- Officials Study How to Pay the Check for a New Hampton Roads Crossing
- Major Lane Configuration and Toll Collection Changes under Review for Bay Area's Dumbarton Bridge
- I-4 Traffic Actually Increases during "Ultimate" Construction
- PA Turnpike Toll Plaza to Get $1.1 Million Alteration
- CDOT Explains Rationale for Change in I-25 and US 36 HOV Rules
- Influential Lawmaker Claims Most Texas Toll Road Deals Were "Poorly Negotiated"
- TX Editorial Asks for "Wisdom to Accept the Toll Roads We Have"
- NY Thruway Manager Charged with Claiming False Travel Expenses
- MassDOT Chief Reassures Public about AET Data Handling
- Columnist Calls for Greater Transparency in TX County's Award of Highway Contracts
- Lawmaker Critical of the RhodeWorks Program Goes on the Warpath Again
- County Supervisors Want VDOT to Shift Some Coleman Bridge Toll Burden off Local Residents
- Fitch Affirms Rating of Fort Bend, TX, Toll Revenue Bonds
- Toll Technology's Evolution from Some Unlikely Sources
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Officials Study How to Pay the Check for a New Hampton Roads Crossing
The Virginian-Pilot reports, “While the public shares its opinions on the best water-crossing projects for the [Hampton Roads] region, financial wonks are working behind the scenes to identify the most effective way to pay for it.” The article runs through the financing options — which include bonds and loans backed by tolls — and talks with some of the officials responsible for evaluating them. The report adds, “The regional Hampton Roads transportation board will collaborate with cities and other stakeholders and come to a consensus on Nov. 17, But the final decision is with the Commonwealth Transportation Board, which will identify a preferred alternative at its Dec. 7 meeting.” [Links added.]
Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization Virginia Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)Major Lane Configuration and Toll Collection Changes under Review for Bay Area's Dumbarton Bridge
Streetsblog San Francisco provides an update on SamTrans’ Dumbarton Transportation Corridor Study (which is funded in part by a donation from area employer Facebook). The study’s primary focus is to improve transit service across the toll bridge. The blog reports, “SamTrans says that by 2020, several alternative lane configurations could be installed and will be studied in detail for their impact on traffic flow: reversible center lanes to provide four lanes in the peak-travel direction, carpool lanes, and express (toll) lanes. . . . A number of ways to speed access for drivers through the . . . toll plaza on its east end are in the new study, including longer toll lanes to fit more traffic, ‘open road tolling’ which would remove the toll booths, and constructing new direct access on-ramps for carpool and buses to connect Newark Boulevard and Highway 880 to the toll plaza.”
I-4 Traffic Actually Increases during "Ultimate" Construction
Orlando Sentinel checks the going on I-4, which is undergoing a $2.3 billion renovation and expansion, and reports that accidents and injuries declined while traffic actually increased. “The section of I-4 under construction handled about 19,000 more drivers per day, an increase of about 3 percent, in July this year compared with July 2015, reaching an average of about 665,000 per day,” according to the newspaper. The article also notes that toll roads recommended as I-4 alternate routes have seen increases in both traffic and revenue since the construction started.
Florida Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT)PA Turnpike Toll Plaza to Get $1.1 Million Alteration
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports, “More than $1.1 million in state funding has been approved for modifications to a toll plaza and off-ramp on the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Amos K. Hutchinson Bypass near Greensburg.” The changes will accommodate oversized trucks hauling “super loads” from a nearby plant.
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC)CDOT Explains Rationale for Change in I-25 and US 36 HOV Rules
KMGH News (Denver) talks with a CDOT representative about the reasons for a change in I-25 and US 36 express HOV rules. Effective, January 1, 2017, the lanes’ occupancy requirement will rise from HOV+2 to HOV+3, and cars that cannot safely transport more than two occupants won’t be able to use the lanes. The station adds, “CDOT said it will also be offering free HOV transponders to drivers who plan to carpool only. The transponders are needed in the express lanes to ensure drivers aren’t charged a toll.”
Colorado Colorado Department of TransportationInfluential Lawmaker Claims Most Texas Toll Road Deals Were "Poorly Negotiated"
CBS News Austin reports on TxDOT’s estimate that “the state is lugging around $36.7 billion in toll road debt.” House Transportation Committee chair Joe Pickett (D-El Paso) tells CBS he isn’t opposed to all toll roads, but he thinks most of the current ones are the result of poorly negotiated deals and insufficient public input. “Some people are going to get encircled by tolls and wonder how that happened,” Pickett says. He adds that tolls should be eliminated once construction costs are repaid. “That is not being proposed today, we just add another in perpetuity.”
