- VA Police Chief Suspects ERC Tolls Are Cause of "Huge Increase in License Plate Thefts"
- CDOT's Bhatt Says State Will Consider Tolling New I-70 and I-25 Lanes
- Big Dig Critic and Former Vice Chair of Mass Turnpike, Christie Mihos, Dies
- Bridgegate Prosecutors Seek Imprisonment at or below Minimum Guideline for Baroni and Kelly
- Illinois Gov. Rauner Pushes Lawmakers to Vote on P3 Toll Project Resolution
- Cape May County Bridge Commission Delays E-ZPass Installation, Toll Increase
- Funding for PA Turnpike's $2 Billion Mon-Fayette Expressway Appears to Be Locked in Despite Questions
- USDOT, MWAA and DC Officials "Double Down" in Opposing Challenge to Use of Road Tolls for Metro Line Expansion
- Hopes for Trump Infrastructure Plan Begin to Dim among State Highway Departments
- Poll Shows MDX Customers Back 836 Southwest Extension Project
- Ironman Texas Asks to Use HCTRA's Hardy Toll Road for 2018 Competition
- Bertha Is Nearing the End of the Tunnel
- Indiana Highway Funding Bill Undergoes Senate Committee Review Today
- PANYNJ Joins Waze Data Exchange Program
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VA Police Chief Suspects ERC Tolls Are Cause of "Huge Increase in License Plate Thefts"
WVEC reports, “Police think a huge increase in license plate thefts may have something to do with [Elizabeth River Tunnel] tolls. ‘I can’t think of any other possible reason,’ said [Portsmouth, VA] Police Chief Tonya Chapman. ‘To have this sudden spike is unusual for us.’ On average, Chapman said her department has about 20 reports of stolen plates each month. In March, the number of cases tops 80.”
Elizabeth River Tunnels Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)CDOT's Bhatt Says State Will Consider Tolling New I-70 and I-25 Lanes
Denver Business Journal reports, “Coloradans, who could be asked in November to raise their own taxes to pay for extra interstate lanes and other road improvements, may have to pay again to use those lanes.” The article explains, “CDOT Executive Director Shailen Bhatt said in an interview Monday [March 27] that new lanes through the mountains on Interstate 70 and north and south of Denver on Interstate 25 must be managed in some way to ensure that traffic doesn’t fill the newly added capacity on those roads within just a few years. . . . That could involve charging a toll on the lanes, or restricting those lanes to high-occupancy vehicles, or other measures.”
Colorado Colorado Department of TransportationBig Dig Critic and Former Vice Chair of Mass Turnpike, Christie Mihos, Dies
Boston Herald reports, “Christy Mihos, a former convenience store magnate whose fame as a Big Dig critic and two-time Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate was shadowed late in life by bankruptcy and a messy divorce, reportedly has died after a recent cancer diagnosis.” The report adds, “As vice chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, he correctly predicted the project would run billions over budget and later penned a book, ‘Rotten to the Core: The Real Dirt on Boston’s Big Dig.’”
Massachusetts Massachusetts TurnpikeBridgegate Prosecutors Seek Imprisonment at or below Minimum Guideline for Baroni and Kelly
NJ.com reports, “Calling their crimes a ‘stunningly brazen and vindictive abuse of power,’ federal prosecutors urged a federal judge to sentence both Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly, convicted last year in the Bridgegate scandal, to a ‘meaningful term of imprisonment.’ But in a pre-sentence report filed Monday [March 27], the U.S. Attorney’s office did not ask for the maximum term. Instead, they recommended a sentence for the two . . . to be ‘at the bottom or modestly below’ the federal sentencing guidelines of between 37 to 46 months in prison.”
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ)Illinois Gov. Rauner Pushes Lawmakers to Vote on P3 Toll Project Resolution
Chicago Tribune reports, “Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner Monday [March 27] tried to jump-start his plan to allow private companies to build toll lanes along portions of the Stevenson Expressway, saying Democratic leaders in the General Assembly are blocking the project. Just before the governor began speaking, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan pushed back against the proposed project, accusing Rauner of being out to help his ‘wealthy friends’” and failing to “lay out the costs, results and anticipated tolls” for the project. The legislature must pass a resolution before IDOT can begin the project’s procurement process.
