- Ohio Turnpike, ODOT Demonstrate Use of Drone for Bridge Inspection
- IL Tollway Extends Grace Period to Pay Missed Tolls due to Website Malfunctions
- TxDOT Selects Route for SH 249 Expansion
- Transportation Funding Trouble in Paradise
- Burlington County Bridge Commission Approves Budget with No Toll Hike
- Prosecutors Contend Bridgegate Plotting Began "Long Before" Bridge Lanes Were Closed
- CTRMA's Heiligenstein Pens Op-Ed on MoPac Delays, Long-Term Challenges
- CTRMA's HERO Roadside Assistance Program Is Expanding
- Is the Trinity Parkway, Version 5, Dead?
- CDOT Changes Rules for HOV Express Lanes
- Columnist Looks at the $100 Million Price Tag for the Cancelled Knik Arm Crossing Toll Bridge Project
- "The Crookedest Toll Road in the World" Could Be Coming to San Francisco
- Mass Turnpike Tolls May Rise for Some Trips, and One Lawmaker Is Pleased.
- Will Tolling Return to Jacksonville? Experts Eye Possible Changes and "Transportation Overspending" at Forum.
- HCTRA Recognized for Electronic Toll Enforcement Innovation
- Fitch Assigns and Affirms Ratings on PA Turnpike Bonds
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Ohio Turnpike, ODOT Demonstrate Use of Drone for Bridge Inspection
13abc News (Toledo) staffs a drone inspection demonstration along the Ohio Turnpike, and reports, “The Ohio Turnpike Commission and ODOT are among the agencies testing the use of drones to inspect bridges. Tuesday’s demonstration [September 13] was done on a turnpike bridge outside Fremont, but the hope is that one day it can be used to check on thousands of bridges throughout Ohio.”
Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure CommissionIL Tollway Extends Grace Period to Pay Missed Tolls due to Website Malfunctions
Daily Herald reports, “The Illinois tollway is temporarily extending its seven-day grace period to pay missed tolls after numerous malfunctions related to a website upgrade. Intermittent outages have stymied I-PASS users trying to access their accounts or customer service functions on the website in the past few days.”
Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (IL Tollway)TxDOT Selects Route for SH 249 Expansion
The Examiner reports, “The Texas Department of Transportation has selected a route for the State Highway 249 expansion through Grimes County.” [Link added.] The report adds, “The 249-expansion project will be a two-lane toll roadway with shoulders and a passing lane in alternating directions. The route will cross over County Road 304 west of FM 1774 and will make a slight s-shaped curve as it crosses over Beason Creek and County Road 307.”
Houston Public Radio also reports on the controversial project.
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)Transportation Funding Trouble in Paradise
The Garden Island (Lihue, HI) reports that the Kauai County Council is once again looking for ways to finance backlogged road projects after deciding against a local excise tax increase that would have financed $100 million in repair work over ten years. According to the article, county officials will today deliver a report on “ways to use transient-generating revenues to address repair and maintenance,” which, in simple terms, means island visitors may be seeing tolls and other fees.
HawaiiBurlington County Bridge Commission Approves Budget with No Toll Hike
Burlington County Times reports, “The Burlington County Bridge Commission on Tuesday [September 13] unanimously adopted its 2016-17 budget, which does not call for a toll hike at its Delaware River crossings. The $33.7 million operating budget is $50,000 less than last year’s spending plan. The commission owns and operates the Tacony-Palmyra and Burlington-Bristol bridges.”
Burlington County (NJ) Bridge CommissionProsecutors Contend Bridgegate Plotting Began "Long Before" Bridge Lanes Were Closed
NJ.com provides a Bridgegate Timeline and reports, “It began long before two of three local toll lanes at the George Washington Bridge were shut to Fort Lee traffic, causing huge traffic problems over a four-day period in September 2013—and sparking a 16-month federal criminal investigation. According to prosecutors, those responsible for orchestrating the lane closures had been talking for some time about using the bridge as leverage in a plan targeting the mayor of Fort Lee over his decision not to endorse Gov. Chris Christie for re-election.”
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ)CTRMA's Heiligenstein Pens Op-Ed on MoPac Delays, Long-Term Challenges
Austin American-Statesman publishes an op-ed column by Mike Heiligenstein, executive director of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, who takes on MoPac delays, traffic congestion and mobility challenges generally. “So let me first acknowledge that the MoPac Boulevard project has faced many more delays than we ever anticipated, well beyond those related to inclement weather. After unacceptable performance and delays from contractor CH2MHill, we have worked with them to get a new team in place and are pleased with the renewed commitment to get this project completed,” Heiligenstein writes. Looking ahead, he says, “We need better infrastructure to keep our region moving. It’s critical to our livelihood, our ability to get home to families, to find work and affordable housing. But we must improve our transportation network responsibly, and in keeping with the standards and values of our community.”
Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) TexasCTRMA's HERO Roadside Assistance Program Is Expanding
Community Impact Newspaper reports that a CTRMA program that “rescues stranded motorists on major highways in Central Texas and aids in traffic congestion will expand to more than 180 miles on seven highways in the region by mid-2017. The Highway Emergency Response Operator, or HERO, program responds to motorists on I-35 and US 183 who have a flat tire or ran out of gas and assists with removing vehicles that have been in an accident from travel lanes. The program is free for motorists.”
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)Is the Trinity Parkway, Version 5, Dead?
The Dallas Morning News reports, “Controversy and uncertainty about the future of Fair Park is helping to leave Trinity Parkway, another divisive Dallas endeavor, stuck in neutral.” The report adds that, “according to city staff, all behind-the-scenes design work on this latest version of the road has halted.”
TexasCDOT Changes Rules for HOV Express Lanes
KDVR News reports, “Starting in January, you’ll need a third person in your car to use the carpool lanes on Colorado highways without being charged. The HOV requirement will change to HOV 3+, or a driver plus two passengers, on Jan. 1, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.”
Click here to read a CDOT news release on HOV use of US 36 and I-25 express lanes.
ColoradoColumnist Looks at the $100 Million Price Tag for the Cancelled Knik Arm Crossing Toll Bridge Project
Alaska Dispatch News publishes a column on the Knik Arm Crossing project that current Governor Bill Walker ultimately cancelled — after the state’s expenditure of ten years and $100 million in planning and preparation. “A street sign on a lonely gravel road in the birch forest of Point MacKenzie bears the name of Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, the last token of $100 million wasted on his vanity. In 2005, as chairman of the House Transportation Committee, Young earmarked the national highway bill with $230 million to build a bridge across Knik Arm.”
Alaska"The Crookedest Toll Road in the World" Could Be Coming to San Francisco
San Francisco Chronicle reports, “Even on a chilly, breezy Monday morning in mid-September, the famously crooked stretch of Lombard Street” — a Russian Hill block some call the “Crookedest Street in the World” — was more party zone than upscale residential neighborhood.” The street’s estimated two million annual visitors have become so disruptive that “transportation planners are looking at solutions as drastic as banning cars, charging tolls, deploying armies of parking-control officers and safety monitors, or requiring reservations.” [Link added.]
California San Francisco County Transportation AuthorityMass Turnpike Tolls May Rise for Some Trips, and One Lawmaker Is Pleased.
WWLP News (Springfield) reports, “Drivers hopping on the Massachusetts Turnpike in Newton will pay more to head into Boston under proposed toll rates, an added cost that some hope will reduce traffic in the city. Sen. Cynthia Stone Creem, a Newton Democrat, said she was pleased that drives on the turnpike from West Newton to Newton Corner will be newly tolled with the hope that it would reduce cut-through traffic.”
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Massachusetts TurnpikeWill Tolling Return to Jacksonville? Experts Eye Possible Changes and "Transportation Overspending" at Forum.
The Florida Times-Union reports on a local transportation forum and quotes RS&H EVP Lisa Robert as saying, “We have overspent when it comes to transportation, and that gap continues to increase. The reality is as we look at tomorrow and how technology affects tomorrow and how businesses are demanding appropriate transportation . . . we have to revisit how we are thinking about funding and financing our transportation needs.” According to the newspaper, Robert and other transportation experts told the gathering about the need for transportation funding reforms. She said road and bridge tolling may return to metro Jacksonville, which, according to the newspaper, “gleefully got rid of a toll system on roads and bridges nearly three decades ago. . . .”
FloridaHCTRA Recognized for Electronic Toll Enforcement Innovation
The Harris County Toll Road Authority announces that it has received a 2016 Toll Excellence Award from IBTTA for its Rapid Alert System (RAS) technology. RAS “identifies prohibited vehicles on the road and generates a real-time electronic alert which includes an image of the vehicle, location, direction of travel and the amount of money owed in toll violations and fees.” The alert automatically goes to a computer-aided dispatch system, which transmits it to laptop computers in the patrol cars of police officers assigned to toll road duty. Officers can filter the alerts to focus on vehicles traveling in their direction. IBTTA presented the award at its recent annual meeting.
Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA)Fitch Assigns and Affirms Ratings on PA Turnpike Bonds
Fitch Ratings “has assigned an ‘AA-‘ rating to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s . . . $192,620,000 motor license fund (MLF)-enhanced turnpike subordinate special revenue bonds, first series of 2016. The bonds are expected to sell via negotiation during the week of September 19. Additionally, Fitch affirms the ‘AA-‘ rating on approximately $993 million in outstanding MLF-enhanced turnpike subordinate special revenue bonds.” Fitch says the rating outlook is “Stable.”
Investment Ratings Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission