- FHWA and FDOT Will Evaluate New Express Lane Alternatives for Tampa Interstates Project
- RiverLink Traffic Increased Slightly during Second Week of Operations
- PA Turnpike Part of Moody's National Settlement of Bond-Rating Allegations
- Credit Suisse Says Transurban Will Need to Raise $1 Billion in New Equity
- Arkansas Highways Boss Pushes VMT/RUC Pilot, Higher Hybrid Fees
- Brooklyn Residents Want Same Verrazano-Narrows Bridge Toll Break that Staten Islanders Enjoy
- As Verrazano-Narrows Moves to Cashless Tolling, Some Motorists Look for Answers
- Former NJ Treasurer Hits PANYNJ Police, Calls for Agency to Disband the Department
- PANYNJ Capital Plan Draws Editorial Fire
- PANYNJ's Push for Tougher Toll Enforcement Gains More Coverage
- NY Thruway to Add Chip Readers to Gas Pumps
- TxDOT's $4 Billion Mobility35 Program Advances
- Virginia Hybrid Car Owners Push for Extension of Law that Provides Exemption for I-66 HOV Lanes
- For Tesla Owners, Speed Limits Are Merely a Suggestion
- India Pursuing New Cashless Toll Technologies
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FHWA and FDOT Will Evaluate New Express Lane Alternatives for Tampa Interstates Project
Today’s Federal Register contains a notice that the Federal Highway Administration and FDOT intend to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Section 4(f) Evaluation “to evaluate new significant environmental impacts” from, and proposed modifications to the Tampa Interstate Study highway project, the subject of a 1996 FEIS. The I-4 and I-275 project modifications undergoing review will include “alteration of the [Long Term Preferred Alternative in the approved FEIS] to collect tolls for the express lanes, add more connectivity between the express lanes and the general use lanes, add express lane access to the local street network in downtown Tampa, and alter lane configuration slightly for improved future traffic operations.”
Express Lanes Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) US Department of Transportation (USDOT)RiverLink Traffic Increased Slightly during Second Week of Operations
RiverLink has issued an update with traffic statistics on the second week (January 9 to 13) of Ohio River Bridges toll collection operations. 399,799 total crossings were recorded, an average of 79,955 per day. Average transponder usage was 52.5 percent. RiverLink reports that the Kennedy Bridge had the highest number of crossings, 164,322. Nearly 90,000 RiverLink accounts have been opened to date.
WDRB reports on RiverLink’s latest metrics.
PA Turnpike Part of Moody's National Settlement of Bond-Rating Allegations
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office will distribute $19.4 million to the state treasury, two retirement funds and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission as the result of Moody’s Investors Service’s settlement with the federal government of an “unfair and deceptive business practices” claim arising out of the 2008-2009 mortgage bond crisis.
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC)Credit Suisse Says Transurban Will Need to Raise $1 Billion in New Equity
The Sydney Morning Herald reports, “Toll road giant Transurban could need to tap investors for $1 billion in fresh equity as it juggles new tollroad projects in Victoria, NSW and the US. That at least is the view of investment bank Credit Suisse. It reckons the completion of negotiations with the Victorian government over the Western Distributor by the end of March will be the catalyst for a raising.”
Australia TransurbanArkansas Highways Boss Pushes VMT/RUC Pilot, Higher Hybrid Fees
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department Director Scott Bennett is backing a proposal “to increase the annual registration fee for electric vehicles to a level equal to what gasoline-powered vehicles pay in fuel taxes” as well as a “voluntary pilot project to evaluate the taxing of vehicles on the basis of how many miles they traveled as an alternative to paying fuel taxes.”
