Daily News Briefs, October 14, 2016

"Light at End of Toll Road" for MoPac as CTRMA Confirms One Lane Will Open

KXAN News reports, “While the MoPac Improvement Project is more than a year behind schedule, there appears to be light at the end of the toll road. The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority confirms to KXAN News the northbound toll lane from Ranch to Market 2222 to Parmer Lane will officially open this weekend.”

Austin American-Statesman also covers the opening of the new variably priced toll lane.

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FDOT to Conduct TBX Economic Impact Study

Tampa Bay Times reports, “Tampa City Council members want to know the full economic impact of Tampa Bay Express, the $6 billion road project that will add tolls to the area’s interstates. The Florida Department of Transportation updated the council Thursday [October 13] on the status of the massive road project, known as TBX, including potential community enhancements the state hopes to make once TBX is finished.” The report adds that FDOT has agreed to conduct an economic impact study of the project that will begin in January 2017.

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Citizen's Complaint Charges Governor Christie with Official Misconduct in the Bridgegate Affair

The Record reports, “Governor Christie may have broken New Jersey law during the George Washington Bridge lane closures, a municipal court judge ruled Thursday [October 13]. Judge Roy F. McGeady of Bergen County found probable cause that Christie engaged in official misconduct during the 2013 lane closures and issued a summons for the governor to appear Oct. 24.” According to the newspaper, “Christie said through a spokesman that he is appealing the ruling immediately and that the citizen who filed the court complaint against him” — a retired Teaneck firefighter — “is ‘a political activist with a history of abusing the judicial system.’”

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Bridgegate Trial: Prosecutors Rest on Evidence of the Defendants' Own Words

The New York Times reports, “Federal prosecutors in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing trial rested their case against two former aides to Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey on Thursday [October 13] with the words of the defendants themselves.” Jurors saw a video of then-PANYNJ deputy executive director Bill Baroni testifying to a New Jersey legislative committee about a supposed study of bridge lanes dedicated to Fort Lee traffic. According to the Times, “The stark contrast between [the] legislative testimony and the nearly four weeks of court testimony here made the video some of the most potentially damning evidence of the trial.” Earlier, prosecutors projected defendant Bridget Kelly’s now-infamous “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email on a screen and called an FBI agent to testify that Kelly had deleted that message and others dated around the time of the lane closings. Baroni’s counsel called a first witness, Charles McKenna, Governor Christie’s chief counsel at the time of the lane closings, before the court recessed.

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Motorcyclists Get a Pass to Ride on Metro Denver Express Lanes

Denver Business Journal reports, “Starting [tomorrow, October 15], motorcyclists will no longer need an ExpressToll account and pass to get a free ride on the HOV Express lanes on U.S. 36 and Interstate 25. But motorcyclists still will need an account and pass in order to avoid higher license plate toll charges when using the I-70 Mountain Express Lane, or the toll roads of the Northwest Parkway and E-470.” The newspaper adds that CDOT and the High-Performance Transportation Enterprise have done “months of work to figure out how motorcyclists — and dedicated carpoolers — can avoid paying for the $15 switchable ExpressToll pass and setting up an account linked to a credit card.”

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TCA Holding "Consensus Meetings" on How to Alleviate Congestion

San Clemente Times reports, “Toll Roads and San Clemente have a strained relationship at best. It’s adversarial at worst. Since at least 2008, the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) has been trying to find a way to connect the 241 Toll Road to Interstate 5 by way of San Clemente and its neighboring areas. Plans to build a toll road through Trestles was defeated in 2008 and in early 2015, but TCA is now holding consensus meetings to gather data from the public to address a broader issue that seems inevitable: alleviating traffic through the South Orange County corridor.” Click here for information about TCA’s 241 Completion planning.

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NET RMA Decides to Extend New Toll 49 Median

KLTV News reports that the North East Texas Regional Mobility Authority board approved preparations for construction of a four-foot, flush median on a segment of Toll 49 where several accidents have occurred this year. The action means all sections of the tollway will have a new flush median. The estimated project cost is $2 million.

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Pontchartrain Causeway Bond Issue Faces a New Obstacle

KSLA News reports, “Under current state law, for [Lake Pontchartrain] Causeway improvements to move ahead, the Jefferson Parish Council must vote on more than 100 million dollars in bonds to fund higher guardrails, and safety pull out lanes.” However, according to the station, some council members are reluctant to take the vote and want to change the law to require a public referendum instead.

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Controversy Over Proposed Salem, OR, Bridge Plays Out at Community Meeting

Statesman Journal covers a public meeting at which advocates and opponents of a proposal to place a third bridge over the Willamette River in Salem debated the need for the project and possible alternative means of relieving traffic congestion. (Tolls have been mentioned as a potential source of bridge funding.)

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Wired.com Concludes AET's Benefits Outweigh Revenue Leakage Problems

Wired.com reports on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s announcement that New York City’s MTA will put nine tolled crossings on an all-electronic toll system by 2017. Following some opening commentary about the difficulty of collecting unpaid tolls, the article acknowledges that AET’s long-term benefits “outweigh any money lost to driving delinquents.”

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Locals Criticize "Massive" Vancouver Highway Project Linked to Massey Tunnel Replacement

CTV News Vancouver reports that some local officials are highly critical of a highway construction plan related to the proposed George Massey Tunnel replacement. The highway project — which involves construction of three levels of overpasses, ten highway lanes and a “massive interchange” — is intended to relieve traffic congestion near the toll bridge that would replace the tunnel. “When I saw the [model of the Highway 99-Steveston Highway] interchange I was literally breathless,” Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie tells the station. BC’s transportation and infrastructure minister says his department “will address the concerns of residents as the project is developed” over the next year.

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Trucking Industry Continues to Protest Rhode Island Toll Program

NATSO (the association of travel plaza and truckstop operators) issued a press release announcing that it will join the Rhode Island Trucking Association in hosting “an informational rally and press conference” on October 18 to air grievances about the potential impact of the RhodeWorks truck toll program.

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State Senator Wants ORT at Upstate NY Thruway Exits

CNYCentral.com reports that another state legislator is calling for the conversion of some upstate New York Thruway toll plazas to an open road tolling system. Senator Joseph Griffo (R-Rome) tells the station his proposal aims to lower the cost of toll collection with new technology and improve traffic flow.

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Bay Bridge Bike and Pedestrian Trail Nears Completion

KQED News reports that the Bay Bridge Trail — the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge bicycle and pedestrian path — is nearing completion. The article describes some work that remains to be done on the Yerba Buena Island landing point, but adds, “The path is expected to open in the next two to three weeks, officials and bike advocates say, and an exact date could be settled on this week.” The trail’s first section opened in 2013 on the eastern span of the bridge.

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Moody's Rates Oklahoma Turnpike Revenue Bonds

Moody’s Investors Service “has assigned an Aa3 to Oklahoma Turnpike Authority’s $398.7 million Second Senior Revenue Bonds Series 2016B and $22.4 million Refunding Second Senior Revenue Bonds Series 2016C. At the same time, Moody’s also affirmed the Aa3 rating on the authority’s outstanding parity second senior revenue bonds.” Moody’s says the rating outlook is stable.

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