- Bridgegate: Lawyer Alleges Governor Christie Had Advance Knowledge of Lane Closures
- OTA Makes Its Case for Legality of Bonds for Major Expansion Projects
- More Than 10,000 RiverLink Accounts Opened. 25,000 Transponders Requested.
- Maine Turnpike Rolls Out $18 Million Interchange, the State's First SPUI
- More on the Start of I-95 Express Lanes Tolling in South Broward County
- Highway Toll Administration Purchases Violation Management Services
- Kapsch Will Supply Transponders to State Roads Agency in Australia
- Grimes County (TX) Property Owners Take On Use of Eminent Domain (SH 249 Toll Road Extension Cited)
- Texas SH 130 Dubbed a Monument to Failure
- CTRMA Partners Man and Machine to Set MoPac Variable Tolls
- Grand Parkway (Texas SH 99) Proposals Deadline Is Pushed Back
- Crain's Cheers MTA's Move to Cashless Tolling, Makes Case for More Investments in NYC Mobility
- NY Daily News Chides Christie for "Damage" to PANYNJ and NJTransit
- California Prop 53 Threatens "Mega-Projects"
- NY Waives Veterans Memorial Parkway Toll on November Weekend to Honor Military
- Wrong-Way Driver Crashes on Mass Turnpike
- Fitch on PA Turnpike Bonds
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Bridgegate: Lawyer Alleges Governor Christie Had Advance Knowledge of Lane Closures
Daily News (and every other media outlet in the western world) reports, “Gov. Chris Christie discussed the September 2013 lane closures that suffocated George Washington Bridge traffic both before the fact and while they were underway, a defense attorney charged Tuesday [October 11]. Michael Critchley, lawyer for former Christie staffer Bridget Kelly, made the bombshell allegation while questioning Deborah Gramiccioni, who worked with Kelly as one of Christie’s senior staffers. Gramiccioni also succeeded Bill Baroni as the top New Jersey official at the Port Authority.”
New Jersey Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ)OTA Makes Its Case for Legality of Bonds for Major Expansion Projects
The Oklahoman reports, “Appearing before an Oklahoma Supreme Court referee Tuesday [October 11], Jerry Fent argued against the sale of bonds to fund turnpike expansion and improvement, saying that would run afoul of the state constitution. Representing the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, Jered Davidson said such financing has been common as the turnpike system has expanded over the years. He said there is no legal prohibition against it.” The newspaper describes Fent as “an Oklahoma City attorney who previously has challenged the constitutionality of state laws.”
Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA)More Than 10,000 RiverLink Accounts Opened. 25,000 Transponders Requested.
Courier-Journal (Louisville) reports, “More than 10,000 RiverLink accounts have been opened and nearly 25,000 RiverLink transponders requested, Ohio River Bridges Project officials reported [on October 11].” The newspaper adds, “Officials reported that the nearly 25,000 RiverLink transponders that have been requested include nearly 20,000 RiverLink local transponders already distributed and nearly 5,000 RiverLink E-ZPass transponders ordered. More than 10,000 families and 300 businesses have opened RiverLink accounts.”
Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River BridgesMaine Turnpike Rolls Out $18 Million Interchange, the State's First SPUI
WCSH News reports, “The Maine Turnpike Authority is introducing the state’s first single-point urban interchange (SPUI) to Lewiston.” The report adds, “The $18 million project realigns the interchange’s traditional four on-and-off-ramps and two intersections into a single intersection where traffic is controlled by [ ] one set of traffic signals.” The interchange, located At Exit 80, is set to open on October 14.
Maine Turnpike AuthorityMore on the Start of I-95 Express Lanes Tolling in South Broward County
Sun-Sentinel catches up with the launch of tolling on the Interstate 95 express lanes in south Broward County, slated to start this weekend. The minimum toll is 50 cents, and HOV-3 and hybrid vehicles may qualify for a toll exemption by registering with FDOT’s South Florida Commuter Services, according to the report. The article also notes, “The first of more than 14,000 express lane poles on I-95 in south Broward were installed almost two years ago and more than 15,000 are going to be installed in north Broward by 2020 as the express lanes are extended to Southwest 10th Street in Deerfield Beach.”
Express Lanes Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)Highway Toll Administration Purchases Violation Management Services
HTA Holdings, Inc., owner of Highway Toll Administration LLC (HTA), the largest provider of toll management services for the rental car industry, announces its acquisition and integration of a Montana company, Violation Management Services, that processes non-toll violations such as speeding and parking citations for rental car companies and fleets. The company has been renamed “Violation Management Solutions.”
