Daily News Briefs, September 6, 2016

Cape May (NJ) Bridge Commission Considering Switch to ETC

Press of Atlantic City reports, “The [Cape May County] Bridge Commission is looking into using E-ZPass, an electric toll-collection system used on the Atlantic City Expressway and Garden State Parkway, Chairman Patrick Rosenello said.” The report adds, “Going to E-ZPass would mark a significant change to the Ocean Drive bridges that span from Ocean City to Cape May, where drivers have had to pay cash since the structures were first built in the 1940s.”

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MD Governor's Call for Study of New Chesapeake Bay Crossing Draws Fire

MarylandReporter.com takes a dim view of Governor Larry Hogan’s $5 million study to examine the site and funding options for a third Chesapeake Bay Bridge crossing, arguing that “Hogan just wants to curry favor with beach-going voters and Ocean City businesses without having to take the unpopular step of raising tolls and other taxes to build a third crossing of the nation’s largest estuary.” (The study is being led by the Maryland Transportation Authority.)

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NY Times: "All Eyes Are on Chris Christie as Trial in Bridge Scandal Starts"

The New York Times reports, “The trial in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal, which is scheduled to open on Thursday [September 8] with jury selection, will play out like a documentary on the rise and fall of Mr. Christie’s presidential ambitions, a tell-all tale of how he and his aides built his administration and his 2013 re-election campaign with an eye to winning the White House, then scrambled to contain the damage as inquiries into the lane closings began to wreck those hopes.” (Otherwise, just another day. . . .)

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A Deep Dive on Delaware's Road Usage Pilot

Delaware State News provides a detailed look at the state’s participation in a federally funded pilot to test a road usage fee system, reporting that, “Oregon Department of Transportation spokeswoman Michelle Godfrey . . . said she typically needs just a couple minutes to convince someone of the merits of her state’s ongoing pilot program.” The article is a must-read on VMT/RUC issues.

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Are Automakers Over-Hyping Automated Driving Features?

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reports, “Auto makers developing automated-driving features are confronting concerns they are giving short shrift to the technologies’ limitations and leaving customers with a false sense of security. Since the Tesla crash, U.S. lawmakers, safety advocates and others have begun homing in on how car companies describe their autonomous-driving systems.”

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Tacoma Narrows Bridge Advisory Committee Chair Thanks Lawmakers and Makes Case for Stabilizing Tolls

The News Tribune publishes an op-ed by Bruce Beckett, chairman of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge Citizens Advisory Committee, who writes, “Thanks to the teamwork of 26th District state legislators, users of the Tacoma Narrows bridge will not pay higher tolls this year. Unfortunately, this relief lasts one, maybe two, years — and then the relentless increases could begin again.” The report dives into the three main factors that drive toll rates and argues for a change in reserve account requirements.

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CFX Offers Transponders with College Football Logos

Orlando Sentinel reports, “College football fans in Florida can now get their team’s logo on their E-Pass, the Central Florida Expressway Authority said [September 2].” (For more information, visit www.CollegeEpass.com.)

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Mass Turnpike's AET Toll Rates Could Climb for Some Local Trips

The MetroWest Daily News reports, “While the cost of many longer trips on the Mass. Pike will decrease once new, automated toll gantries come online, many of the routes within MetroWest could become more expensive if a draft toll proposal goes through.” The article also notes, “Those with out-of-state transponders will pay anywhere from five to 50 cents more per gantry.”

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Mass Turnpike's AET Conversion Draws More Support

The Berkshire Eagle columnist Clarence Fanto writes, “[O]n the whole, the advent of all-electronic overhead toll collection is worth a warm welcome, especially if it succeeds in speeding the flow of traffic.”

The Boston Globe publishes a letter by Marc Draisen, executive director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, who writes, “The State Transportation Department’s proposal to establish electronic tolls along the Mass. Pike, Tobin Bridge, and harbor tunnels deserves our support and swift implementation.”

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Public Reaction to Longmeadow Corridor Project Is Mixed

The Courier-News (Elgin, IL) staffs a public hearing on the Longmeadow Parkway Bridge Corridor project, reporting that public reviews are, well, mixed. On the prospect of a toll, the newspaper reports, “The county has federal, state and local funding, but a toll would help repay an estimated $30 million in borrowing used to build the road and bridge. Kane County officials said it is a funding method other local governments are looking at.”

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WV Toll Collector with 35 Years' Experience: You Need "Pretty Thick Skin"

Charleston Gazette-Mail profiles a West Virginia Turnpike toll collector for 35 years, reporting, “You need pretty thick skin to work this job, Harry [Roberts] said. You need to have a good sense of humor, to be able to talk to anyone and you need to be able to multitask.”

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County Commissioners to Vote on I-90 Interchange Project Partially Funded by IL Tollway

Northwest Herald reports, “The McHenry County Board will vote [today, September 6] whether to give the go-ahead to build a full interchange at Route 23 and Interstate 90 south of Marengo.” Under the project proposal, whose purpose is to create “an industrial hub,” the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority will pay a substantial share of the $32 million in construction costs.

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Columnist Rips Ontario's "Timid" Approach to Road Pricing

Metro News (Toronto) columnist Matt Elliott writes, “Here’s the good news: Ontario’s ministry of transportation is sending out permits for new high occupancy toll lanes (HOT lanes) on the QEW.” And he follows with, “But here’s the bad news: with their HOT lane plan, the provincial government is approaching road pricing with all the timidity of an awkward middle school student asking a classmate to the homecoming dance.”

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Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates Presses Indiana Officials to Reject Tolling of Interstates

The Journal Gazette publishes an op-ed column from the Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates which argues that Indiana officials should not consider tolling interstates. “When other states have looked closely at tolling, they have concluded that it is bad public policy,” asserts Stephanie Kane, a spokesperson for the group.

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For Orange County Motorist, a $49,000 Bill and a "Tortured Tale of Toll Road Torment"

The Orange County Register takes a look at a long, winding toll violations case that started a decade ago with a debit card change. The driver’s attorney says, ““Here’s a woman with three kids, whose husband is active-duty military. . . . A $49,000 Toll Roads violation? That’s just crazy – absolutely crazy.” Toll Roads CEO Mike Kraman declined to comment on the case specifically, but he tells the newspaper, “Since the tolls collected go towards paying off the debt incurred to build the roads, we must be a good steward of the public trust and we do pursue payment from these habitual violators.”

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