Daily News Briefs, October 3, 2016

As AET Launch Looms, Some Mass Turnpike Drivers Are Stopping Under Gantries

The Boston Globe reports that, with AET set to go live later this month, “some drivers are struggling to adjust to open road tolling, which has taken effect in some areas. Unaccustomed to the new system, they are abruptly braking as they drive under the gantries.” The report adds that motorists might believe they need to slow down to be charged for the tolls or they might be worried about receiving a speeding ticket. “Several states do punish drivers for speeding under the gantries. But in Massachusetts, there are no plans to issue tickets through E-ZPass, even though the system is clocking your speed,” according to the report.

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Riverside County (CA) Starts I-15 Toll Lanes Project, Searches for Office Space

The Press-Enterprise reports, “As the 91 widening nears completion, Riverside County transportation officials are gearing up for their next major freeway expansion – adding toll lanes on Interstate 15.” The report adds that the Riverside County Transportation Commission has “begun searching for a toll operations office where staff will manage the corridor and provide customer service.” The agency is expected to award a contract for the $450 million design-build project next summer.

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Governor Christie Agrees to Gas Tax Hike, Ends Funding Impasse

The New York Times reports, “[On Friday, September 30], a day after a fatal train crash in Hoboken focused attention on the troubled conditions of the state-run railroad, Mr. Christie . . . finally gave way by accepting the first tax increase during his seven years in office. He said he had agreed to raise the gas tax by 23 cents a gallon to replenish the depleted Transportation Trust Fund, which the state uses to pay for improvements to rails, roads and bridges.”

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Bridgegate: Why Wasn't Christie Charged? Trial Reveals PANYNJ Interstate Rivalries and "Seamier Side" of NJ Politics.

Associated Press reports, “It was seven days into the trial in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case when the government’s key witness dropped the bombshell: Gov. Chris Christie, he said, was told about the traffic jams while they were going on. Christie, David Wildstein told the jury last week, responded with a laugh and a joke about the role politics played. The accusation . . . immediately raised one question: Why wasn’t the Republican governor charged?” The wire service adds, “Former prosecutors say the answer is pretty simple. There’s nothing in that testimony that would be evidence to convict Christie of anything.”

NJ.com reports that the Bridgegate trial “has opened a rare window into the seamier side [of] New Jersey politics” that includes, among other things, “talk of virtual slush funds” and testimony about “the interstate rivalries that played out each day between the ‘New York side’ and the ‘New Jersey side’ at an agency with nearly $8 billion in assets, revenues and capital projects, while state public agencies were routinely misused for political considerations.”

NJ.com also recaps Wildstein’s end-of-the-week cross-examination testimony.

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Army Corps Approves VDOT's US 460 Permit, but Hurdles and Opposition Remain

The Virginian-Pilot reports, “The Army Corps of Engineers has approved a permit to allow 16 miles of highway improvements to U.S. 460.” The project has “faltered” for decades and the state “paid its private partner, U.S. 460 Mobility Partners, more than $200 million without a single mile of construction completed,” according to the newspaper. This iteration of the project “has been scaled back: building a 12-mile, four-lane divided highway from Suffolk with a bypass north of Windsor,” the report adds.

Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the proposed $425 million project “now must be ranked by the state to determine whether to build it.” It adds, “the new plan still faces public opposition because of its impact on farmland and the town of Windsor, which it would bypass. ‘It went from a terrible project to just a bad project,’ said Trip Pollard, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center.”

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TxDOT and LBJ Infrastructure Open New Stretch of TEXpress Lanes on I-635

Dallas Morning News reports that “drivers in the HOV/express lanes of Interstate 635 between Greenville Avenue and Interstate 30 will pay for the privilege to use the so-called TEXpress lanes.” [Link added.] The report adds, “The stretch is unique in that it will be free of charge for HOV and motorcycle drivers with valid toll tags who register their HOV status through the Drive On TEXpress website or app.”