Kapsch Will Supply Transponders to State Roads Agency in Australia
Kapsch TrafficCom Australia announced that it will supply New South Wales Roads and Maritime Services with TRP 4010 transponders under a two-year framework agreement that includes options for extension for as many as three additional years. Kapsch says the contract has a potential value of over 15 million EUR (approximately USD$16.5 million).
AustraliaGrimes County (TX) Property Owners Take On Use of Eminent Domain (SH 249 Toll Road Extension Cited)
Houston Public Media reports that a group of Grimes County property owners concerned about the use of eminent domain for infrastructure construction projects (including a proposed high-speed rail line and the extension of the SH 249 toll road) will host a public meeting tomorrow night “to discuss how to move forward.”
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)Texas SH 130 Dubbed a Monument to Failure
The San Antonio Express-News editorial board pans the SH 130 toll road and the process that led to its construction and ultimate bankruptcy, writing, “The irony of Texas 130 is impossible to ignore. In a fast-growing region in the heart of a fast-growing state that is desperate for more roads, the developers of the southern section of Texas 130 managed to build a toll road that few use. . . . This 41-mile albatross that technically links San Antonio and Austin, if you are willing to drive out of your way to get there, is a monument to failure.”
TexasCTRMA Partners Man and Machine to Set MoPac Variable Tolls
CBS News Austin describes the system the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority will use for regulating the variable toll on its new North MoPac express lanes as a “partnership between a computer algorithm and manual oversight.”
Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA)Grand Parkway (Texas SH 99) Proposals Deadline Is Pushed Back
Houston Chronicle staffs a local chamber event and reports that TxDOT engineer Omar DeLeon said the proposal deadlines for the next design-build phase of the Grand Parkway (SH 99) project have been pushed back several weeks. The article adds: “‘We did get some comments from the FHWA . . . that had to be addressed before the project could continue,’ DeLeon said, but the new proposal dates are coming soon and [TxDOT anticipates] construction will begin in the summer of 2017. The new highway is a four-year delivery project and would be completed in 2021.”
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)Crain's Cheers MTA's Move to Cashless Tolling, Makes Case for More Investments in NYC Mobility
Crain’s New York Business editors cheer Governor Andrew Cuomo’s announcement that MTA’s tunnels and bridges are going cashless and make a case for more time-saving infrastructure improvements. “City Hall should explore ways to make truck-based deliveries and service calls more efficient, perhaps with hub-and-spoke systems for particular industries. Currently we have the Wild West, with half-empty trucks and vans traveling and double-parking at high-traffic times and locations,” the editors say.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)NY Daily News Chides Christie for "Damage" to PANYNJ and NJTransit
The Daily News editorial board writes that the Bridgegate trial and the September 29 Hoboken train crash “highlighted in a single week how severely Gov. Chris Christie has damaged two of the region’s critical transportation agencies. Christie’s fecklessness in pursuit of national power has reduced the once-mighty Port Authority to a dispensary of political patronage and punishment and steadily crippled NJTransit.”
New Jersey Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ)California Prop 53 Threatens "Mega-Projects"
Associated Press reports, “A proposition that a prosperous farmer brought to the California ballot would threaten two ambitious water and rail projects that Gov. Jerry Brown is pushing, requiring voters’ OK before launching any state building project requiring $2 billion or more in revenue bonds. Proposition 53, if voters approve it on Nov. 8, could force Brown’s administration to hold statewide votes on funding for two controversial mega-projects that he is trying to get well underway before he leaves office in 2018.” [Link added.]
The New York Times also looks at the potential impact of Proposition 53 on projects such as toll roads.
CaliforniaNY Waives Veterans Memorial Parkway Toll on November Weekend to Honor Military
The Lake George Examiner reports, “The Veterans Memorial Parkway, which winds up Prospect Mountain in Lake George, has traditionally closed after Columbus Day, [but] New York State DEC announced the road will remain open through Sunday, Nov. 6, and the access fee, $10 per car, will be waived for the weekend of Nov. 5 and 6 to honor the men and women who served in the country’s military.”
New YorkWrong-Way Driver Crashes on Mass Turnpike
Boston Globe reports, “An 80-year-old man crashed into a median on the Massachusetts Turnpike [on October 10] after driving the wrong way for nearly three miles, State Police said.”
Massachusetts TurnpikeFitch on PA Turnpike Bonds
Fitch Ratings “has assigned an ‘A-‘ rating to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s . . . approximately $186.3 million turnpike subordinate revenue bonds, series B of 2016. The Rating Outlook is Stable.”
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC)