Non-Starter"
NPR reports that “few in Congress, especially in the majority party, seem willing to back specific taxes or fees to fund infrastructure.” The article summarizes the ongoing debate over paying for highway improvements that are, by general consent, deemed necessary. NPR, citing a Washington Post article, says House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster earlier this week called adding tolls to existing interstate highways “a political nonstarter.”
NJ Judge Will Rule Next Week on Validity of Bridgegate Criminal Complaint Filed against Governor Christie
The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports, “A Bergen County municipal court judge said Thursday [February 2] he would consider new evidence and rule next week whether there was probable cause for a criminal complaint alleging New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie committed official misconduct during the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closures. To have a criminal complaint against a sitting governor play out in a municipal courtroom, and go on for months without being dismissed, is quite unusual, experts said.”
New Jersey PANYNJProposal to Twin and Toll Nova Scotia Highways Bombs at Public Meeting
The Register/Advertiser (Kings County, NS) reports that 168 people came out for a recent “public consultation” about the proposal to levy tolls to expedite the twinning of several 100 series Nova Scotia provincial highways. According to the newspaper, 85 percent of the crowd opposed tolling. The newspaper adds, “A survey of 1,027 Nova Scotians determined that the estimated median toll rate people are willing to pay is six cents per kilometre.”
Canada Nova ScotiaTacoma Narrows Bridge Advisory Committee to Meet
The News Tribune reports, “The Tacoma Narrows Bridge Citizen Advisory Committee will assemble next week [February 7] to discuss the Washington State Transportation Commission’s sufficient minimum balance policy and other forward-looking issues.” Kitsap Sun recently reported on legislation that has been introduced to change the source of revenue for the minimum balance fund, thus allowing more toll receipts to be used for bridge operations.
Tacoma Narrows Bridge Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)Intoxicated Driver Backs into State Police Car on the ITR
Post-Tribune (via Chicago Tribune) reports that a motorist allegedly inebriated and in possession of marijuana tried to change lanes at an Indiana Toll Road toll plaza. The result: she backed into the marked state police car that was behind her.