Free Republic

WASHINGTON — With construction on new toll lanes ramping up this year on Interstate 66 between Gainesville and the Beltway, Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board is due to approve a number of projects next week that will be paid for by the toll lane operators. After a public hearing Thursday, the board is due to vote Jan. 10 on how to spend $496 million of a $579 million payment that Express Mobility Partners gave the state as part of the construction agreement. An additional $79 million is due to go toward oversight of the project, including public outreach, and there is...

Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete K. Rahn dangled a $9 billion carrot Wednesday in front of more than 100 companies potentially interested in adding express toll lanes to the Capital Beltway, Interstate 270 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. “It’s amazing,” Rahn quipped to more than 320 highway engineers, designers and builders in a ballroom at the BWI Airport Marriott in Linthicum. “You can get a lot of attention when you put a nine in front of a ‘B.’” Officially, the Maryland Department of Transportation’s industry forum was intended to provide companies more details about the plan to add four toll lanes each...

WASHINGTON — About two years ago, during the last big debate over Interstate 66 rush-hour tolls for solo drivers, there was a lot of talk about $17 round-trip tolls. Virginia’s transportation secretary said this week that the tolls drivers have seen inside the Beltway so far remain in line with those projections. New data the Virginia Department of Transportation provided Thursday from the first day of tolls on Monday morning show the average morning toll for drivers who paid with an E-ZPass, or who will get automated violation notices in the mail, was $10.70, while the average afternoon toll paid...

WHEELING — Motorists know age and excessive use are taking a toll on Interstate 70 through Ohio County, but some state lawmakers are concerned drivers may be paying tolls after a proposed $172.5 million rehabilitation on the stretch of highway is completed. Delegates Erikka Storch, R-Ohio, and Patrick McGeehan, R-Hancock, both said they voted against a bill — which ultimately passed — giving the West Virginia Parkways Authority the ability to charge tolls after construction of new roads and major improvements to existing highways because of their concerns about future tolling on Interstate 70. State Senate Majority Leader Ryan Ferns,...

Texas lawmakers have gone from championing to criticizing toll roads, a shift that some Houston-area leaders worry has gone too far and could limit coming projects. "Without toll roads and that funding, I don't know what we are going to do," said Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal, citing the need for new roadways in rapidly growing parts of the Houston area. The concern, voiced at a Dec. 15 meeting of the Houston-Galveston Area Council's Transportation Policy Council - the region's transportation planning group - was shared in response to decisions by the Texas Transportation Commission. A day earlier, the commission...

It sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, but Colorado has been named one of 10 finalists for the Hyperloop One competition, which could end with a vacuum-sealed tunnel shooting people from Cheyenne to Pueblo and Vail to Denver at speeds up to 700 miles per hour. The futuristic, pod-based transportation system for Colorado could cost as much as $24 billion, but it's only one of a number of major developments in the realm of transportation throughout 2017. The proposed route for a Colorado Hyperloop accounts for roughly 360 miles total, and the Los Angeles firm that's sponsoring...

DENVER (CBS4)– The Colorado Department of Transportation is gearing up for a major project that will change the landscape of Interstate 70 through the central part of Denver. The Central 70 Project will dramatically impact the community from Colorado Boulevard to Brighton Boulevard. The Colorado Department of Transportation is now hiring people who live there. “The Central 70 Project is by itself a major economic driver for the entire Denver-metro region. CDOT wanted to also ensure that these economic and job opportunities were made available to local residents,” said Shailen Bhatt, CDOT Executive Director. “CDOT is one of only a...

BALTIMORE — In September, Governor Larry Hogan announced a massive plan to ease congestion on the D.C. Beltway. Tuesday, it was Baltimore's turn. Hogan and his transportation team unveiled a multipronged approach that could cut commute times for millions of Marylanders. Maryland has the second longest commuting times in the nation. Six of the 15 most congested spots in our state are on the Baltimore Beltway. Hogan announced a $461 million traffic-relief plan for Interstates 695 and 95 north. The plan "will benefit the lives of millions of drivers throughout the Baltimore region," Hogan said. There are four components to...

MYRTLE BEACH — Environmental groups are challenging the federal permits that allow construction of Interstate 73, a project that is the longtime dream of Grand Strand tourism officials. The lawsuit was filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the Coastal Conservation League. It claims the Army Corps of Engineers relied on an outdated environmental study and did not consider alternatives to I-73 as it issued permits this June to begin work on the road, therefore violating federal law. Catherine Wannamaker, an attorney for the SELC, said that the agencies involved in issuing the permits were stuck on...

After exploring other options, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet released study findings Tuesday "confirming the need for a second bridge to carry Interstate 71/75 traffic across the Ohio River." A yearlong study "confirms the need for construction of a new bridge across the Ohio River to improve safety and travel on Interstate 71 and Interstate 75 between Ohio and Kentucky," a news release from the KYTC said. The news release cited the findings of the Brent Spence Strategic Corridor Study, which was led by the consulting firm Stantec. The best solution to "ease congestion and improve travel" is to build a...

When state construction crews begin work on westbound Interstate 696 in Roseville this spring, they’ll have to knock off the noise at some point in the night. The Roseville City Council recently rejected a request by the Michigan Department of Transportation to work 24 hours a day, seven days week on the $90 million project. “We are worried about the peace and quiet of our residents who live near the freeway as they are trying to get to sleep at night,” said Mayor Pro Tem Jan Haggerty. MDOT plans to shut down the entire span of westbound I-696 from Interstate...

BROOKSVILLE — A last-minute lawsuit may put the brakes on the long-awaited extension of the Suncoast Parkway north into Citrus County. Construction was slated to begin early next year. At a Hernando-Citrus Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting last week, city and county officials talked about a push at the state level to move the project ahead even faster. A ground-breaking ceremony was in the works. But like other steps in the process of building the toll road extension known as Suncoast Parkway 2, within days of that discussion, another shoe dropped. On Dec. 15, the Friends of Etna Turpentine Camp, Inc.,...

VALDOSTA – Any driver who's hit a deer or spotted one standing on the shoulder of the road should appreciate the new fencing along portions of Interstate 75. Old fence with a height of four or five feet has being replaced with eight-foot game fence in various locations in Crisp, Turner, Tift and Lowndes counties through small Georgia Department of Transportation maintenance service contracts, according to a DOT press release. Fence replacement just concluded in Lowndes County and must be inspected by the department. The other counties are complete. Contractors were also asked to use wire to fill in bottom...

ABINGDON, Va. — Crashes in the construction zone around Interstate 81’s Exit 14 in Abingdon more than doubled between 2015, the year before the project started, and 2017, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. There were 67 crashes reported between Exits 10 and 17 in 2017, while the number of crashes in that stretch was 36 in 2015, according to the DMV. There were 72 crashes in 2016, the year the project began. Between Dec. 8-10, there were two accidents on that stretch of highway, including a one-vehicle crash that resulted in a fatality and a tractor-trailer that...

A Fayetteville lawyer said construction of the Outer Loop highway connecting Interstate 95 north and south of Fayetteville stands to be delayed because of recent rulings in long-running lawsuits between the N.C. Department of Transportation and numerous landowners throughout the state. The rulings, one in Cumberland County Superior Court and another by the state Court of Appeals, rejected attempts by the Department of Transportation to buy people’s land under eminent domain without first paying the owners for the years that they were restricted by law in how they could use their property. Each ruling, by coincidence, was issued Nov. 21....

Executive Councilors are contemplating a 50 percent increase to tolls on New Hampshire roadways – including the plaza on Interstate 93 in Hooksett – in order to fund an acceleration of long-term construction projects. A proposal presented to councilors by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation on Wednesday would raise cash fees at the Hooksett tollbooth from $1 to $1.50, and EZ-Pass charges from 70 cents to $1.05. The Hooksett I-93 ramp, which currently charges 50 cents cash, would increase to 75 cents; other toll areas in Hampton, Dover and Rochester would increase by lower amounts. The pricing scheme, drawn...

The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission has taken another step toward its planned new headquarters in Lower Makefield. Commission officials recently awarded a contract not to exceed $529,869 to Joseph Jingoli & Son of Lawrence Township, New Jersey, to serve as construction manager on the project. The new 37,000-square foot, two-story commission headquarters building will be constructed at the 10-acre park-and-ride just off Interstate 95 the commission bought from Lower Makefield last year for $800,000. Officials from the DRJTBC hope to award bids for the new building early next year and have it open by the summer of 2019....

T he expansion of Virginia’s extensive system of high­-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes is shifting to Interstate 395. Construction is set to take off before the end of the year along an eight-mile stretch of Interstate 395, where today’s high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes are being converted into toll lanes. The $480 million project will deliver the next major milestone in the state’s vision to create a network of more than 90 miles of HOT lanes in Northern Virginia by 2022. About 45 miles of express lanes have opened on Interstates 495 and 95 within the past five years, and the state...

LAKE WORTH A Bobcat construction vehicle hauled by a large tow truck hit the 10th Avenue North overpass on Interstate 95 on Wednesday morning. The crash damaged the bridge, snarled northbound traffic on the highway for hours and shut down all eastbound lanes on 10th Avenue North, authorities said. Barbara Keller, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Transportation, said a combination front-end loader and backhoe struck a beam on the overpass. The backhoe was extended upward and that’s what damaged the concrete beam, she said. No other vehicles were involved and there were no injuries in the crash, according...

The congestion and construction on Interstate 95 are frustrating enough, but navigating the dramatically uneven lanes that make your car shimmy, shake and swerve into neighboring lanes is downright dangerous. Yet as the Sun Sentinel’s Wayne Roustan reported Sunday, the Florida Department of Transportation says we’re going to have to endure this nightmare through parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties until 2024. Come on, FDOT. You’re killing us. Well, we can’t really say you’re killing us because, believe it or not, state transportation officials can’t tell us how many accidents have occurred during the construction of the I-95 express...