Illinois P3 & PrivatizationCape May County Bridge Commission Delays E-ZPass Installation, Toll Increase
Cape May County Herald reports that the county’s bridge commission is delaying the installation of a new E-ZPass toll system. “Originally targeted for completion by June 1, the new system will be installed and activated over the course of the next four to five months on the Commission’s five toll bridges. . . .” The commission also announced the postponement of a recommended toll increase that was scheduled to take effect on June 1.
Cape May County (NJ) Bridge Commission E-ZPass New JerseyFunding for PA Turnpike's $2 Billion Mon-Fayette Expressway Appears to Be Locked in Despite Questions
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, “Any attempt to repurpose the $2 billion set aside to build the Mon-Fayette Expressway would face a daunting hurdle because the Legislature was very specific in its earmarks. The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission [last week] asked the Turnpike Commission whether the money earmarked for the 30-year-old project . . . could be spent on other transportation needs in the region. The Turnpike Commission responded by putting a halt to all engineering-design work on the 14-mile project in Allegheny County.”
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC)USDOT, MWAA and DC Officials "Double Down" in Opposing Challenge to Use of Road Tolls for Metro Line Expansion
Law360.com (subscription required) reports that USDOT, the District of Columbia and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority are “doubling down” on their arguments against allowing a class action suit that would challenge the constitutionally of using Dulles Toll Road revenue to fund the Washington Metro Silver Line extension.
Dulles Toll Road Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Washington (DC) Metro RegionHopes for Trump Infrastructure Plan Begin to Dim among State Highway Departments
“Governing” reports, “One of President Trump’s most popular promises has been his oft-repeated pledge to spend $1 trillion in infrastructure improvements. While he has never given much detail about how he’d do that, the idea was enough to give hope to local officials, state highway departments and transit agencies. But those hopes are beginning to dim.”
Infrastructure Investment TrendsPoll Shows MDX Customers Back 836 Southwest Extension Project
Miami’s Community Newspapers publishes an MDX news release stating, “Over the past 3 months, almost 45,000 of MDX toll-paying daily commuters were asked in a survey, their thoughts on MDX’s future plans,” and adding, “The project with the strongest support is the SR 836 Southwest Extension, with more than 9,200 respondents identifying it as their single most important project, viewed as a key to ease traffic congestion in southwest Dade County, West Kendall, East Kendall and Coral Reef/Countrywalk.” [Link inserted.]
Florida Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX)Ironman Texas Asks to Use HCTRA's Hardy Toll Road for 2018 Competition
Houston Chronicle reports, “Ironman Texas again is asking the Harris County Toll Road Authority to allow the use of the Hardy Toll Road for the bike portion of the Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas race for 2018.” Transportation officials and the event’s organizers have been working unsuccessfully to reroute the triathlon to reduce its impact on The Woodlands and surrounding communities.
Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA)Bertha Is Nearing the End of the Tunnel
KIRO 7 News reports, “The giant drill Bertha might reach the concrete wall at the end of the new State Route 99 tunnel before the end of March. Chris Dixon, project manager of Seattle Tunnel Partners, told KIRO 7 on [March 24] that “if things go well, we should be there by the end of next week,” meaning about March 31.
Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)Indiana Highway Funding Bill Undergoes Senate Committee Review Today
Indiana House Bill 1002, the state’s comprehensive transportation infrastructure funding bill, faces a test today, a hearing today before the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee. Provisions of the bill related to interstate highway tolling have so far survived committee scrutiny and House passage.
IndianaPANYNJ Joins Waze Data Exchange Program
NJ.com recently reported that PANYNJ has joined “250 other transportation agencies worldwide that have joined Waze’s Connected Citizens Program.” By participating in the data exchange program, the port authority hopes “to get real-time information out to commuters quicker and react to traffic conditions faster through the agreement. . . .”
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ)