- New York Governor Touted Congestion Pricing Results During Friday Meeting With Trump
- House Democrats Demand USDOT Disclose Work Force Reduction Information
- Oklahoma Turnpike Opens New Claremore Interchange
- These are just some of the toll industry developments TRN is following.
This is a Subscribers-Only area. If you are a subscriber, please login. If not...
Become a Subscriber Today »
New York Governor Touted Congestion Pricing Results During Friday Meeting With Trump
The Hill reports, New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) revealed Sunday that she recently had another discussion about MTA congestion pricing with President Trump. Hochul used a Friday, March 14, White House meeting about an energy pipeline project as an opportunity to present Trump with data showing the tolling program is effective in reducing Manhattan congestion. She also tried to allay concerns that tolling will have an adverse economic impact on the city.
“I don’t want to get into private conversations, but I spent an enormous amount of my time in there talking about how congestion pricing is working,” Hochul said during a television interview. “It really is working.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Congestion Pricing Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York New York CityHouse Democrats Demand USDOT Disclose Work Force Reduction Information
Democratic members of the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee are demanding that USDOT be more transparent about the February discharge of probationary employees — an action later deemed illegal in federal court — and the recent departure of some key career civil servants. In a letter to Secretary Sean Duffy sent last week, the committee’s minority members stated that the “indiscriminate firing of probationary employees . . . created uncertainty and strain on DOT employees” and warned that the administration’s workforce reduction policies could “jeopardize the stability and safety of our transportation system or the federal-state-local partnership model of building infrastructure.”
The letter reiterated a previous unfulfilled request for details about the status and impact of reductions in force, information members say they need to fulfill their oversight responsibility and “answer our constituents and transportation stakeholders in our districts who reach out regularly with questions” about USDOT policy changes and plans.
Transportation And Infrastructure Workforce Issues US Department of Transportation (USDOT)Oklahoma Turnpike Opens New Claremore Interchange
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) announced the opening last Thursday morning, March 13, of a new Will Rogers Turnpike (I-44) interchange near Claremore, the second interchange completed since the authority’s conversion to cashless tolling. The facility located at Flint Road-East 510 Road (mile marker 252) was built as part of a $64 million OTA-Oklahoma DOT project to realign SH-20. The new highway alignment is still under construction but is expected to open later this spring. “Motorists coming from Tulsa and Claremore in a 2-axle vehicle will pay a 66-cent toll at the Flint Rd. exit.”
OTA notes that the conversion to all-electronic tolling is allowing it to “add new interchanges to communities for the first time since the inception of Oklahoma’s turnpikes in 1953.”
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Oklahoma Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) PIKEPASSThese are just some of the toll industry developments TRN is following.
If you’re not already a Daily News Briefs subscriber and you want a complete picture of today’s news, click here or call 717-991-2823 for subscription information. If you’re a newcomer to TollRoadsNews.com, click here.