News Roundup

Colorado
State transportation officials are considering charging all drivers passing through the Eisenhower Tunnel up to $3 to help ease congestion on Interstate 70. The proposed toll would help pay for a third bore of lanes through the Continental Divide. A toll at the tunnel in Idaho Springs is also being considered. Officials first thought they could just charge a toll for drivers using the new lanes but then realized that wouldn't raise enough money. The tunnel toll was one of several proposed Thursday by the Colorado Tolling Enterprise. It was set up two years ago by the legislature to help the cash-strapped state solve its transportation problems. 
Summit Daily News - Frisco, CO, USA - http://www.summitdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040827/NEWS/108270017
 

In a plan outlined at a meeting of the Colorado Department of Transportation's tolling enterprise last week, U.S. 36 between Interstate 25 and Boulder was among seven possible routes where drivers could end up paying for the trip. But it's still early in the planning process, said Peggy Catlin, director of the tolling board. Since Colorado state law prohibits the tolling of existing lanes, a “free” route would still be available. Catlin said tolls would vary with demand, with higher charges during rush hours. Proposed tolls could be up to 35 cents per mile during rush hours — roughly $10 per trip between Denver and Boulder — and up to 10 cents a mile outside rush hours. The other proposed Denver-metro area toll corridors include the proposed Northwest Corridor from U.S. 36 to C-470 near Golden, I-25 from U.S. 36 to Colorado 66 near Longmont, Interstate 70 from Colorado Boulevard to Chambers Road, C-470 from I-70 to Interstate 25, Interstate 225 from Parker Road to I-70 and Interstate 270 from I-25 to I-70.
Broomfield Enterprise - Broomfield, CO, USA - http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/broomfield_news/
article/0,1713,BDC_2495_3151592,00.html

Florida
Florida has been the victim of two major hurricanes already this month, with a another, Hurricane Ivan approaching the region this weekend. Hurricane Frances prompted the evacuation of more than 2 million people from the area. The following stories touch on the complexities of such a mass movement.

Florida's Turnpike turned into more than 50 miles of two-lane torment heading toward Central Florida on Thursday as much of Florida's East Coast used it to flee in advance of Hurricane Frances. Orlando Sentinel - Orlando, FL, USA - http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/weather/orl-asechevac03090
304sep03,0,7448199.story?coll=orl-home-headlines  

Thursday night, bumper-to-bumper traffic on Florida's Turnpike stretched 80 miles through the Orlando area. One motorists said the trip from Palm Beach Gardens to Orlando took 12 hours.  Palm Beach Post - Palm Beach, FL, USA - http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/news/epaper
/2004/09/03/turnpike.html  

Some drivers cried, others paced outside their vehicles — but most waited patiently while stuck in an 80-mile traffic jam through Orlando on Thursday night on Florida's Turnpike.  Palm Beach Post - Palm Beach, FL, USA - http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/
epaper/2004/09/04/a2b_scenetraffic_0904.html  
 

From returning evacuees, state officials have determined to continue to waive tolls for at least one more day on the entire Florida’s Turnpike from milepost ... Local6.com - Orlando, FL, USA http://www.local6.com/traffic/3713068/detail.html
Illinois

Smoothing kinks in the tollway that cuts through the Rock River Valley would lead to more traffic and improve the economy, developers and community leaders said Thursday. Overall, they envisioned good things from Gov. Rod Blagojevich's $5.3 billion plan to overhaul the Illinois tollway system. Blagojevich announced Wednesday that he wanted to rebuild roads and swap toll plazas with electronic arches that let vehicles cruise through without slowing down. 
Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL, USA - http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/
20040827/NEWS0109/408270327/1004/NEWS

Kansas 
A Kansas State trooper assigned to the Kansas Turnpike survives a serious high speed accident and is working hard to return to duty.  The Wichita Eagle - Wichita, KS, USA - http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/news/local/9605838.htm  