Texas Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)TX Editorial Asks for "Wisdom to Accept the Toll Roads We Have"
Fort Worth Star-Telegram editors wonder if the discussion about Texas retiring its toll road debt “isn’t just a political exercise aimed at letting toll road opponents blow off steam and then accept reality.” They conclude, “It’s not smart, even if it were possible, to freeze the clock, pay off the current toll road debt, and then get back to the serious business of meeting current needs. So, let’s accept the toll roads we have and spend our money on projects that keep us from needing new ones.”
Texas Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)NY Thruway Manager Charged with Claiming False Travel Expenses
NEWS10 ABC (Albany) reports that Brian Gulotta, the New York Thruway Authority’s Albany toll plazas manager, was arrested on charges of “altering hotel receipts and falsifying a travel voucher to get reimbursed for travel he never took.” The state inspector general alleges that Gulotta submitted false hotel invoices “with the hope of putting unearned taxpayer funds in his pocket. . . .”
Crime Beat New York State Thruway AuthorityMassDOT Chief Reassures Public about AET Data Handling
Boston Herald reports that Massachusetts transportation secretary Stephanie Pollack took to the air on September 14 to reassure motorists that data captured by the state’s new AET system will only be used for toll collection and to track a vehicle when, as during an Amber Alert, “it really matters that we find the person now, and not a week from now.” Pollack added that the state’s records conservation board is currently drafting rules for the collection and storage of data to “make sure we are not unnecessarily keeping people’s information, because if you keep it, you know there is all this hacking going on and all that.”
Columnist Calls for Greater Transparency in TX County's Award of Highway Contracts
Houston Chronicle columnist Mike Snyder takes aim at the process Montgomery County followed in awarding a Toll 49 extension design contract in 2012. Although no laws were broken, Snyder says, “Montgomery County is no longer a rural backwater; it’s a fast-growing community of some 500,000 residents whose leaders should be expected to follow rigorous procedures of transparency and accountability. Five months ago, county commissioners finally got around to adopting an ethics policy; it’s time they start fully embracing its principles.”
TexasLawmaker Critical of the RhodeWorks Program Goes on the Warpath Again
RICentral.com reports that State Representative Patricia Morgan (R-26), a persistent critic of the RhodeWorks truck toll plan, is on the offensive again. Alleging that Governor Gina Raimondo has “broken promises [and] contrived rationales for the passage of harmful tolls,” Morgan is calling on the General Assembly to repeal the RhodeWorks legislation. Morgan’s attack was precipitated in part by Governor Raimondo’s decision to alter a major RhodeWorks project because an expected federal grant was denied and potentially hazardous bridge conditions require immediate attention.
Rhode IslandCounty Supervisors Want VDOT to Shift Some Coleman Bridge Toll Burden off Local Residents
WVEC-TV News (Norfolk, VA) reports, “There’s a push to cut down on tolls in Hampton Roads. Gloucester [County] board of supervisors want to decrease the toll for the Coleman Bridge, calling the toll an ‘unfair tax.’” A member of the board tells the station that seventy percent of the motorists using the bridge are county residents, and ““With 70% paying the debt burden I consider that unfair tax for the residents of Gloucester County.” County officials are suggesting that VDOT refinance the bridge’s current debt, assume the responsibility for bridge maintenance or consider changing toll rates to capture more revenue from summer tourists.
Virginia Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)Fitch Affirms Rating of Fort Bend, TX, Toll Revenue Bonds
Fitch Ratings “has affirmed the ‘A+’ rating on Fort Bend County, Texas’ approximately $138.8 million senior lien toll road revenue bonds issued on behalf of the Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority. . . . The Rating Outlook is Stable. Fitch added that the rating reflects “continued strong and growing traffic and revenue performance,” and “the authority’s prudent financial management.”
Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority (FBCTRA) Investment RatingsToll Technology's Evolution from Some Unlikely Sources
NPR’s “All Things Considered” tracks the evolution of today’s electronic tolling technology from the invention of the creepy Theremin musical instrument and electronic bugging devices. (We know you know the story, but this item will fascinate those friends and relatives who aren’t exactly sure how you do what you do for a living.)
AET (All-Electronic Tolling)