- CFX Takes the Lead on Osceola County Toll Road Development, Decides to Repay $151 Million to FDOT in a Lump Sum
- CTRMA to Consider System of Aerial Gondolas for Austin
- Dulles Greenway Tolls to Keep Rising under VA Supreme Court Ruling
- Ohio Turnpike Launches Customer Survey on AET
- A Heads Up for 800,000 Motorists: Last Day to Avoid TxDOT Toll Bill Late Fees
- Another Newspaper Backs Toll Enforcement Legislation for PA Turnpike
- Riddle Me This: Should E-ZPass Users Pay the Same Toll in Every State?
- Officials Celebrate Texas 35Express Project Milestone
- Transurban's "Landmark Study" Shows Australians Are Open to Road Usage Charge
- The "Star Trek" Case for the Tampa Bay Express
- WI Governor Walker: No on Tolls. No on Hiking Gas Tax or Fees. (Or, You Get the Idea.)
- What's It Like Manning a Toll Booth in France? (That's Not a Straight Line.)
- Cincinnati Chamber Adds Transportation Staffer. Brent Spence Bridge Replacement Cited.
- NJ Lawmaker Pushes for $60,000 Study of Road Construction Costs, A "Casualty" of Transportation Impasse
- Moody's on CFX Bonds
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CFX Takes the Lead on Osceola County Toll Road Development, Decides to Repay $151 Million to FDOT in a Lump Sum
Orlando Business Journal reports, “The Central Florida Expressway Authority agreed during its Sept. 8 board meeting to take the lead on the development of Osceola County’s toll roads.” The article explains that CFX will study projects in the Osceola County Expressway Authority master plan to determine “which, if any, can be developed and constructed under the Central Florida authority’s policies.” The report adds that the CFX board also decided during its meeting to make a lump sum repayment of approximately $151 million in debt to the Florida Department of Transportation. CFX has been repaying FDOT in annual installments.
Orlando Sentinel also covers the board meeting and reports that the development agreement is seen as accelerating an eventual merger of CFX and the Osceola County authority.
Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Osceola County Expressway AuthorityCTRMA to Consider System of Aerial Gondolas for Austin
Austin Monitor reports, “On Wednesday morning [September 7], members of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority board of directors gushed over a proposal to install an aerial tramway that would ferry riders from the University of Texas campus through downtown and all the way to Slaughter Lane in South Austin. CTRMA Deputy Executive Director Mike Heiligenstein even said he would likely bring an item forward at the board’s next meeting to let the members decide whether to fund a viability study on the proposal.” The newspaper adds that the concept, “dubbed Wire One,” involves an eight-mile system of cables strung between 19 stations and ten-passenger gondolas moving at the speed of a bicycle. Continuous arrivals and departures would make a schedule unnecessary.
Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA)Dulles Greenway Tolls to Keep Rising under VA Supreme Court Ruling
WTOP News reports, “Dulles Greenway tolls will keep rising under a new ruling from the Supreme Court of Virginia. The court ruled [on September 8] against a long-running challenge by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and former state Del. David Ramadan” and upheld a State Corporation Commission determination that the concession company’s toll rates are reasonable. Click here to read the court opinion.
WTOP adds, “TRIP II is the group that owns the road. An Australian company, Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, owns 50 percent of the road, and has been considering taking complete control.”
Dulles Greenway VirginiaOhio Turnpike Launches Customer Survey on AET
Sandusky Register reports, “A customer feedback survey aims to help turnpike officials gauge whether they should remove gates, and thus workers collecting money from payment plazas, all across the 241-mile highway. If they do, then customers can expect to pay tolls through an automated system, such as E-ZPass, in certain areas.” The report adds, “‘As part of our strategic planning, we want to hear from our customers and stakeholders,’ turnpike executive director Randy Cole said in a statement. ‘All options for future toll and customer service operations will be explored as we consider cost, customer preference, safety and ease of payment.’”
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure CommissionA Heads Up for 800,000 Motorists: Last Day to Avoid TxDOT Toll Bill Late Fees
KXAN News reports that today (September 9) is the last day to pay an overdue TxDOT toll bill without incurring a late fee. “Right now officials estimate that nearly 800,000 customers have outstanding bills. TxDOT suspended late fees 18 months ago after complaints of customers being overcharged.”
