Toll Roads News - News

Abertis/Citi extend Penn Pike $12.8b offer to end of Sept

editor — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:23:36 -0700

Pennsylvania Transportation Partners comprising Abertis (58.3%) and Citi (41.7%) have extended their offer to the state of Pennsylvania of $12.8 billion for a 75 year lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to September 30. The extension is designed to give the state legislature time to enact enabling legislation in their short Fall session mid-September.
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Bad Aunt Fumo in the loft - Pennsylvania's embarrassment in seeking Fed OK to toll I-80

editor — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:07:52 -0700

Pennsylvania's biggest problem in getting permission to toll I-80 may turn out not to be intricacies of federal highway law and regulations, but simply whether the Federal Government should turn over control of a major interstate to a bunch of crooks to make money out of. A local thinktank in the state capital Harrisburg, the Commonwealth Foundation puts this bluntly in a two-page letter from its president Matt Brouillette addressed to James Ray, Federal Highway Administrator. read more »

Miami Dade's move to all-electronic cashless tolling

editor — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:27:35 -0700

Miami Dade Expressway Authority (MDX) is expected to begin formal procurement in early September of the toll systems needed to dispense with cash toll collection and go all-electronic. Along with North Texas Tollway Authority (Dallas TX) MDX has set 2012 as the target year for having all-electronic tolling (AET) complete, and cash collection permanently closed down. read more »

Penn Pike submits 're-application' to toll I-80 - argues lease 'rent' OK outside corridor

editor — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:37:17 -0700

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) in their long-awaited second shot at getting US permission to toll I-80 have come up with an ingenious new argument about how it qualifies for a federal Yes. read more »

Golden Gate Bridge toll to rise $1 to $6 cash, to $5 ET on Sept 1

editor — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:36:26 -0700

The board of directors has approved a one dollar or 20% increase in the toll on the Golden Gate Bridge to go into effect September 1 making the new toll $6 for cars paying cash and $5 by transponder. The per axle rate for trucks is half the car rate. Tolls are levied only on the southbound direction of travel. Northbound is always free.
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NTTA raises posted speed limits at mainline plazas preparing for cashless

editor — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:30:36 -0700

North Texas Tollway Authority's (NTTA) board has approved a staff proposal that they raise posted speed limits at all their mainline toll plazas to full highway speeds - granting full recognition to open road tolling. At present posted speeds from half a mile (0.8km) before the mainline toll plazas are 45mph (72km/hr) except for one plaza (DNT MLP2) where the post is 40mph (64km/hr).
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Mass Pike "bailout" attacked by state treasurer

editor — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:38:00 -0700

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has quietly sponsored legislation to allow the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority to refinance on the state's security, making the state liable for the Turnpike's debt if it defaults. Normally the Turnpike Authority's borrowing is secured only by the net toll revenues of the Turnpike. They are called "non-recourse" loans because the bondholders have no recourse to the state if revenues are insufficient.
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Sticker tags popular in Florida - 12k/week

editor — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 20:32:48 -0700

July 1 they started selling sticker tags in Florida and collecting tolls with the tiny paper thin wonders - the IBM-developed eGo product supplied by TransCore and being marketed by Florida tollers as SunPass Mini. As of last Thursday we're told 15,500 have been sold, which by our calculation works out to 12,000/week. That matches almost exactly Florida Turnpike Enterprise' target of selling 600k in the first year (though any extrapolation from ten days data is a stretch.) read more »

