Daily News Briefs, January 16, 2017

A Note to Today's Readers

Today, Monday, January 16, is a holiday for many of our US readers. For that reason, TollRoadsNews has scheduled a software upgrade that may intermittently interrupt access to our website during the early hours of this morning (eastern standard time).

The technology work schedule required us to post today’s editions of Daily News Briefs and TollroadsToday (our email alert) overnight and potentially in advance of some Monday news developments.

Daily News Briefs and TollroadsToday will return to their regular publication schedules tomorrow, January 17.

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NJ Police Charge Truck Company Owner with Theft of $1 Million in Tolls and Fees

NJ.com (not to mention many other news organizations) reports, “A New Jersey man was arrested while boarding a flight for a vacation in Aruba after police found his trucking company owed more than $1 million in unpaid tolls, authorities said.” The 34-year-old man ran a Jersey City company — inaptly named Do It Right Trucking — “that sent 100 trucks through more than 100 toll booths a day” using what the state police called “a delinquent E-Z Pass account.” An attorney for the man describes his nonpayment problem as “clerical in nature” and “oversight at worst.”

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Interstate Toll Enforcement Cooperation Is Growing, Evidenced by PANYNJ Overture to NJ Registration Officials

NJ.com reports, “More states are investigating toll enforcement agreements, said officials at the Alliance for Toll Interoperability, a group that promotes toll industry standardization. ‘Interstate agreements are on the rise, and the majority of action is currently occurring in the Northeast region of the United States,’ said Sharon Adair, Alliance Vice President.” The article leads with news that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey “will ask New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission to suspend the registration privilege of chronic toll violators, similar to what is now done [in cooperation with] New York State, as the agency moves to cashless toll collection. . . .” NJ.com adds, “The motivation behind such agreements is lost money, especially as toll authorities began to implement all-electronic toll collection, and eliminate cash.”

Daily Record reports that port authority police meanwhile continue their round-up of toll scofflaws. On January 12, they stopped a man who allegedly drove through a Lincoln Tunnel toll booth without paying, then charged him with theft after discovering the man owes more than $12,300 in tolls and fees, representing 190 alleged violations.

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Indiana Bill Aimed at Toll Avoiders Would Penalize License Plate Concealment

WDRB reports, “Drivers could pay a premium for trying to avoid paying tolls under a new bill in the Indiana House. ‘This bill is intended to help insure that no one is getting away without paying their fair share,’” a co-author of House Bill 1269 tells the station. “Those who cover their license plate, or do not display a plate, could pay a new fine up to $500 on top of existing penalties. The creators of the bill are also considering adding language to combat [remote controlled and other] devices designed to cover license plates from toll cameras,” according to WDRB.

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Some Commuters Are Unpleasantly Surprised by the Mass Turnpike's AET Rate Structure

The Boston Globe reports, “When the state Department of Transportation announced the new toll rates on the Massachusetts Turnpike, drivers seemed to be getting a good deal. Two-thirds of trips on the highway would cost the same or less, officials said, and the move to all-electronic tolling would be largely ‘revenue-neutral.’” But now, The Globe notes, “for some commuters, particularly in the Newton area, the new overhead gantries are quietly siphoning more money from their transponder accounts, a jump that has caught many off guard.” (One commuter tells the newspaper he “will probably wind up paying more than $300 a year in additional toll costs.”) State highway administrator Thomas Tinlin responds by pointing to the widespread mobility and environmental benefits wrought by AET.

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TxDOT Was Unaware of Lawsuit against Firm Chosen to Provide I-35 Toll Feasibility Study

Austin American-Statesman reports, “The company hired by the Texas Department of Transportation to study the viability of toll lanes on Interstate 35 is battling allegations that it used inflated traffic projections for toll road assets in other states, court documents show.” The newspaper adds that TxDOT awarded its $6.8 million contract to a Macquarie subsidiary “two years after a lawsuit alleged the firm paid kickbacks — in the form of undisclosed ‘success fees’ to a consultant — in exchange for inflated traffic projections. . . .” In response to the newspaper’s inquiries “about the firm’s track record,” a Macquarie spokesperson said only, “Macquarie Capital is pleased to be working with the Texas DOT on this project, and we look forward to its successful completion.”

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Indiana Has Several Options for Expanding Highway Tolling

The Journal Gazette reports that a tolling expansion is “so far flying under the radar” even though influential Indiana lawmakers openly endorse it as the way to close highway budget gaps created by declining gas tax revenues. According to the newspaper, “The tolling options are varied,” and include: tolling existing interstates; adding lanes and replacing bridges on interstates “and then tolling the entire roadway;” and building truck-only toll lanes. “The talk has generally focused on interstates 65 and 70 where congestion is more of a concern and more capacity is needed. Interstate 69 has not been included in the conversation so far.”

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RiverLink's Supply of "Local Transponders" Runs Dry

WDRB reports, “RiverLink . . . has run out of local transponders, according to social media. The news came in a tweet from [RiverLink’s] Twitter page Friday afternoon [January 13].” A new supply is on order, but Ohio River Bridges customers who want one of the free stickers “should allow several weeks for delivery,” the station says. RiverLink E-ZPass transponders are still available.

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Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Authority Forecasts No Traffic Growth in 2017, Readies to Rebid Painting Contract

Sault Star reports, “International Bridge traffic volume isn’t expected to be much different in the new year than it was in 2016. Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Authority is anticipating 1.43 million crossings between the Twin Saults in 2017. With 1,435,490 crossings last year, that estimate anticipates no growth in the next 12 months.” The article adds, “A painting project for the Canadian bridge arch will be put out for tender later this month. An earlier effort to find a contractor to do the work resulted in bids that were ‘significantly’ over what was budgeted. . . .”

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Arkansas HOT Lane Study Expected to Kick Off in Late 2017

ArkansasOnline.com, in a report on central-state highway improvements, quotes a regional planning official as saying he expects a “high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) toll-lane study” to begin “sometime in the latter part of this year.” The research, jointly undertaken by Metroplan and the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, will determine, “if we continue to add roadways, what kind of roadways are appropriate and how a new lane is utilized.” According to the website, the study will focus on highly traveled corridors such as I-30 and explore the costs of lane construction as well as tolling methods.

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Ocean County Seeks Representation on NJ Turnpike Authority Board

Asbury Park Press notes, “New Jersey’s toll roads run the entire length of the state. . . . But when it comes to representation? The New Jersey Turnpike Authority is north-heavy, with all seven [currently sitting] commissioners residing no farther south than Wall or Allentown.” In mid-state Ocean County, the location of a major segment of the Garden State Parkway, officials want representation on the turnpike authority’s board of commissioners. The newspaper reports they plan to petition Governor Chris Christie to appoint someone from Ocean County to fill the board’s one vacant seat.

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Garden State Motorists Face Two More Years of Summer Construction Projects

Philly.com reports, “It can be a ‘delicate balancing act’ for transportation officials trying to handle Jersey Shore drivers – how to accommodate them on the Garden State Parkway in both the short run and the long run. . . . And for at least two more summers, drivers on the southern section of the Garden State Parkway may be inconvenienced by construction that includes a $192.7 million bridge replacement and refurbishment project over the Great Egg Harbor Bay and Drag Channel.”

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I-4 Ultimate Partners Win Sustainability Award

The Institute for Sustainable Architecture (ISI)  announced that I-4 Mobility Partners has earned “the prestigious Envision Platinum recognition from [ISI] for its sustainability efforts of environmental, social and economic impact on the community” and for the 21-mile I-4 Ultimate Improvement Project in central Florida.

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