- CFX Board to Consider Killing Large Toll Increase
- WA State Senate Set to Confirm Acting Secretary Millar as Secretary
- WV Governor Calls for Turnpike Toll Hike, Using Revenue for Other Roads
- Governor Brown Prioritizes CA Transportation Projects for Potential Federal Funding
- CT Governor Withholds Infrastructure Funds from Budget Pending Lawmakers' Approval of "Lockbox" Amendment
- Opponents of NCDOT's I-77 Express Project Argue P3 Deal Is Unconstitutional
- OCX Raises Poinciana Tolls to Comply with Bond Terms
- Tolling on City of Chesapeake's New Veterans Bridge Starts Today
- NY Lawmaker Calls on Thruway to Implement Cashless Tolling at the Grand Island Bridges
- Louisiana Newspaper Is Skeptical of P3 Approach to Infrastructure Financing
- Kansas Turnpike Announces $14 Million Contract Award for Plaza, Ramp and Bridge Improvements
- Rural Republicans Are Dubious about Private Financing Approach Favored by the Trump Administration
- Tolling is a Tough Sell in Nova Scotia Debate over Twinning Highways
- Fitch on E-470 Bonds
- PANYNJ Police Nab Teacher Who Allegedly Owes $22,000 and Change in Tolls and Fees
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CFX Board to Consider Killing Large Toll Increase
Orlando Sentinel reports that the CFX board will today “consider killing a big toll increase for drivers on its 109 miles of roads in the region. A 15 percent toll increase slated for July 1 was set in motion years ago when the Central Florida Expressway Authority was struggling financially.” The report adds, “The move . . . also would put in place annual increases beginning in July next year of 1.5 percent or an amount that reflects inflation. ‘I do believe this sends a message to the Central Florida community that we are thinking customer first, toll payer first, and gaining that public trust back,’ said Jay Madara, a board member who helped craft the proposal. ‘It’s no secret the previous board was focused elsewhere as opposed to fiscal responsibility,’ said Madara,” a 2014 gubernatorial appointee who is CFO of NBC’s Golf Channel. [Link added.]
Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX)WA State Senate Set to Confirm Acting Secretary Millar as Secretary
The Herald reports that the Washington State Senate “is gearing up to confirm a new transportation secretary one year after its Republican majority fired the last one. A vote could be held as soon as this week on Roger Millar,” who became acting secretary in 2016.
Appointments-Promotions-Retirements Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)WV Governor Calls for Turnpike Toll Hike, Using Revenue for Other Roads
The State Journal staffs Governor Jim Justice’s first budget speech and reports the governor “proposes a $2.4 billion road and bridge program that would use money from raising Division of Motor Vehicles licensing fees, increasing the tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike from $2 to $3 and raising the state gasoline tax by 10 cents a gallon to pay for road-building bonds. The plan would require a statewide vote to approve the sale of the bonds, and legislative action to allow Turnpike toll money to be used for roads other than the Turnpike.”
West Virginia Parkways Authority (West Virginia Turnpike)Governor Brown Prioritizes CA Transportation Projects for Potential Federal Funding
Capital Public Radio reports, “Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration has released its list of California priorities for a potential federal infrastructure funding package backed by President Trump. The list is noteworthy not only for the projects it includes but for the ones left off. On the list? Highway projects throughout the state, including new carpool and toll-charging express lanes. California’s earthquake early warning system. And, of course, Brown’s legacy projects: high-speed rail and the Delta tunnels.”
California Caltrans (CA Department of Transportation)CT Governor Withholds Infrastructure Funds from Budget Pending Lawmakers' Approval of "Lockbox" Amendment
The Connecticut Mirror reports that Governor Dannel Malloy’s new budget “does not recommend tolls, gasoline tax hikes or any other major revenue initiative to fund Malloy’s long-term plan to rebuild the state’s transportation infrastructure. [State budget director Ben Barnes] said the governor remains determined not to have that debate until after legislators approve a constitutional ‘lockbox’ amendment to safeguard those funds.”
ConnecticutOpponents of NCDOT's I-77 Express Project Argue P3 Deal Is Unconstitutional
WSOC reports, “Bankrolled by hundreds of small donors, Widen I-77 attorney Matt Arnold declared himself ‘David’ in the Court of Appeals [on February 8] as he cast North Carolina Department of Transportation and I-77 Mobility Partners as ‘Goliath.’ Arnold argued NCDOT and I-77 Mobility Partners’ deal to build express lanes is unconstitutional for two reasons. . . . [T]he project doesn’t serve a public purpose and the private company building the lanes shouldn’t have lone authority to set toll prices without a cap. The attorney for I-77 Mobility Partners told the three-judge panel that dynamic pricing is needed to ensure cars in the toll lanes are moving at least 45 mph.”