Arkansas Road Use Charging (RUC-MBUF-VMT)Brooklyn Residents Want Same Verrazano-Narrows Bridge Toll Break that Staten Islanders Enjoy
Brooklyn Paper reports that some Brooklynites are demanding that Governor Andrew Cuomo give them the same Verrazano-Narrows Bridge toll discounts that Staten Islanders are now enjoying. The governor recently proposed making the toll discount for Staten Island residents permanent.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York CityAs Verrazano-Narrows Moves to Cashless Tolling, Some Motorists Look for Answers
SILive.com reports, “While construction began last week at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to make the transition from toll booths to cashless tolling, many Staten Island motorists are wondering what the new system will entail when it debuts this summer.” The website obliges them with an FAQ feature on MTA’s open road tolling system.
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York CityFormer NJ Treasurer Hits PANYNJ Police, Calls for Agency to Disband the Department
NJ.com posts an op-ed by former New Jersey State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff, who contends that it’s time for PANYNJ to consider disbanding its police force. Sidamon-Eristoff calls for an independent study to determine the “feasibility and ramifications of disbanding the PAPD and having local and state law enforcement provide security services to the Port Authority’s assets in its place.”
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ)PANYNJ Capital Plan Draws Editorial Fire
The Star-Ledger editorial board notes that PANYNJ will present a draft of its “$32 billion wish list of big-ticket projects” to the New Jersey Senate’s Legislative Oversight Committee today, January 17. “[T]he first lawmaker to spot the silly spending hidden beneath the exigent needs will earn our eternal gratitude,” the board writes. Shockingly enough, the editors then kill a few of the authority’s proposed projects.
Courier News editors comment on the investigation that revealed PANYNJ funds earmarked for the (now defunct) ARC rail tunnel project were improperly used on New Jersey road repairs at the behest of the Christie administration. Incidents of this type, they write, encourage public skepticism and cynicism, and ultimately undermine citizens’ trust in government.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ)PANYNJ's Push for Tougher Toll Enforcement Gains More Coverage
The Press of Atlantic City, catching up with other outlets, reports, “Port Authority officials will ask New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission to suspend the registration privilege of chronic toll violators, similar to what is now done in New York State, as the agency moves to cashless toll collection.” The report adds that toll evaders cost the agency $31 million in unpaid tolls in 2015.
New Jersey Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) ScofflawsNY Thruway to Add Chip Readers to Gas Pumps
WRGB reports that the New York Thruway will be installing chip readers at gas pumps across the system this week. The report adds, “The Acting Executive Director for the New York State Thruway Authority, Bill Finch, says they hope to protect drivers against [data skimming] fraud with the new upgrades.”
New York State Thruway AuthorityTxDOT's $4 Billion Mobility35 Program Advances
Community Impact Newspaper provides a status update on highway construction in metro Austin. Among other projects, the article looks at TxDOT’s $4 billion Mobility35 program, the SH 71 Express (scheduled for completion in the spring), and CTRMA’s MoPac express lanes.
Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)Virginia Hybrid Car Owners Push for Extension of Law that Provides Exemption for I-66 HOV Lanes
WTOP reports, “Commuters hoping to continue receiving the financial and time-saving benefit of owning a hybrid car in Virginia are trying to rally support for new legislation that would extend the clean fuel vehicle [CFV] exemption through 2020.” The article describes lobbying efforts to pass a bill that would extend the VDOT exemption, which is scheduled for sunset later this year. VDOT currently allows single-occupant CFVs to use I-66 HOV lanes without paying a toll.
Express Lanes Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)For Tesla Owners, Speed Limits Are Merely a Suggestion
The Guardian reports, “Tesla owners will be able to ask the robot that drives their car to break the speed limit, again, following a software update pushed out to users over the weekend.” On another self-driving front . . .
Business Insider calls Google’s move to have Waymo, its self-driving-car company, manufacture an entire suite of sensors in-house “a brilliant move . . . to reclaim its position as a leader in the self-driving-car space, though some questions remain.”
Self-Driving VehiclesIndia Pursuing New Cashless Toll Technologies
Livemint reports that India’s government “is in talks with technology providers to encourage the adoption of new cashless technologies such as contactless payments that use sound waves and near-field communication. ‘We are looking at a lot of new technologies that enable cashless transactions with less investment on infrastructure,’” Aruna Sundararajan, a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology official, tells the website.
India