- IBTTA Announces Results Of Annual Officers and Directors Election
- Florida Governor Claims New York City Officials Misspend Toll Revenue
- Illinois Lawmakers Could Overturn Governor's Partial Veto Of P3 Expansion Bill
- Pennsylvania Lawmaker Proposes Truck Parking Study
- These are just some of the toll industry developments TRN is following.
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IBTTA Announces Results Of Annual Officers and Directors Election
On Friday, IBTTA announced that officers and board members were recently elected for one-year terms that will begin January 1, 2024, and they include a “diverse array of toll operator members, including state agencies and state and international operators.” Bill M. Halkias, PE, president emeritus of HELLASTRON (Hellenic Association of Toll Roads Network), will be IBTTA president, succeeding Andrew Fremier, PE, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Bay Area Toll Authority chief, who will assume the post of immediate past president. Also taking office in 2024 will be James Hofmann, chief executive of the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) (first vice president); Joi Dean, chief executive of the Richmond (VA) Metropolitan Transportation Authority (second vice president); and Christophe Boutin, executive director of French motorway companies organization ASFA (international vice president). Directors elected or reelected to the IBTTA board for one-year terms were: Anna Bonet, Elizabeth River Crossings CEO; Howard “Butch” Eley, Tennessee DOT commissioner and deputy governor; Konstantinos Koutsoukos, Egnatia Odos CEO and HELLASTRON member; Deb Sharpless, Maryland Transportation Authority CFO; Cassaundra Rouse, Illinois Tollway Authority chief executive; Vincent Valdez, chief of toll operations for the Transportation Corridor Agencies; and Dee Anne Vickery, Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) chief of staff. Bonet, Eley, Koutsoukos, Rouse, Valdez and Vickery are all first-time board members. The has a total of 20 directors.
Appointments-Promotions-Retirements IBTTAFlorida Governor Claims New York City Officials Misspend Toll Revenue
According to Florida Politics, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) believes New York City toll revenue “goes to special interests. It goes to the Democrat machine and they use it to launder and keep support for the party. That’s where the money is going because I can tell you it’s not going to make the roads better.” DeSantis was on the presidential campaign trail in Iowa over the weekend when he offered his observations about tolling. He elaborated on his claim that New York toll revenue isn’t invested in transportation by telling rural Iowa voters, “I don’t know if you guys have ever driven around New York City. I mean, you can spend, if you go to, you know, a few boroughs, you can spend $60 or $70 on tolls in one day, no questions asked. You definitely can do that. . . . And yet [the New York tollways] are like the worst roads in America. It’s like, how do you charge that much for tolls and every road? I mean, I get motion sickness just driving on these roads.”
Florida Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York New York City Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ)Illinois Lawmakers Could Overturn Governor's Partial Veto Of P3 Expansion Bill
Capitol News Illinois (via WSIU) reports, “When [Illinois] lawmakers return to the Capitol next week for their annual fall veto session, they have a full agenda, including a handful of vetoes from Gov. JB Pritzker to consider overriding. . . .” One Pritzker action the legislature may review is his amendatory veto of a provision in HB 2878, a bill passed by the legislature in May. Among other things, the bill changes the state’s Public-Private Partnership for Transportation Act to permit wider use of P3 agreements, including for projects financed with tolls. The section Pritzker struck permits local governments without home-rule authority to enter into transportation P3 agreements, something he objects to on the basis it would allow those agencies to skirt some transparency and anti-corruption provisions of state law.
Illinois Issues of Law P3 & PrivatizationPennsylvania Lawmaker Proposes Truck Parking Study
“Land Line” Magazine reports, a Pennsylvania lawmaker has introduced legislation directing the Joint State Government Commission, a nonpartisan study agency, to conduct a “thorough and comprehensive study of truck parking.” Rep. Doyle Heffley (R-122) recently offered HR 236 due to the shortage of truck parking spaces and a growing demand for them. He attributed the shortage to several factors, such as enforcement of highway safety laws, idling restrictions and federal regulations regarding driver hours-of-service. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) says more parking will improve safety for both truck drivers and other motorists, but points out that many studies and surveys already exist. “It’s time to actually produce the space and pavement for additional spots,” said Doug Morris, OOIDA director of state government affairs.
Highway-Tunnel-Bridge Maintenance Highway-Tunnel-Bridge Safety (Includes COVID-19 Impacts) Pennsylvania Transportation and Infrastructure Research & DevelopmentThese are just some of the toll industry developments TRN is following.
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