On the Kansas Turnpike Monday, survivors and rescuers dedicated a memorial to the Texas man who died trying to save others in flash flooding one year ago. The monument is located at the Matfield Green rest area in Marion County, south of where the flood waters swept cars off the turnpike and killed 6 people.
KBSD - Dodge City, KS, USA - http://www.kbsd6.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=KBSD
/MGArticle/BSD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031777636525  
 

The Kansas Turnpike's approaching widening project is about to take out another bridge. A turnpike overpass along Douglas County Road 1023 will close to traffic Tuesday or Wednesday, said David Jacobson, a project manager for the Kansas Turnpike Authority. The bridge is about seven miles west of the South Lawrence Trafficway, 1.5 miles east of the Shawnee County line. The authority is replacing the bridge as part of a planned $90 million project to widen the turnpike from four to six lanes between the Lecompton interchange and Topeka.  Lawrence Journal World - Lawrence, KS, USA - http://www.ljworld.com/section/citynews/story/179933
Louisiana

State Sen. Reggie Dupre said Friday that tolls might be the only way to complete the major link in the planned Interstate 49 extension from Lafayette to greater New Orleans. "Maybe we can have it before we're dead and gone if we do it this way," Dupre, D-Montegut, told other members of the Louisiana Transportation Authority. Rough estimates put the cost of replacing the 18 miles of sinking roadway from Boutte to Raceland at up to $770 million. The cost is so high because the entire stretch must be elevated and because current environmental standards require complex building methods that protect the wetlands under the span, said Eric Kalivoda, deputy assistant secretary for planning and programming at the state Department of Transportation and Development. The road would be interstate grade and eventually would be called I-49 when the entire U.S. 90 from Lafayette to the West Bank of New Orleans is built up to interstate standards. There is no money allotted for the project.
WBRZ - Baton Rouge, LA, USA - http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/090404/new_toll001.shtml

Maine
Traffic levels on the Maine Turnpike is often used as a barometer of summer tourism in the state. And the numbers so far show relatively flat growth in traffic during the past three months.  
WMTW Auburn, ME, USA - http://www.wmtw.com/Global/story.asp?S=2257034&nav=7k6rQYlY
WMTW - Auburn, ME, USA - http://www.wmtw.com/Global/story.asp?S=2263235

Massachusetts
 Massachusetts Fast Lane customers will get a break at the toll booth for at least another year after the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority's board of directors voted unanimously to extend the discount program through the end of 2005. For the second year in a row, the authority will dip into the $75 million it pocketed from the sale of Allston land to Harvard University to make up the $10 million to $12 million in lost toll revenue, spokesman Doug Hanchett said. The Pike began offering the discounts in 2002 to offset steep toll hikes. Fast Lane customers, who now make up the majority of Pike users, save a quarter at the tollbooths on the Boston extension and 50 cents in the Sumner and Ted Williams tunnels.
Boston Herald - Boston, MA, USA - http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=42647

New Jersey
State officials plan to collect tolls in one direction only at the Garden State Parkway's second busiest toll plaza. The Union Toll Plaza will become the third location to switch to one-way collection and eliminate some tollbooths, state transportation officials said. In May, officials announced plans to collect tolls in one direction only at the parkway's Raritan and Asbury Park plazas, beginning next month despite a legal dispute over a construction contract. Officials expect the change to help ease traffic congestion.
Newsday - Long Island, NY, USA - http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-nj--
parkwaytolls0827aug26,0,3594381.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire  

Ohio
Ohio State troopers on the Ohio Turnpike captured two men, one from Illinois, the other from New York,  with two kilos of cocaine worth about $200,000 in hidden compartments in their vehicles on the Ohio Turnpike.
Toledo Blade - Toledo, OH, USA - http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/
20040831/NEWS03/408310364/-1/NEWS

Pennsylvania
Attention Pennsylvania turnpike users: Get ready to shell out more dough for tolls, because the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is giving America's oldest highway a face lift, with funding coming out of everyone's pockets. Toll rates will increase 42 percent, from 4.1 cents per mile to 5.9 for commercial cars. And according to a press release from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, the increase will bring in more than $1.3 billion over the next 10 years for the roadway face lift.
Penn State Digital Collegian - University Park, PA, USA - http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2004/09/09-01-04tdc/09-01-04dnews-13.asp
 

A federal judge will allow a truckers' lawsuit challenging toll hikes levied by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission to proceed to trial. Senior U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter, rejecting the commission's request to dismiss the suit, has ruled that the truckers showed "genuine issues of fact exist for trial." American Trucking Associations of Alexandria, Va., parent organization of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Motor Truck associations, filed its suit in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia in December 2002 after the commission raised tolls up to 400 percent.
WPVI - Philadelphia, PA, USA - http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/traffic/09022004_traf_tolltrial.html  
 

The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Authority has imposed a ban on the Washington Crossing Bridge of 11 heavy and wide vehicles -- including three versions of the Hummer sport utility vehicle and four versions of GMC trucks and vans -- effective this month. The century-old Washington Crossing Bridge is the narrowest of the 18 Delaware River vehicular crossings the toll bridge commission oversees in Mercer, Hunterdon, Warren and Sussex counties. The free bridge, about 10 miles northwest of Trenton in Hopewell Township, connects Route 546 in New Jersey with Route 532 in Bucks County, Pa., and carries nearly 9,000 vehicles a day.
Newark Star-Ledger  - http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-
7/1093840237144140.xml?starledger?nnj  

The Delaware River Port Authority's crackdown on E-ZPass scofflaws has nabbed one Pennsylvania man who owes more than $26,000 in tolls and fines. Three motorists, each with E-ZPass debts exceeding $14,000, have been charged criminally as result of the crackdown that has enabled the debt-plagued DRPA to collect $2.9 million in overdue tolls and fees in the past year. Port Authority CEO John J. Matheussen said the agency has brought down the percentage of violators from above 2 percent to about 1.25 percent, and hopes to reduce the number of toll cheats further, to under 1 percent.
KYW - Philadelphia, PA, USA - http://kyw.com/Local%20News/local_story_252151442.html  
 

Turnpike commission representative Walt Green Wednesday told members of the Montgomery County Planning Commission the turnpike commission will begin pouring millions of dollars into the region for the design and/or construction of projects on which it previously had been dragging its feet because of a lack of funds. "You are about the only agency in the transportation business that has money today," noted planning commission Vice Chairman Scott Exley. The turnpike will spend more than $130 million on construction for five projects in Montgomery County that have started or will get under way within approximately one year, Green said.
Norristown Times Herald - Norristown, PA, USA - http://www.timesherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=
12884130&BRD=1672&PAG=461&dept_id=33380&rfi=6

Texas
Fort Bend County celebrated the completion of its first tollway Friday, August 27, with a party on the new concrete. About 150 people turned out for the ribbon-cutting ceremony and events, which included a contest where participants shot golf balls up the road. The tollway — the first pay road in the Houston region outside Harris County — opens to traffic Monday, August 30. Norm Mason, chairman of the volunteer Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority Board, said projections show 15,000 to 20,000 vehicles a day will use the tollway by the end of its first year.
Houston Chronicle - Houston, TX, USA - http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2764968  
 

State Rep. Mike Krusee (R-Round Rock), chair of the House Transportation Committee, says it is time to make some changes to regional mobility authorities, but before toll road opponent Sal Costello takes a victory lap around the Capitol, he probably needs to understand that the changes won't make toll roads go away. The fact that Central Texas was the first to create an RMA – and that Krusee sits on the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board, which has to approve the Central Texas RMA's transportation plans – is probably no coincidence. Krusee had Central Texas in mind when he penned the bill creating RMAs back in 2001, frustrated by the fact that Dell Computer chose Tennessee over Round Rock when it came time to build a new plant, for reasons having everything to do with the gridlock of Central Texas traffic.
 Austin Chronicle - Austin, TX, USA - http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-09-03/pols_feature4.html  
 

