- PA Turnpike Engineers Expect Delaware River Bridge to Reopen in April
- Traffic, Revenue Increase on NJ Turnpike, Garden State Parkway for Fifth Straight Year
- Oklahoma's Creek Turnpike Marks 25th Anniversary after Rocky - Really Rocky - Start
- Clock Ticking for Bankrupt Drivers to File Class Action Settlement Claim for 407 ETR Toll Debts
- TX County Passes Toll Enforcement Agreement with NTTA
- Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority to Cut Ribbon on $30 Million Overpass Today
- Former PANYNJ Chair Samson in Court for Sentencing Today
- Mississippi Lawmakers Debate NOT Naming Roads after Anyone. (Spoiler Alert: It's Not Because the Roads Are in Great Shape.)
- OTA Toll Plaza Replacement to Include New PikePass Lane
- On Champlain Bridge Replacement, Mohawks Continue Long Tradition as Iron Workers
- Transportation Secretary Chao Puts Tolling on the Table as Part of Infrastructure Plan
- Koch Brothers-Backed Group Raises Red Flag on $1 Trillion Infrastructure Plan
- CT Lawmaker Urges Constituents to Oppose Tolling
- WI Newspaper Hammers State Leaders for Punting on Infrastructure
- Researcher at UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies Makes Case for Road Pricing
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PA Turnpike Engineers Expect Delaware River Bridge to Reopen in April
Associated Press reports, “Engineers say work to repair a major bridge that links Pennsylvania and New Jersey remains on track for it to reopen in about a month. Officials with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission said Friday [March 3] good weather has helped speed work on the Interstate 276 bridge over the Delaware River. They’re optimistic the bridge won’t need to be partially reconstructed or completely replaced. They’re projecting they’ll meet an early April target for reopening.”
New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC)Traffic, Revenue Increase on NJ Turnpike, Garden State Parkway for Fifth Straight Year
NJ.com reports, “For the fifth straight year, toll revenue and traffic was up on both the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, exceeding projections. The Turnpike Authority, which operates both roads, reported a total of $1.788 billion in revenues for 2016, $1.57 billion of it from tolls. Out of that revenue, the authority paid $493.29 million in operating expenses, $1.09 billion for construction and $773 million to pay debt.”
New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA)Oklahoma's Creek Turnpike Marks 25th Anniversary after Rocky - Really Rocky - Start
Tulsa World marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Creek Turnpike’s opening by looking back at the controversy over the project’s construction. In 1990, in the face of “obstacles and setbacks,” OTA’s then-chairman, John Kilpatrick, called it a “total disaster.” But all came out right after the 1992 opening: “The Creek Turnpike was an immediate success,” the newspaper notes. “Two weeks after it connected with U.S. 75, traffic was triple the previous estimates.”
Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA)Clock Ticking for Bankrupt Drivers to File Class Action Settlement Claim for 407 ETR Toll Debts
The Hamilton Spectator reports, “Bankrupt drivers in Ontario who had their licence plate renewals denied because of Highway 407 toll debts have just over three weeks left to submit a claim for compensation as part of a class-action lawsuit settlement.” Canada’s Supreme Court ruled in the case that 407 ETR toll debts are dischargeable in bankruptcy despite a contrary provision in the Ontario highway’s enabling law.
Canada Issues of Law OntarioTX County Passes Toll Enforcement Agreement with NTTA
Waxahachie Daily Light reports, “Residents who have more than 100 toll violations from the North Texas Tollway Authority could be unable to renew their vehicle for the upcoming year after the Ellis County Commissioners Court passed a new interlocal agreement at its [February 28] meeting.”
North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) ScofflawsFort Bend County Toll Road Authority to Cut Ribbon on $30 Million Overpass Today
Community Impact Newspapers reports that the Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority will this morning hold “a ribbon cutting for the long-awaited overpass that spans from Trammel Fresno Road to Sienna Parkway. The $30.9 million roadway is expected to help the flow of traffic in and out of Sienna Plantation in Missouri City.”
Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority (FBCTRA) TexasFormer PANYNJ Chair Samson in Court for Sentencing Today
NJ.com reports, “David Samson, the former chairman of the Port Authority, faces sentencing [today, March 6] on bribery charges in connection with a scheme to force United Airlines to schedule a non-stop flight for his sole benefit. Samson wanted the airline to fly from Newark Liberty International Airport to South Carolina, where he had a second home.”
PANYNJMississippi Lawmakers Debate NOT Naming Roads after Anyone. (Spoiler Alert: It's Not Because the Roads Are in Great Shape.)
The Clarion-Ledger reports Mississippi highways are in such bad shape that naming one after somebody is no longer viewed as an honor. How will the state finance overdue road and bridge maintenance? It won’t be through toll-funded P3 projects, according to one highway official: “Nobody’s going to build a toll road in Mississippi,” he tells the newspaper.
Mississippi P3 & PrivatizationOTA Toll Plaza Replacement to Include New PikePass Lane
KSWO reports that one project funded by the recent toll increase on Oklahoma’s turnpikes “is currently under construction about 15 miles south of Chickasha. It will replace the 53-year-old tollbooth that’s in Chickasha now, and feature a full speed PikePass lane, which should cut down on the number of accidents there.”
Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA)On Champlain Bridge Replacement, Mohawks Continue Long Tradition as Iron Workers
CBC News reports, “[C]ontinuing a tradition that stretches back generations, a small but growing number of the iron workers involved in the [$4.25-billion Champlain Bridge replacement] project are Mohawks from the nearby community of Kahnawake. . . .” Joey Barnes, one of the Mohawks currently working on the bridge, tells the CBC “he’s doing the same thing people from his community, including close relatives, have been doing for generations, and he’s helping to keep what he calls ‘a community tradition’ going.”
Canada QuebecTransportation Secretary Chao Puts Tolling on the Table as Part of Infrastructure Plan
The Washington Post reports, “Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao this past week raised the prospect that needed infrastructure improvements may be funded to some extent by imposing tolls on more of the nation’s roads and bridges. It was unclear whether she intends to expand tolling on the U.S. interstate system.”
Infrastructure Investment Trends P3 & PrivatizationKoch Brothers-Backed Group Raises Red Flag on $1 Trillion Infrastructure Plan
Bloomberg reports, “An influential conservative group backed by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch is questioning a plan to spend $1 trillion on the nation’s infrastructure and warning that one of President Donald Trump’s signature policy initiatives could become a ‘spending boondoggle.’ In a memo released [on March 3] , Freedom Partners cautions Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress against making the same mistakes that the group says were in the $787 billion federal stimulus bill in 2009.”
P3 & PrivatizationCT Lawmaker Urges Constituents to Oppose Tolling
Weston Forum publishes a Senator Toni Boucher op-ed column exhorting her constituents to make noise against the proposal to introduce tolling and congestion pricing in Connecticut, which she calls “just another tax on Connecticut drivers.”
ConnecticutWI Newspaper Hammers State Leaders for Punting on Infrastructure
Wisconsin State Journal editorial board savages Governor Walker and state legislative leaders for neglect of highway maintenance needs. They write, “The governor’s endless opposition to minor and reasonable user fees on drivers might be a nifty political talking point as he seeks re-election next year or pursues another run for president. But he’s hurting Wisconsin’s economy and jobs by failing to maintain a solid transportation system.”
WisconsinResearcher at UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies Makes Case for Road Pricing
Los Angeles Times publishes an op-ed by Herbie Huff, a researcher and lecturer at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, who claims that more highways, Elon Musk’s proposed tunnels and increased mass transit won’t solve LA’s traffic congestion problems. The “proven solution to fighting traffic, one that’s much easier, more effective and less costly than our current approach,” he maintains, is “putting a price on the use of our roads.”
Los Angeles (CA) Metro Region Road Use Charging (RUC-MBUF-VMT)