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IDOT Commissioner Challenges ASCE, Cites Windfall from ITR Sale in Defense of Transportation Investment

The Indianapolis Star publishes an op-ed by IDOT Commissioner Michael B. Cline who writes, “It’s become a habit of journalists and commentators in our state to give the impression that Indiana’s infrastructure is a crumbling mess of D+-rated roads and bridges. And yet, a recent analysis by CNBC ranked our infrastructure as No. 1 in the country. What gives?” Cline says he respects the American Society of Civil Engineers – the source of the D+ – but notes, “[D]espite the organization’s noble and trust-inducing name, ASCE is still an interest group that advocates for thousands of professionals who frequently have a financial interest in exaggerating the nation’s infrastructure deficit.” He also notes, “The $4 billion generated by the lease of the Indiana Toll Road made Indiana’s unprecedented infrastructure construction possible.”

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NCDOT's I-77 Express Lanes Project Chugs Along

The Charlotte Observer reports, “Preliminary work on the Charlotte leg of Interstate 77 toll lanes is set to begin [this] week, the project contractor said Friday [September 30].” The report adds, “No reduction in the number of general purpose lanes along the project’s corridor will occur during the work, I-77 Mobility Partners LLC said.”

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Newspaper Says Third Harbor Crossing Needed, but Add Lanes to HRBT First

The Virginian-Pilot editorial board looks at the debate over which project should receive first dibs on funding — adding lanes to the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel or building a new crossing — and decides, “build the HRBT first. It’s necessary and the money will be available in several years. But keep the third crossing on the horizon. We’ll need it one day.”

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TxDOT and CTRMA Agree on Funding for SH 45SW Toll Road Project

KXAN News reports, “It’s another step forward for the SH 45SW project. On Thursday [September 29], the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority and the Texas Department of Transportation approved the funding agreement to start on the construction of the 3.6-mile toll road that straddles southwest Travis County and northwest Hays County.”

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MTC Provides $2.26 Million in Toll Funds for BART Extension Project

East Bay Times reports, “Planning work for the proposed BART to Livermore extension received a funding boost Wednesday [September 28] after the Metropolitan Transportation Commission voted to approve $2.26 million in bridge toll funds for the project.”

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Poughkeepsie Newspaper Takes on Scofflaws and the NY Thruway

The Poughkeepsie Journal editorial board takes up the New York State Thruway’s efforts to crackdown on toll scofflaws and proceeds to crackdown on . . . the thruway. “It is bad enough the New York State Thruway— with its challenged finances and tortured history of administrative incompetence — failed to collect about $2.5 million in tolls during about a two-year period. What’s more alarming is the dramatic spike in uncollected tolls that number represents, and how new policies [AET] could make matters much worse unless strategies are reconsidered.” The newspaper also blasts the thruway for the “brazen, indefensible practice of hiding information from the public, taking far too long to make good on information requests by USA Today Network’s Albany Bureau.” Click here for The Journal’s recent reporting on uncollected toll revenues.

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Mass Turnpike Toll Plazas Coming Down Shortly

The Boston Globe reports, “The toll plazas on the Massachusetts Turnpike, which have bottlenecked traffic and frustrated countless drivers for decades, will soon be demolished. MassDOT will begin replacing the old tolling system with all-electronic tolling in late October, eliminating the need to slow down to pay.” MassDOT plans four public hearings on the demolition work in October.

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A Consumer Advocates Takes a Deep Dive on Rental Car Tolls and Fees

The Washington Post consumer advocate and travel columnist Christopher Elliott takes on tolls and fees charged by car rental companies in a look at the “suits and countersuits between BancPass and Highway Toll Administration (HTA).” Elliott writes, “Court documents suggest that car-rental customers pay millions in combined fees and tolls every year. David Centner, HTA’s chief executive, says that most of the money collected covers tolls, not fees,” while, according to the columnist, “Glenn Deitiker, president of BancPass, said he believes tolls and the related fees are a massive profit center for car-rental companies.”

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FDOT's Plan for Howard Frankland Bridge Figures in County Commissioner Race

Tampa Bay Times reports, “Renewed angst over a planned highway and toll expansion in the Tampa Bay region has rippled into the race for Hillsborough County’s open commission seat. Democrat Pat Kemp and Republican Tim Schock both said they were troubled by a Tampa Bay Times report last week that revealed the Florida Department of Transportation plans to turn one of four lanes in each direction on the Howard Frankland Bridge into a toll lane as part of the $6 billion highway expansion known as Tampa Bay Express.”

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