Austin City Councilman Brewster McCracken has changed his mind. In July, McCracken voted with others to approve a $2.2 billion toll road project. Now McCracken says three projects, still under construction, should not be on the list including the overpass of MoPac at William Cannon Drive, State Highway 71 to Riverside and Ed Bluestein Boulevard from Interstate 35 to Springdale Road. Those projects are being built with money from the Texas gas tax.
News 8 Austin - Austin, TX, USA - http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=118474&SecID=2
 

On Thursday, Austin City Councilman Brewster McCracken rescinded his vote approving a $2.2 billion toll road project for Central Texas. Now, fellow city councilman Daryl Slusher is also asking for changes to the Central Texas toll road plan.
News 8 Austin - Austin, TX, USA - http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=118630&SecID=2
 

A $6.3 billion package of new roads to be built in the next decade was approved Thursday by the regional leaders, despite protests from a handful of sign-toting residents opposed to converting eight miles of Texas 121 into a toll road. Most of the plan was approved unanimously by the Regional Transportation Council. However, a decision on the controversial portion of Texas 121, a 2.5-mile stretch of road in The Colony and Frisco, was delayed for 30 days. http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/states/texas/northeast/9622225.htm?1c  

A 22-mile highway north of Laredo is to be inaugurated today as the Texas Department of Transportation's first toll road. The Camino Columbia provides a cutoff link between Interstate 35 and the Mexican border. Private investors poured $90 million into the new road in the late 1990s, thinking truck drivers would be willing to spend up to $16 and take a 23-mile detour to avoid Laredo's heavy traffic. But traffic during the bridge's first three years was only 13 percent of projections, and the Camino Columbia went on the auction block in January. The state bought the road in May for $20 million. The roadway will be free for the first two months. After November 8th, the toll will be $2 for a two-axle vehicles and two dollars for every additional axle.
KLTV - Tyler, TX, USA - http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=2272436  

A good overview of the efforts Texas DOT is making to describe the options and plans associated with the major tolling efforts being proposed for Texas.

The Colony Courier Leader - The Colony, TX, USA - http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1426&
dept_id=525697&newsid=12877703&PAG=461&rfi=9

Virginia 
A team led by California-based Fluor Daniel, Inc. will move forward on a proposal to add four 14-mile variable-priced toll lanes on Virginia's Interstate 495, also known as the Capital Beltway. The team will begin negotiations with the Virginia Dept. of Transportation on a comprehensive agreement for the approximately $693-million plan, which falls under the state's Public-Private Transportation Act (PPTA).  The team, which includes HNTB, Lane Construction, Vollmer Associates and Greenhorne & O'Mara, submitted the lone $693-million proposal in 2002.  Fluor's team proposes to build two high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in each direction from north of the Springfield Interchange to north of the Dulles Toll Road. According to the proposal, HOT lanes would be free to carpoolers, buses and emergency vehicles; cars carrying only one or two people would pay a variable toll ranging from $1 to $4.80 to use the lanes. Large trucks would not be allowed to use the HOT lanes. The team's proposal includes a design-build lump-sum bid and a four-year time frame. Only four right-of-way acquisitions would be required.
Engineering News Record - http://www.enr.com/news/transportation/archives/040827a.asp
 
Federal News
2005 Transportation Funding - A Senate appropriations subcommittee has approved a fiscal 2005 spending bill that would boost the federal highway obligation ceiling by almost $1.3 billion, or 4%, to a record $34.9 billion. Transportation-on and treasury subcommittee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) noted that the level represents a "historically high" figure. The panel cleared the legislation on Sept. 9 without objection. If the total is approved by the full Appropriations Committee and by the Senate, it would have to be reconciled with the amount the House recommended, $34.6 billion. It thus is virtually certain that highway design and construction firms will see increased funding for fiscal 2005. The 2004 obligation limit is $33.6 billion.  Engineering News Record - http://www.enr.com/news/transportation/archives/040909.asp

