- Updates on PA and NJ Turnpikes' Delaware River Bridge Closure
- Report: "Decades-Old" Mistake May Have Caused Delaware River Bridge Beam to Fail
- MD Governor Hogan's Toll Cuts Not as Big a Hit to Bottom Line as Expected
- Despite Campaign Pledges, WSDOT's I-405 Express Lane Tolls are Here to Stay
- NY's New, Tougher Toll Enforcement Rules Are Already Delivering Results
- VDOT's "Much-Maligned" ERC Contract Goes under a Microscope as State Eyes New Hampton Roads Projects
- CT Lawmaker Sees Colleagues Accepting Tolling as Inevitable
- FDOT's New Howard Frankland Bridge Plan Calls for Express Toll Lanes
- A New Focus on the Brent Spence Bridge
- CTRMA Expects to Open Final Phase of MoPac Project in Coming Months
- MTA Board Eyes Fare, Toll Hike Plan
- Feds Pick NC Pike's I-540 Triangle Expressway and SANDAG's I-15 Express Lanes as Driverless Testing Sites
- Indiana GOP Leaders Are Split over Tolling Existing Roadways
- Massachusetts Lawmaker Wants to Discuss Why the Turnpike Is the State's Only Toll Road
- Transurban Is Looking Forward to Another Big Year and US Expansion
- PANYNJ Police Arrest Alleged Scofflaw with a $56,000 Tab
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Updates on PA and NJ Turnpikes' Delaware River Bridge Closure
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports, “Transportation officials Saturday [January 21] were unable to say how long the heavily traveled Delaware River Bridge connecting the Pennsylvania Turnpike with New Jersey would stay closed as they work to repair a ruptured bridge truss. Officials said it would take two weeks before engineers have a full grasp of the extent of the damage, what kinds of repairs would be needed, and how long the bridge would remain closed.” The Inquirer adds, “’Due to the significant fracture, stresses have been redistributed to other parts of the bridge,’ said Brad Heigel, Pennsylvania Turnpike chief engineer.” The I-276 structure, which is jointly owned by the PTC and NJTA, is 1.2-miles long.
CBS News talks to PA Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo and reports that, “An engineer overseeing a paint job found a fracture beneath the surface. ‘This wasn’t a crack that happened over time, it [looks like] it happened quickly,’ [DeFebo said].” He added that if the fracture had not been found, “it could of been disastrous. ‘Worst case scenario could have been a bridge collapse.’”
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has opened a web page to provide news alerts and updates about the bridge closure.
New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC)Report: "Decades-Old" Mistake May Have Caused Delaware River Bridge Beam to Fail
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports, “An apparent construction error six decades ago could have caused the fracture discovered Friday [January 20] in a steel beam that forced the closure of the Delaware River Bridge, an engineering expert who viewed pictures of the cracked truss said Sunday. An image of the cracked truss – a supporting piece – on the bridge that runs between Bucks County in Pennsylvania and Burlington County in New Jersey shows signs of holes that had been mistakenly drilled into the steel beam and then filled with plug welds, a typical solution in the 1950s when the bridge was built, said Karl Frank, professor emeritus of engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.”
New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC)MD Governor Hogan's Toll Cuts Not as Big a Hit to Bottom Line as Expected
The Baltimore Sun reports, “The amount of money the state collects at the Bay Bridge fell by more than $28.1 million last year, after Gov. Larry Hogan reduced toll rates. That’s a 35 percent drop. But a 9.4 percent increase in highway traffic helped defray that dip, according to figures released by the Maryland Transportation Authority. Revenue increases at other toll facilities helped keep the overall drop to $5.1 million, or less than 1 percent.”
Maryland Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA)Despite Campaign Pledges, WSDOT's I-405 Express Lane Tolls are Here to Stay
The Herald reports, “Eliminating the express toll lanes on I-405 was a popular pledge of candidates on the campaign trail in Snohomish County. Well, it’s not going to happen. At least not this year. Leaders of the state House and Senate transportation committees say they won’t move any bills to end tolling between Bellevue and Lynnwood this session.”
Express Lanes Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)NY's New, Tougher Toll Enforcement Rules Are Already Delivering Results
Syracuse.com reports that New York’s new toll enforcement regulation began to produce results immediately. On the day after it took effect, January 19, the Department of Motor Vehicles “sent out 1,250 suspension letters. Of those, 534 motorists’ registrations were suspended. Another 311 paid their bills to avoid suspension,” according to the web site.
