- Attorneys Will Receive $1.7 Million For Representing Wrongly Discharged SANDAG Official
- Florida DOT Plans Partial Cashless Conversion Of Sunshine Skyway Bridge
- Neighborhood's Residents Can't Leave Or Return Home Without Paying TxDOT Tolls
- Recent Outbreak Of Toll Smishing Expands
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Attorneys Will Receive $1.7 Million For Representing Wrongly Discharged SANDAG Official
The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) will pay more than $1.7 million in fees to the attorneys who represented a wrongfully discharged finance official, Lauren Warrem. The retired judge who conducted binding arbitration of a lawsuit brought by Ms. Warrem made the fee award last week.
SANDAG was found liable in November 2025 for $2.5 million in economic and emotional harm caused by its firing of Warrem. She successfully claimed that senior management removed her because she insisted the authority openly acknowledge billing errors and reporting deficiencies in an SR 125 Toll Road toll collection system developed by ETAN Tolling Technology. The SANDAG board and independent auditor subsequently validated the system’s failings, which led to a replacement project.
Fallout from the tolling controversy contributed to the departure of top SANDAG executives, including former CEO Hasan Ikhrata.
Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune, TRN (11-4-25), TRN (12-16-24), TRN (10-8-24)
California ETC Systems Issues of Law San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) San Diego-Tijuana Metro AreaFlorida DOT Plans Partial Cashless Conversion Of Sunshine Skyway Bridge
Florida DOT plans to make a partial cashless conversion of the Sunshine Skyway (I-275) Bridge in metro Tampa-St. Petersburg. An FDOT District 7 representative discussed the plan during a presentation on area projects he made before the St. Petersburg City Council on February 5.
Crews will remove cash collection equipment from the toll plaza on the northern end of the span in conjunction with a resurfacing project scheduled to start in the next few months. Although all motorists will thereafter pay by transponder or receive a toll-by-plate invoice, FDOT isn’t scheduled to remove tollbooth infrastructure until 2029 0r 2030. The department hopes the transition will be enough to relieve growing plaza traffic congestion that is frustrating commuters.
FDOT doesn’t currently plan to make a similar transition of the toll plaza on the southern (Manatee County) end of the bridge.
Source: AXIOS Tampa, St. Petersburg City Council agenda
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Florida Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE) Highway-Tunnel-Bridge Maintenance Tampa Bay-Hillsborough County FL Metro AreaNeighborhood's Residents Can't Leave Or Return Home Without Paying TxDOT Tolls
Residents of the Creekland Village neighborhood in Cypress, Harris County, want to be able to leave home without paying a toll. The Houston Grand Parkway (SH-99) is currently the only road entrance and egress to the residential development. Homeowners say they pay a minimum of 56 cents for every trip they take, and that adds up to hundreds of dollars of annual expense, even if they only run everyday errands.
The community has appealed to officials and local media for some relief. TxDOT says it’s not responsible for providing SH-99 frontage roads and people were or should have been aware the parkway was tolled before moving into Creekland Village. A more sympathetic response has come from the area’s Harris County commissioner and the neighborhhod’s developer, Howard Hughes Holdings. They acknowledge the homeowners’ frustration and are working with TxDOT to address it.
Source: KHOU News
Houston Grand Parkway Houston Metro Area Texas Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)Recent Outbreak Of Toll Smishing Expands
There are more reports about a new outbreak of toll smishing.
According to Oregon DOT, a group often posing as the state’s driver and vehicle services agency is sending texts threatening action if fees or tolls aren’t paid by a certain date. Some of the messages refer to a fictitious state law and have website links with “ODOT,” “DMV,” or “oregon.gov” in the URL. Oregon has no existing toll facilities.
Sources: Statesman Journal, KVAL News
A similar group text warned some Pennsylvania recipients to pay supposedly overdue Washington State DOT Good To Go! tolls. Other mobile phone customers with Pennsylvania area codes have received fraudulent payment demands that appeared to originate from “PA EZ Pass.”
Source: WGAL News
Late last month, the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office issued a warning about fraudulent demands for payment of traffic citations. Links in the text messages contained a variation of the legitimate “ncdot.gov” URL.
Source: Attorney General’s Office news release
Other states where mobile phone customers are being victimized include Vermont and Connecticut.
Connecticut Crime Beat Cybersecurity E-ZPass North Carolina North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Oregon Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) Pennsylvania VermontSubscription Information
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