- OTA Passes Resolution to Advance the $290 Million Gilcrease Expressway
- FL Lawmakers Reject Bill to Stop New Tolled Express Lanes
- Indiana Senate Committee Advances Funding Bill with Tolling Provision
- Colorado Senate President to CDOT: Tolling New I-70, I-25 Lanes Is "a Non-Starter"
- I-77 Toll Lanes Construction Blamed for Spike in Car Repairs as Well as Crashes
- Residents Mount Opposition to TX Turnpike Corp. Private Toll Road Project
- CT Lawmakers Advance Transportation Lock Box Measure as Focus on Tolls Continues
- Oregon Lawmakers Eye Novel Approach to Transportation Funding: Going "Dutch" with Local Government
- Texas Transportation Commission Adds $9 Billion to Highway Funding Plan
- Two Dedicated SunPass Lanes Open on Sunshine Skyway Bridge
- NJTA Officials Say Adding Cash Lane to Proposed E-ZPass-Only Interchange Would Cost $1 Million
- NJ.com Features a Bridgegate "A-Z" Report as Defendants Appear for Sentencing Today
- PA Newspaper Backs Proposed Income Tax Credit for Turnpike Customers
- New Survey Finds Ontarians Support More Government Investment in Transportation, Use of Tolls for Maintenance
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OTA Passes Resolution to Advance the $290 Million Gilcrease Expressway
Tulsa World reports, “The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority on Tuesday [March 28] passed a resolution designed to further the work on the Gilcrease Expressway.” The report adds that the resolution authorizes OTA executive director Tim Gatz to “initiate efforts to enter agreements with the necessary parties to advance the Gilcrease Expressway as an Oklahoma turnpike project. The estimated cost for completing the final leg of the project is $290 million, Gatz said.” (The resolution is online, scroll down to PDF page 28.)
Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA)FL Lawmakers Reject Bill to Stop New Tolled Express Lanes
SaintPetersBlog reports, “A bill seeking to end Florida’s practice of developing tolled express lanes was rejected Tuesday [March 28] by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee. Various members of the committee cited a number of reasons why they would not want to see Florida stop developing special lanes that could give higher-speed options through typically congested areas to high-occupancy cars or drivers willing to pay tolls for that privilege, and House Bill 777 went down.” [Link inserted.]
Express Lanes Florida Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)Indiana Senate Committee Advances Funding Bill with Tolling Provision
The Indianapolis Star reports, “An Indiana Senate committee Tuesday [March 28] pushed through plans to raise the gas tax by 10 cents and open Indiana interstate highways to tolling.” The report adds that the bill allows INDOT to seek approval from the federal government to place tolls on any interstate highway and notes, “Committee chair Senator Brandt Hershman (R-Buck Creek) said the maximum toll per mile would likely be five cents for passenger vehicles and 15 cents for commercial vehicles.”
IndianaColorado Senate President to CDOT: Tolling New I-70, I-25 Lanes Is "a Non-Starter"
The Denver Channel reports that CDOT’s proposal to toll new I-70 and I-25 lanes faces tough odds of even getting considered in the statehouse. The station notes, “Senate President Kevin Grantham [released] a statement explaining that CDOT’s idea of a toll road is a non-starter and will not be something voters have to worry about.”
ColoradoI-77 Toll Lanes Construction Blamed for Spike in Car Repairs as Well as Crashes
WSOC reports, “The toll lane construction along I-77 is also taking a toll on the vehicles that have to drive through the construction zone.” The station reported earlier this month on an increased rate of accidents in the I-77 construction zone in the year since work started. Now, a reporter claims he has found evidence “that there’s also been an increase in car repairs” for vehicles traveling in the work zone.
I-77 Express Lanes (NC) North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT)Residents Mount Opposition to TX Turnpike Corp. Private Toll Road Project
KENS reports that some Cibolo, Texas, residents are hoping to stop construction of a private toll road that the Texas Turnpike Corporation has entered into an agreement with the city to develop.
WOAI also has a report.
Texas Texas Turnpike Corp.CT Lawmakers Advance Transportation Lock Box Measure as Focus on Tolls Continues
Hartford Courant reports that the Government Administration and Elections Committee has approved a proposal to add a transportation funds lock box provision to the state constitution. “One of the primary ways of filling the lockbox with cash,” the newspaper adds, “would be through highway tolls for the first time on Connecticut roads in three decades. The transportation committee recently supported tolls . . . on a strict party line vote, and the measure would require approval by both the House and the Senate.”
WNPR talks with two legislative leaders about the prospects for a return of tolling in Connecticut. “Tolls have been controversial here, but besides revenue, have other states — even countries — seen benefits?” the station asks.
ConnecticutOregon Lawmakers Eye Novel Approach to Transportation Funding: Going "Dutch" with Local Government
Portland Tribune reports that an Oregon legislative committee “charged with crafting a transportation package is considering a new funding model in which local governments would ‘go Dutch’ with the state on projects of regional interest. ‘The concept of the state and regions developing a whole new partnership, a whole new style of working together, to build transportation infrastructure is transformative,’ said Andy Shaw, regional affairs manager at Metro.” [Link inserted.]
OregonTexas Transportation Commission Adds $9 Billion to Highway Funding Plan
Houston Chronicle reports, “A sweeping revision of state highway plans adds nearly $9 billion in new funds for improving Texas roadways, including a $1.32 billion infusion in the Houston area for a major overhaul of Interstate 45 and nine other projects. Projects along Texas 36 in Fort Bend and Brazoria counties and Texas 105 in Montgomery and San Jacinto counties were also included in the unified transportation plan approved [March 28] in Austin by the Texas Transportation Commission.”
TexasTwo Dedicated SunPass Lanes Open on Sunshine Skyway Bridge
Tampa Bay Times reports that “two dedicated SunPass lanes were opened at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge’s north plaza March 10,” and, according to FDOT, “work to convert a second SunPass dedicated lane at the southbound toll plaza is scheduled to begin later this spring.”
Florida Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)NJTA Officials Say Adding Cash Lane to Proposed E-ZPass-Only Interchange Would Cost $1 Million
NJ.com reports, “Drivers will have a chance to convince officials at an April 4 hearing why they should be allowed to pay tolls with cash at a new Exit 125 ramp from Garden State Parkway south in Sayreville, which is proposed as E-ZPass only. But building an exact change lane and coin basket to the cashless toll plaza will add $1 million to the $73 million project to build a complete Exit 125 and could delay completion by several months, officials said.”
E-ZPass New JerseyNJ.com Features a Bridgegate "A-Z" Report as Defendants Appear for Sentencing Today
NJ.com offers a retrospective on the Bridgegate scandal and criminal trial as Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly face sentencing in federal court today.
PANYNJPA Newspaper Backs Proposed Income Tax Credit for Turnpike Customers
The Intelligencer editorial board endorses House Bill 926, the proposal to allow Pennsylvanians a state income tax credit (up to $500 a year) for turnpike tolls paid via E-ZPass, noting that “giving turnpike users a tax credit seems preferable to chasing them onto ‘free’ but already heavily congested local roads.”
E-ZPass Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC)New Survey Finds Ontarians Support More Government Investment in Transportation, Use of Tolls for Maintenance
Daily Commercial News reports, “The majority of Ontarians support government investment in transportation infrastructure and many see those investments as the solution to road traffic concerns across the province, states a new survey released by a consortium of public and private sector transportation organizations” on March 21. [Link inserted]. The survey also found that “47 per cent of Ontario residents surveyed think that tolls collected on roads should go towards road maintenance and 19 per cent think they should go towards infrastructure improvement and expansion.”
Canada Ontario