TEA-21 Reauthorization - With Congress back in session for a brief period before the scheduled adjournment (October 1), prospects for an approved 6-year reauthorization remain uncertain. Over the August recess it was reported that House and Senate Committee staffs where working to reconcile minor elements between the respective House and Senate variants of the measures, but major gaps remain such as the total level of funding being proposed. Lacking this basic agreement there is little ability for reconcile issues such a 95% returns on State contributions to the Highway Trust Fund which is a major Senate goal, or to make House members feel confident that the demonstration and other special projects they are seeking can be accommodated. The current federal program is operating under its fifth extension, which expires on September 24th.

International News
 
Australia
The only surprising thing about Opposition Leader Mark Latham's acknowledgement that tolls on the Mitcham-Frankston freeway were a foregone conclusion was the timing. On Thursday, he used his first Melbourne visit of the campaign to concede there was nothing he could do about the tolls and that he would redirect the $420 million earmarked for the project to other Victoria roadworks. It was a predictable decision that could have been finessed months ago but Latham, by leaving it until the first days of the campaign, reignited the issue and, for a couple of days at least, distracted attention from his main message. Within minutes of Latham's declaration of the obvious, Treasurer Peter Costello claimed the Opposition Leader had "shattered the trust" of Victorians and "shackled" the state with a tollway. It was almost as if Latham was building the freeway and it was his decision to impose tolls. In fact, tolls have been inevitable since Premier Steve Bracks broke his election promise 16 months ago. Two major construction and finance consortiums have lodged bids to build the road and charge motorists to use it. A decision on the preferred tenderer was to be announced this month, but will now almost certainly be delayed until well after the last votes are counted. Private research in the most marginal seats affected show fewer than 5 per cent of voters rank tolls as the most important issue, compared with more than 50 per cent who put health, education and the economy at the top of the list.
The Age - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/09/04/1094234078562.html

England
Hundreds of angry residents crammed into a heated meeting as part of a battle to stop a new £810 million toll road near Stafford. The new road is designed to link Manchester with the M6 toll and meetings around the area have been set up for concerned residents. It was standing room only at the meeting in Derrington last night as people wanted to find out how the road would affect them. The picturesque village is situated next to the M6 and residents fear the area would suffer if another motorway is built. Although no set route has been announced for the road it is expected to run parallel to the current M6 and cost £810 million.
Express and Star News - Dudley, UK - http://www.expressandstar.com/artman/publish/article_63310.php

Indonesia
First Pacific Co. Ltd., the parent company of Metro Pacific Corp., has said it would need at least P12.5 billion to carry out its plan to integrate toll roads that run south between Metro Manila and Batangas province. First Pacific managing director and chief executive Manuel Pangilinan told reporters at this former crown colony that the toll road project would require three major capital expenditure items: a P10-billion investment to connect Alabang to Calamba; P2.5 billion to connect Lipa City in Batangas to the provincial port; and an unidentified amount to upgrade the existing Skyway and South Luzon Expressway (Slex).  
ABS CBN News - Quezon City, Philippines - http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=Business&OID=58484

Malaysia
Abdul Rahim Saibu, who controls the Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR) project, was appointed Tanco Holdings Bhd chairman on Sept 1. The announcement was made to Bursa Malaysia on the same date. This led to speculation in the market whether Rahim will inject the PORR tolled road project into Tanco, a property development and time-share holiday group.  The PORR project, estimated to cost RM1bil, is expected to commence in the middle of next year, the company added.  “As part of this project, he will also be involved in the development of prime real estate in Penang over a 15-year period, with an estimated cost of RM2.0bil,” Tanco said. 
The Malaysia Star – Malaysia - http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2004
/9/3/business/8815424&sec=business