Peters hammers tax-&-grant as "broken," calls for direct road pricing

editor — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:02:49 -0700

US transport secretary Mary Peters in an interview with Traffic World lambasts proposals for enlarging the present federal tax-&-grant programs, pitching the case for its replacement by direct pricing of roads. Excerpts from the interview follow:
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FasTrak hacking claim - we suspect it's baloney

editor — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:26:40 -0700

A security specialist is claiming he has "reverse engineered" the Title 21 read-only transponder used in California and Colorado, and says there are "gaping holes" in its security which he says make it vulnerable to "sniffing, cloning, and surreptitious tracking of the driver's comings and goings."
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State senators discuss truck lanes concession on New Jersey Turnpike

editor — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:21:32 -0700

Senate leaders are discussing with the Corzine administration a private toll concession to manage truck and bus lanes on the New Jersey Turnpike. Richard Cody, president of the senate and Raymond Lesniak chair of an economic committee are both reported by Joe Donahue in the Star-Ledger as saying they are looking at a partial toll concession - either for truck and bus lanes or for premium service lanes for cars.
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Texas 183A tollroad in Austin going cashless before year's end

editor — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:22:18 -0700

Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority board have voted to eliminate cash toll collection on their 183A toll road northwest of Austin by the end of 2008. The decision is expected to save the agency more than $1 million annually in operating costs.
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AASHTO also touts "China model" but fails to understand it - the Highway Petes have it all wrong (EDITORIAL)

editor — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:58:58 -0700

The example-de-jour among the Washington highway lobbyists is the "China model." The Chinese are spending big on highways and we need to too, is the gist of their message.
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10 Mass Pike collectors charged with toll theft

editor — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:27:29 -0700

The AP is reporting that Massachusetts state police are charging ten current and former toll collectors of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority with theft of tolls. A Suffolk District Attorney is quoted as saying that the charges are the result of a seven month long investigation. The toll collectors were taking anything between $20 and $150 per shift. read more »

Puerto Rico doing P3 on their major tollroad PR22 but is it a toll concession?

editor — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:28:55 -0700

The government of Puerto Rico has a major public-private partnership (P3) procurement under way for the island state's major toll road - PR22 - but investors are asking what it is: a real toll concession or just a longterm operations contract?
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On the Wiregrass Turnpike controversy - critics seize on our not-for-profit comment

editor — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:56:05 -0700

Our report on the proposal for a tollroad between the Wiregrass region of southeast Alabama and I-10 in the Panhandle of Florida - we dubbed it the Wiregrass Turnpike - has been picked up by local critics based on a short comment at the end on the history of Not-For-Profit (NFP) tollroads. They are quoting TOLLROADSnews as saying it has been a disaster.

Ed Holman a Washington County FL commissioner is one who misinterpreted our comment.
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Pennsylvania Turnpike's cost of capital for Act 44 borrowings 5.08% vs 4.71% (ANALYSIS)

editor — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:07:02 -0700

Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) lead spokesman Timothy Carson and finance professors supporting the Commission have said repeatedly that the Turnpike Commission can borrow at significantly lower interest rates than a private concessionaire. Carson was quoted in a press release April 21 as claiming that $245m of Act 44 bonds sold at especially good interest rates.
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Penn Pike Commission supporters fail in move to force vote on lease in legislature

editor — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:47:03 -0700

Turnpike Commission supporters in the Pennsylvania legislature made an odd move Wednesday - introducing a measure which if passed would have instructed the Governor and state ("Commonwealth") officials to execute the Concession and Lease Agreement announced May 19th. The move was easily defeated by 185 to 12.

See a text nearby.
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TxDOT gives up on toll financing for Trans Texas Corridor 69

editor — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:14:03 -0700

In a further retreat before anti-road activists and a hostile legislature Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has abandoned Trans Texas Corridor 69, acknowledged there will be no significant toll financing, and abandoned consideration of any new routing. Only existing surface arterial roads will be upgraded.
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Mark IV well positioned to win E-ZPass recompete

editor — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 14:45:42 -0700

Mark IV is well positioned to win the E-ZPass recompete. Close analysis of the Request For Proposals (RFP) from the E-ZPass Inter Agency Group (IAG) indicates it will be difficult for competitors to put up competitive bids. Indeed implementing any new technology from the existing Mark IV transponders will be tough.
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Free rides for pols in Indiana roil TR concessionaire