New York ScofflawsVDOT's "Much-Maligned" ERC Contract Goes under a Microscope as State Eyes New Hampton Roads Projects
Daily Press reports, “Add a few hundred million extra into the potential price tag for the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion. Building a new tube for the HRBT counts as a ‘compensation event’ under the state’s much-maligned contract with Elizabeth River Crossings, the conglomerate brought in years ago to add a new tunnel under the Elizabeth River, as well as maintain and toll the Midtown and Downtown tunnels.” The newspaper adds, “Other planned projects, such as the High Rise Bridge, would also trigger payouts” under the ERC contract.
Elizabeth River Tunnels Virginia Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)CT Lawmaker Sees Colleagues Accepting Tolling as Inevitable
NECN reports, “The issue of whether Connecticut should install tolls on some of its most traveled highways is expected to be brought up again during the 2017 General Assembly’s session. ‘I think that we’re starting to finally realize that many of the legislators are seeing that it’s inevitable,’ said Tony Guerrera, the House Chairman of the Transportation Committee.”
Hartford Courant also reports.
ConnecticutFDOT's New Howard Frankland Bridge Plan Calls for Express Toll Lanes
Tampa Bay Times reports, “State officials unveiled a new vision for the future Howard Frankland Bridge on Thursday [January 19]. It will look far different from what commuters are used to driving today: There will be two bridges with a total of eight free lanes and two express toll lanes that drivers will have to pay to use.” The report adds, “The revised bridge plan is a sharp reversal from the Florida Department of Transportation’s old plan, which sought to convert an existing lane in each direction into a toll lane, leaving only three lanes for drivers who didn’t want to pay to cross the bay.”
Express Lanes Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)A New Focus on the Brent Spence Bridge
WXIX FOX 19 reports, “A new report from the US Treasury could mean more attention for the Brent Spence Bridge project, especially by the newly minted Trump administration. The report [link added] calls the bridge one of America’s top 40 projects and says the bridge has a net economic benefit of $14.9 to $22.3 billion.”
Brent Spence Bridge (Cincinnati OH-Northern KY) Kentucky OhioCTRMA Expects to Open Final Phase of MoPac Project in Coming Months
Community Impact Newspapers reports that the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) expects the final phase of the MoPac project to open in the first half of 2017.
Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) Express LanesMTA Board Eyes Fare, Toll Hike Plan
SILive.com reports that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board could vote on a toll hike proposal this week. Bridge and tunnel tolls would increase by less than 4 percent under the plan now on the table.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York CityFeds Pick NC Pike's I-540 Triangle Expressway and SANDAG's I-15 Express Lanes as Driverless Testing Sites
The News & Observer reports, “Federal transportation officials on Friday [January 20] picked North Carolina’s Interstate 540 Triangle Expressway toll road as one of 10 testing sites around the country for driverless car technology. The N.C. Turnpike Authority applied for the program and was selected out of 60 applicants by the U.S. Department of Transportation.”
KPBS reports that the feds also chose SANDAG’s Interstate 15 express lanes as a test site as well.
Click here for the USDOT site selection announcement.
Self-Driving VehiclesIndiana GOP Leaders Are Split over Tolling Existing Roadways
WBOI reports, “A split is forming among Indiana Republican leaders over the use of tolling existing roadways as a solution for the state’s road funding needs. After Gov. Eric Holcomb’s State of the State address, Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) expressed enthusiasm that Holcomb indicated that every road funding solution proposed by House Republicans was on the table, with one, in Bosma’s words, ‘minor exception.’ That exception is tolling existing roadways.” The article adds, “But many legislative leaders say tolling must be part of the solution.”
IndianaMassachusetts Lawmaker Wants to Discuss Why the Turnpike Is the State's Only Toll Road
The MetroWest Daily News reports that freshman State Representative Brian Murray has introduced HD 1830 [unfiled at TRN’s publication time], which he hopes will be “the start of a discussion” about the reasons why the Massachusetts Turnpike is the only state highway with tolls. According to the newspaper, the bill suggests “that other routes into Boston, like I-93, become toll roads with electronic gantries.”
Massachusetts TurnpikeTransurban Is Looking Forward to Another Big Year and US Expansion
The Australian Financial Review reports, “This year is shaping up to be another big one for Transurban as the toll road group aims to sign off on the proposed $5.5 billion Western Distributor motorway in Melbourne and potentially bid for more roads in NSW and the United States.” The report adds that Transurban “is keen to develop new toll road networks in other US regions. It lost a $4 billion tender in November to build new express lanes on Virginia’s Interstate-66 highway to Ferrovial.”
Australia TransurbanPANYNJ Police Arrest Alleged Scofflaw with a $56,000 Tab
NJ.com reports that PANYNJ police arrested a New Jersey man allegedly trying to avoid the George Washington Bridge toll and found that he owes more than $56,000 in unpaid E-ZPass tolls.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) Scofflaws