- Maine Governor LePage Suggests an MTA-MDOT Merger Could Result in the Elimination of Most Tolls
- Cibolo, TX, Signs Development Agreement with Private Toll Road Proposer
- Louisiana Replacement Bridge May Come with Electronic Tolling
- Granbury, TX, City Council Appears Willing to Study Proposal for New Toll Road
- VA Governor Will Announce New Toll Relief Plan for Hampton Roads Motorists Today
- Dulles Toll Road Has a Couple of Very Good Months
- After One-Day Trial, Suit Seeking to Block TxDOT and CTRMA Projects Is in Judge's Hands
- Report Documents THEA's Contributions to Regional Economy
- San Clemente Is OK with a Proposed TCA Toll Road Extension (Unless It Crosses City Boundaries, That Is)
- MTA Starts Residency Checks on Motorists in the Verrazano Narrows Toll Discount Program
- KC Star Editors to Missouri Officials: Stop Stalling, Start Tolling.
- NH News Site Backs State Senate AET Bill
- Locals Frustrated with Grand Island Bridges Traffic Jams Want an End to Tolls or an AET System
- Daily News: Uproar over Cuomo's Port Authority IG Proposal Can Be Resolved by NJ Passing Reform Legislation
- Congressman DeFazio Proposes a Gas Tax Increase Nobody Will Notice
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Maine Governor LePage Suggests an MTA-MDOT Merger Could Result in the Elimination of Most Tolls
Portland Press Herald reports that Governor Paul LePage “would like to see the Maine Turnpike Authority merge with the Maine Department of Transportation, believing it would lead to the elimination of most tolls.” The governor told a town hall meeting audience, “The only toll we should have is for the visitors coming in and out of the state in the summer months.” (He added that state residents tolled for out-of-state work commutes would receive a tax credit.) LePage’s suggestion was short on details and failed to convince at least one audience member. He told a reporter after the meeting, “Everybody wants a free ride but we all got to pay somewhere.”
Maine Turnpike AuthorityCibolo, TX, Signs Development Agreement with Private Toll Road Proposer
San Antonio Express-News reports, “The Cibolo City Council has given the green light to a Dallas firm that hopes to construct and operate a toll road — called Cibolo Parkway — leading south from FM 1103 in town to Interstate 10. . . . The development agreement approved by a 6-0 city council vote . . . clears the way for the would-be builder, Cibolo Turnpike L.P., to commission feasibility studies on the proposed seven-mile, four-lane expressway. . . .” (Cibolo Turnpike LP is affiliated with the Texas Turnpike Corporation.)
P3 & Privatization Texas Texas Turnpike Corp.Louisiana Replacement Bridge May Come with Electronic Tolling
Bossier Press-Tribune reports that Louisiana’s Department of Transportation and Development is studying the possibility of collecting tolls on replacement bridge now in planning. The toll-free Jimmie Davis Bridge in Bossier Parish is scheduled for replacement after DOTD completes an environmental assessment in 2020. According to the article, DOTD’s secretary has informed the parish’s state senator that tolls would be collected electronically and discounted for toll tag holders.
Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD)Granbury, TX, City Council Appears Willing to Study Proposal for New Toll Road
Hood County News reports that the Granbury, Texas, City Council took no action at a March 21 workshop, but indicated “it is likely the council will move forward in studying the feasibility of building a toll road to the Chisholm Trail Parkway. The toll road would allow motorists to get to the Metroplex and to DFW Airport much quicker.”
The city’s website is still missing substantive information about the proposal (and the proposer), but TRN will provide updates as information becomes available.
TexasVA Governor Will Announce New Toll Relief Plan for Hampton Roads Motorists Today
The Virginian-Pilot reports, “Gov. Terry McAuliffe will visit Portsmouth [this afternoon] to announce a plan to help people struggling with tolls. Few details were available Wednesday afternoon, but according to a statement, he’ll discuss a ‘proposed budget amendment designed to help ease the financial burden of tolling.’ The governor’s trip comes a week after The Pilot published a story about three women with [ERC] tunnel toll debts as high as $18,000.” The article notes that VDOT Secretary Aubrey Layne recently sent a letter to Elizabeth River Crossings expressing his disappointment with the company’s business practices.
Elizabeth River Tunnels Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)Dulles Toll Road Has a Couple of Very Good Months
WTOP reports, “More people are using the Dulles Toll Road this year compared to 2016, and a lack of snow could be playing a role. Drivers paid about $12 million in tolls in January and more than $11 million in February. The $23 million total is more than what was paid during the same months in 2015 or 2016. The toll road recorded 15.1 million individual transactions over that two-month period this year, with 88.8 percent of the toll revenue through E-ZPass electronic tolling. That is 3.6 percent more trips than forecast, and 4.9 percent more revenue.”