editor — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:14:27 -0700

The Indiana Toll Road Concession Company (ITRCC) has got a slew of bad press for offering politicians free i-Zoom transponders. i-Zoom is the local brandname for the transponders which are part of the interoperable E-ZPass system which now encompasses Illinois as well as that bunch of northeast and mid-Atlantic coast states.
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Wiregrass Pike "Not-for-profit" tollroad proposal takes hit in FL Panhandle

editor — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:48:35 -0700

It's hard slogging for promoters of a spur tollroad off I-10 in the Florida panhandle to the Wiregrass region of southeast Alabama. This week in Washington County Florida where it was planned to connect with I-10, county commissioners voted 3 to 2 against support for the project.

There's much sound and fury surrounding the proposed road and finger wagging about the secrecy of the promoters, and the "lack of information."
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Supreme Court limits on patents bode ill for TransCore and IBM

editor — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:30:43 -0700

A Supreme Court ruling this week in a patent case on mobile telephone chipsets - Quanta vs LG Electronics - deals with many of the same issues raised by TransCore in their litigation against ETC, and touches indirectly on the value of IBM's patent claim to variable pricing tolls.
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Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and Gov Rendell - a bizarre relationship

editor — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:11:17 -0700

We asked a senior official in the Rendell Administration recently: "Why does the Governor put up with having his plan to lease the Turnpike trashed every day by the Turnpike Commission? Why did he appoint these guys only to let them stomp all over him?"

There was a silence on the line and then he said: "I'm tempted, I'm tempted...If I answered that question however..." and that was about it.
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Jackson Mississippi parkway strong development concession - state's CFO and dep-ED

editor — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 09:42:18 -0700

Brenda Znachko, chief financial officer and deputy exec-director at Mississippi DOT says the Jackson Airport Parkway is a financially "strong" project. She says a traffic and revenue study by URS is being finalized, and will be released at an industry workshop, compulsory for bidders, in Jackson July 1.

RFQ's will be due August 1.
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Eight in bidding for Alligator Alley lease in Florida

editor — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:41:42 -0700

Eight firms submitted qualifications in the first stage of a longterm lease of the 125km (78 mile) I-75 east-west tollroad from the Miami area to Naples Florida.

The eight are:

- OHL-Carlyle

- Abertis

- Atlantia (formerly Autostada) & ETC

- Brisa-CCR-JPMorgan

- Macquarie
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House-$s chairman Dwight Evans sponsors bill to lease Pennsylvania Turnpike

editor — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:06:27 -0700

Support for a lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike has surfaced with the announcement that two influential politicians are sponsoring enabling legislation - House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans, a long serving Democrat representative from the northern part of Philadlephia, and Republican Appropriations Committee member Steve Cappelli, who represents the Williamsport area just north of I-80.
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New York and Jersey toll agencies agree to give up free transponders for board members

editor — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:21:54 -0700

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) - of which the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel toll authority is a division - is reversing its stance defending free toll transponders (and transit passes) for current and former board members. They announced May 29 that they would, after all, comply with state Attorney-General Andrew Cuomo's May 25 demand that the program be discontinued immediately.
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PA Gov Rendell accepts that legislature won't consider enabling legislation for Turnpike lease until the fall

editor — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:14:47 -0700

Pennsylvania Governor Rendell has accepted that the state legislature won't consider enabling legislation in time to accept the legally binding Abertis-Citi bid of $12.8b which expires June 20. He told reporters yesterday: "There isn't enough time (this month) to have the General Assembly review the Turnpike lease."
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ARTBA - a dysfunctional destructive lobby (EDITORIAL)

editor — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:11:47 -0700

The roadbuilders lobby ARTBA claim boldly on their website: "We Advance the Interests of the U.S. Transportation Construction Industry." They do nothing of the kind. They advance the interests of Washington DC transportation construction lobbyists (themselves) and they do a grave disservice to the construction industry and to the nation.
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