I-77 Express Lanes (NC) Issues of Law North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT)OCX Raises Poinciana Tolls to Comply with Bond Terms
Osceola News-Gazette reports on a toll increase at the Poinciana Parkway’s Marigold Avenue Toll Plaza. The article states that the rate hike was required under the terms of the bonds that financed construction of the new $70 million tollway segment. Osceola County Expressway Authority Chairman Atlee Mercer tells the newspaper, “The only way they would loan us the money was to go up a quarter in 2017. By rights it was supposed to increase on Jan. 1, but we figured since we waited over a decade for the road we could wait a month for an increase.”
Osceola County Expressway Authority Toll Rate ChangesTolling on City of Chesapeake's New Veterans Bridge Starts Today
The Virginian-Pilot reports, “Beginning this morning [February 9], a minute past midnight, motorcycles and most passenger vehicles crossing the new Veterans Bridge on Dominion Boulevard were charged $1 or $3 each way. Tolls will be collected electronically, and E-ZPass drivers get the cheaper rate.” The report adds, “Some residents and business owners said the tolls are just another financial burden. Others said the new span, even with its tolls, is better than the previous drawbridge and its associated traffic backups. The city is hoping to provide clarity and dispel misconceptions.”
City of Chesapeake (Virginia) Toll Rate Changes VirginiaNY Lawmaker Calls on Thruway to Implement Cashless Tolling at the Grand Island Bridges
Ken-Ton Bee reports, “Sen. Chris Jacobs [R-60] has called on the New York State Thruway Authority to implement cashless tolling at the Grand Island bridges, according to a press release from his office.”
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) New York State Thruway AuthorityLouisiana Newspaper Is Skeptical of P3 Approach to Infrastructure Financing
The Advocate editorial board, noting that Louisiana officials have decided to “solicit input from private firms to fast-track major improvements on Interstate 10 in Baton Rouge,” comments, “[W]e don’t want to pour cold water on any new ideas. But we are skeptical that transportation problems will be solved without some new and recurring source of tax dollars, because roads and rails and ports and airports do not build themselves.”
Louisiana Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) P3 & PrivatizationKansas Turnpike Announces $14 Million Contract Award for Plaza, Ramp and Bridge Improvements
The Kansas Turnpike Authority announced the award of an approximately $14 million contract for plaza and ramp improvements at the South Topeka Plaza, and re-decking and widening of two bridges to a joint venture formed by Iowa-based A.M. Cohron & Son, and Hamm, Inc., of Perry, KS.
Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA)Rural Republicans Are Dubious about Private Financing Approach Favored by the Trump Administration
The Hill reports, “Rural Republicans are expressing serious doubt that private financing — the funding tool favored by conservatives and the White House — could fix the infrastructure needs in their communities.” The Hill adds, “The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee convened a hearing on [February 8] to get input from transportation leaders from rural regions as lawmakers and the new administration assemble an infrastructure package.” [Link added.]
P3 & PrivatizationTolling is a Tough Sell in Nova Scotia Debate over Twinning Highways
CBC News reports, “If twinning part of Highway 103 faster meant adding tolls, people at a public meeting Tuesday night [February 7] in Bridgewater made it clear they would rather wait. There are eight stretches of highway across Nova Scotia that have been identified for twinning and the province estimated it would take 30 years to do it without tolls to offset the costs. Adding tolls could get it done by 2020.”
Canada Nova ScotiaFitch on E-470 Bonds
Fitch Ratings “has assigned a ‘BBB+’ rating to E-470 Public Highway Authority’s . . . series 2017A and B senior revenue refunding bonds. Fitch has also upgraded the rating on the authority’s outstanding senior revenue bonds to ‘BBB+’ from ‘BBB’.” Fitch’s Rating Outlook is Stable.
E-470 Public Highway Authority Investment RatingsPANYNJ Police Nab Teacher Who Allegedly Owes $22,000 and Change in Tolls and Fees
SILive.com reports that Port Authority police spotted a 56-year-old New York City school teacher avoid paying the Outerbridge Crossing toll, and then discovered he “allegedly owes over $28,250, including $6,132 in tolls and $22,119 in fees as the result of 513 violations. . . .”
PANYNJ Scofflaws