Scofflaws Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)Another Newspaper Backs Toll Enforcement Legislation for PA Turnpike
The Times-Tribune (Scranton) editorial board supports recommendations in an audit of the PA Turnpike released by state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale. The audit focused on, among other things, the Turnpike’s mounting debt, which is due largely to transfers to PennDOT and the fact that the agency needs stronger toll enforcement legislation. “[T]he Legislature needs to take the bigger steps, further mitigating the toll increases by ending the borrowing mandate and giving the commission the tools it needs to enforce tolls,” the editors contend.
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) ScofflawsRiddle Me This: Should E-ZPass Users Pay the Same Toll in Every State?
The Christian Science Monitor reprints a Tax Policy Center blog post in which staffer Renu Zaretsky wonders “whether it would be not only more fair, but more efficient, if states charged the same toll for anyone with an E-ZPass of any origin,” (The news hook is the Massachusetts Turnpike’s proposed new AET rate schedule, which favors motorists with Massachusetts E-ZPass accounts.)
AET (All-Electronic Tolling) E-ZPassOfficials Celebrate Texas 35Express Project Milestone
The Cross Timbers Gazette reports that local and state officials celebrated “a milestone on the 35Express Project – the substantial completion of the new southbound Lewisville Lake Bridge.” 35Express is a design-build project that will eventually result in 30 miles of new general purpose and managed toll lanes.
Texas Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)Transurban's "Landmark Study" Shows Australians Are Open to Road Usage Charge
The Australian (subscription may be required) reports, “Australians are open to trying a fairer and more transparent way of paying for their road use and a system based on user pays does not dramatically change the way people use their cars, according to the findings of a landmark study released today by toll-road operator Transurban.”
Australia RUC & VMT ProgramsThe "Star Trek" Case for the Tampa Bay Express
SaintPetersBlog posts a column by journalist Tom Jackson who writes that “given the options, TBX needs to happen. This isn’t to say toll lanes are an ideal solution, but ideal should not be the enemy of the useful.” Jackson adds, “[T]here’s that whole the-needs-of-the-many/needs-of-the-few-or-the-one Star Trek thing at play here, too. And, let’s face it: With the seventh-worst congestion in America, we need better ways to get from here to there around the Bay Area. As proposed, TBX does that.”
Florida Tampa Bay ExpressWI Governor Walker: No on Tolls. No on Hiking Gas Tax or Fees. (Or, You Get the Idea.)
WDJT News (Milwaukee) reports that Governor Scott Walker says creating toll roads is an “interesting idea and concept,” but not feasible in Wisconsin. Walker reasserts that he will not support an increase in the gas tax or vehicle registration fees during the current budget cycle.
WisconsinWhat's It Like Manning a Toll Booth in France? (That's Not a Straight Line.)
Vice France interviews Claude Amoulric, who’s collected tolls for 30 plus years, “to talk about his life in the tollbooths, naked driving and existential motorway philosophy.” Oh, and the jokester with a gun. And the time four armed guys wearing masks pulled up and, naturally, paid with exact change.
Cincinnati Chamber Adds Transportation Staffer. Brent Spence Bridge Replacement Cited.
Cincinnati Business Courier reports, “The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce has hired a Cincinnati City Hall aide,” Pete Metz, “to help it improve the region’s transportation, signaling the importance of the issue to the region’s top business group.” The report adds, “The chamber’s top priority for years, adding a second bridge alongside the current Brent Spence Bridge, has hit a legislative logjam because of resistance to tolls in Northern Kentucky.”
OhioNJ Lawmaker Pushes for $60,000 Study of Road Construction Costs, A "Casualty" of Transportation Impasse
NJ.com reports that State Senator Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) is calling on Governor Chris Christie to restore $60,000 in funding for a Rutgers University study on how to “drive down New Jersey’s road reconstruction costs, which have been estimated to be more than $200,000 a mile.” That study was a casualty of Governor Christie’s order stopping work on projects funded by the Transportation Trust Fund, the report adds.
New JerseyMoody's on CFX Bonds
Moody’s Investors Service “assigns an A2 rating with a positive outlook to the $451.54 million Series 2016B and 2016C Senior Lien Refunding Revenue Bonds of the Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX). We also affirm the A2 on $2.61 billion senior lien debt and the A3 on $193.7 million junior lien bonds and revise the outlook to positive from stable.”
Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) Investment Ratings