Daily News Briefs, January 18, 2023

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PANYNJ Announces Overnight Holland Tunnel Tube Closures Lasting Until 2026

“The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced [yesterday] that it would close the New Jersey-bound north tube of the tunnel six nights a week, starting Feb. 5,” The New York Times reports. The closures, expected to last three years, will allow workers to repair decade-old damage to the structure and to mechanical, electrical and other systems from Hurricane Sandy, which flooded the tunnel under the Hudson River with brackish water. “Drivers will have to choose other routes out of Manhattan from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday nights and from 11:59 p.m. on Fridays until 9 a.m. on Saturdays. A similar schedule of overnight shutdowns has been in place for New York-bound traffic . . . since April 2020. That work is scheduled to end on Feb. 4.” PANYNJ puts the cost of rehabilitating the entire tunnel at $364 million.

Environmental Protection Policies Procedures And Initiatives Highway and Bridge Maintenance New Jersey New York New York City Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ)

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Florida DOT Unveils Plans To Expand EV Charging With Federal Infrastructure Funds

Florida Politics reports, Florida DOT is in line to receive $198 million out of $5 billion in federal funding to be distributed to state transportation departments over the next five years through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program. The department, local governments and tribes “will also be able to seek apportionments from a separate $2.5 billion discretionary grant program that is ‘still pending guidance’ from the [Joint Office of Energy and Transportation].” FDOT has identified 15 “major interstate gaps” as targets for the first phase of EV infrastructure upgrades. It hosted an industry forum in November, where more than 450 stakeholders gave feedback to inform the department’s selection process. Trey Tillander, PE, executive director of transportation technologies for FDOT, said consumer costs for charging at the new stations will be market-driven, but that prospective operators are looking more to amenities offered at the charging stations for their profits. The article notes that Florida has seen EV registrations increase by 87 percent over the past 15 months, “placing it behind only California nationally in battery-powered automobiles owned.”

Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Florida Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Highway and Bridge Maintenance US Department of Energy US Department of Transportation (USDOT) US Gov't Transportation Funding US Infrastructure Funding And Financing Initiatives

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Fitch: US Toll Roads Traffic Rose Slightly In 3Q-22

According to Fitch Ratings, its latest update of the U.S. Airports & Toll Roads Traffic Monitor shows that traffic at airports and on toll roads “continued to recover towards pre-pandemic levels in the third quarter of 2022.” (The traffic monitor is a “web-based interactive platform that provides traffic volume information for more than 50 U.S. issuers.”) Fitch notes, “The toll road sector remains effectively fully recovered relative to 2019 levels. Average toll road traffic recovery across the Fitch Traffic Monitor portfolio for 3Q22 was 99% of 3Q19 levels, a slight increase from the 98% recovery at 2Q22, led by continued solid demand across the summer travel season.”

Fitch Ratings Transportation and Infrastructure Research & Development

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These are just some of the toll industry developments TRN is following.

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