Dulles Toll Road Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Virginia Washington (DC) Metro RegionAfter One-Day Trial, Suit Seeking to Block TxDOT and CTRMA Projects Is in Judge's Hands
Austin American-Statesman reports that the trial of a lawsuit aimed at stopping three Austin highway projects began and ended yesterday. The newspaper notes, “Critics have long argued the 3.6 mile-long [SH 45 SW] toll road, the subject of fierce debate in Austin for three decades, would harm the environment. Supporters and transportation planners have countered the fears are overblown and argued the additional infrastructure is badly needed.” The trial judge did not rule immediately and did not set a date for announcing his decision.
Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)Report Documents THEA's Contributions to Regional Economy
SaintPetersBlog spotlights a report commissioned by the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA) that says “the agency’s strategic investment planning decisions have generated $1.2 billion in local and state gross domestic product and a combined 13,200 jobs. The Tampa based-agency is best known for owning and operating the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway, the 14-mile all-electronic, limited-access toll road in Hillsborough County.”
Florida Tampa Hillsborough Expressway Authority (THEA)San Clemente Is OK with a Proposed TCA Toll Road Extension (Unless It Crosses City Boundaries, That Is)
The Orange County Register reports that the San Clemente, California, officials are unhappy with the Transportation Corridor Agencies for designating a potential 241 Toll Road extension route that runs into the city. (TCA is studying several project options following its settlement last year of a legal battle with environmentalists.) The newspaper says a letter from the city council to TCA will restate the council’s opposition to the proposed route, request consideration of an alternate route, and suggest “arterial highway improvements for mobility.”
Transportation Corridor Agencies (CA)MTA Starts Residency Checks on Motorists in the Verrazano Narrows Toll Discount Program
SILive.com reports that MTA has instituted a review process to verify that motorists who receive the Verrazano Narrows toll discount for Staten Island residents actually reside in the borough. “If everything checks out, the resident discount is renewed automatically. If not, the resident will receive a letter, asking him or her to provide additional information to prove his or her residency.” The article notes that some tolling procedures are scheduled to change once the bridge’s AET system begins operating this summer.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York CityKC Star Editors to Missouri Officials: Stop Stalling, Start Tolling.
The Kansas City Star editorial board writes, “This is getting old. Once again, Rep. Kevin Corlew . . . has boldly put forward a measure that would allow tolls on Interstate 70. And once again, the idea appears to be going nowhere in another session of the do-little Missouri General Assembly.” The editors believe tolling can “work quite well,” and ask, “If tolls aren’t the answer [to the state’s transportation funding deficit], then what is?”
MissouriNH News Site Backs State Senate AET Bill
Seacoastonline.com’s editorial staff endorses the New Hampshire Senate AET bill, SB 134. “We support the passage of the bill as it’s currently written. It is only a matter of time before [the move to cashless tolling happens], and now is as good a time as any. Anyone who’s traveled from Portsmouth to Dover during rush hour needs no convincing that this is a good idea. Eliminating the need to stop in order to pay 75 cents will alleviate congestion at the tolls in Dover, Rochester and Hooksett.”
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT)Locals Frustrated with Grand Island Bridges Traffic Jams Want an End to Tolls or an AET System
WKBW reports that business owners harmed by traffic backups at the New York Thruway’s Grand Island Bridges tollbooths want the tolls lifted or an electronic toll collection system installed. They rallied with other toll opponents last night, March 22, in Niagara Falls.
The Buffalo News reports that a new group, WNY for Grand Island Toll Barrier Removal, has organized to pressure state officials to take action on local complaints about the bridges’ toll plaza bottleneck.
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) New York State Thruway AuthorityDaily News: Uproar over Cuomo's Port Authority IG Proposal Can Be Resolved by NJ Passing Reform Legislation
Daily News (New York City) editors write that PANYNJ chair John Degnan is really, really opposed to Governor Cuomo’s proposal to create a separate New York State inspector general for the authority, so opposed that he met with the editorial board to vent his objections. In response, the editors suggest that “[t]here’s a simple way to calm Degnan and all others worried about an unchecked watchdog at the authority: Get the New Jersey legislature off its duff, and pass necessary reforms that have stalled there for months now.”
New Jersey New York City PANYNJCongressman DeFazio Proposes a Gas Tax Increase Nobody Will Notice
OregonLive.com reports that Congressman Peter DeFazio, ranking minority member of the House Transportation Committee, “is betting that Americans will pay a penny more at the pump to pay for infrastructure investment, and he’s doubling down on the wager with the belief they wouldn’t even notice.” A bill DeFazio has introduced “would add about a penny per year to the 18.4-cent federal gas tax, revenue that could be leveraged in the bond market to raise an additional $17 billion a year. . . ” DeFazio told a group of reporters, “It’s a pathetically small increase . . ., and if anybody [in Congress] doesn’t have enough guts to vote for something that can do a $500 billion investment, that would create tens of thousands of jobs, they don’t belong here.”