Free Republic

The Senate majority leader’s about-face on high-speed rail. On Tuesday, Senate majority leader Harry Reid’s office confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that the Nevada senator no longer favors publicly funding a high-speed magnetic-levitation (“maglev”) train between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, a project he enthusiastically supported for years. Instead, Reid is suddenly throwing his support behind the DesertXpress, a privately funded rail venture between the two cities. Reid is claiming that his change of heart is merely pragmatic — but the underlying circumstances of the move may raise some pertinent questions about his political integrity. The construction of a...

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist signed a controversial growth management bill that some say will stimulate the state's economy but others warn will increase urban sprawl. ___ Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday approved changes to Florida growth laws that supporters say will strengthen the economy and opponents predict will increase urban sprawl and traffic gridlock. The bill rewrites Florida's 25-year-old growth management law, principally by allowing developers in the most urban counties to add more housing developments without expanding roads and by allowing counties and cities to designate new urban areas that also would be exempt from certain road-building requirements. Sponsored...

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood defended the pro-mass transit policies of the Obama administration today, and fired back at conservative writer George Will, who devoted an entire column to attacking LaHood earlier this week. "We have to create opportunities for people who want to ride a bike or walk or take a streetcar," he said. "The only person that I've heard of who objects to this is George Will." Will wrote a column in Newsweek magazine criticizing the secretary, whom he dubbed "Secretary of Behavior Modification," for supporting measures to wean commuters off automobiles. LaHood, a former Republican congressman from Illinois,...

Something like a week remains before General Motors is reduced to lunch meat on industrial-capital's All-You-Can-Eat buffet spread. The wish is that its deconstructed pieces will re-organize into a "lean, mean machine" for producing "cars that Americans want to buy," and that, by extension, the American Dream of a Happy Motoring economy may be extended a while longer. This fantasy rests on some assumptions that just don't "pencil out." One is that the broad American car-owning public can continue to buy their cars the usual way, on credit. The biggest emerging new class in America is the "former middle class."...

Crops give more kilometres per hectare if used to power electric vehicles.Electric cars powered by biomass could be greener than cars that run on biofuel.Punchstock / Cultura Vehicles propelled by biomass-fired electricity would travel farther on a given crop and produce fewer greenhouse-gas emissions than vehicles powered by ethanol, researchers report today.Burning biomass to produce electricity is generally more efficient than converting it into ethanol. And electric vehicles — although often more expensive to make and maintain than many vehicles with internal combustion engines — are also more efficient at converting that energy into motion.In the current study, the researchers,...

The state’s largest farm organization is in favor of legislation that would terminate the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) in both name and concept. Texas Farm Bureau President Kenneth Dierschke expressed support for HB 11 by State Rep. David McQuade Leibowitz (D-San Antonio), which repeals the authority for the establishment and operation of the massive transportation project. “We hope you will agree with us that it is finally time to kill the Trans-Texas Corridor,” Dierschke testified before the House Transportation Committee on April 21. Although the farm organization recognizes the need to build and maintain Texas’ infrastructure, Dierschke said Texas Farm Bureau...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration is expected to unveil its plans on Thursday for accelerating development of high-speed rail, a concept that in the past has had mixed political support and little public funding. "It will be broad and strategic," Karen Rae, acting head of the Federal Railroad Administration, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday about the initiative described by officials as President Barack Obama's top transportation priority. "It's going to talk about how we begin to create this new vision for high-speed and intercity rail," Rae said. White House and transportation officials have spent the past several...

Mumbai: Under the cover of darkness, the world's cheapest car arrived in Mumbai yesterday. Aditya Anand reports on the buzz surrounding the unveiling of the most-awaited car of the year this evening. 12.30 am, Sunday: Under the cover of darkness in the dead of night, when Mumbai's incessant traffic had slowed down, and pedestrians were few, seven gleaming cars purred their way into the rolling grounds at the Parsi Gymkhana, Marine Drive. The world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano, had finally arrived in the city for its unveiling today, with a security guard in each vehicle. The cars reached the...

North Texas municipal and county officials presented an almost unified front Wednesday in favor of legislation designed to raise money for billions of dollars in road and rail improvements. A three-hour hearing before the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee was the first legislative test of public opinion on the measure. Supporters outnumbered opponents by about 7-to-1. Opponents said proposed taxes and fees in the bill would impose added hardship at a time of economic uncertainty. State Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, the committee chairman and the bill’s sponsor, said the measure is still being refined and will come up for...

UMM QUASAR — The Iraq Army General Transportation Regiment (GTR) achieved a major milestone by completing its first port to depot mission here, March 9. The GTR transported Serbian equipment, consisting of body armor and plates, from the Port of Umm Quasar to Taji National Depot. This is the first time the GTR has utilized elements from three or more companies. The convoy of 42 vehicles signaled the completion of one of the two main missions required of the GTR. Iraqi Col. Mohammed, commander, General Transportation Regiment, said, “This is a great day for the Iraqi Army and a great...

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 at 1:43 pm Renewing America's Infrastructure President Barack Obama addresses a crowd gathered at the Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C., to discuss infrastructure spending as part of the American Recovery and Investment Act, as Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood listen.(White House photo 3/3/09 by Pete Souza) >   "Thanks in large part to Joe Biden....and because of all the governors and mayors, county and city officials who are helping implement this plan, I can say that 14 days after I signed our Recovery Act into law, we are seeing shovels hit the ground," President Obama...

A “monster pig” broke out of its pen in the middle of the night and blocked traffic near Alsfeld because drivers were too frightened to get out of their cars and move the sow, police in the state of Hesse said on Wednesday. “Several witnesses called around 10 pm and a patrol car was there fairly quickly,” police spokesperson Elvira Edt told The Local. Giving new meaning to the phrase “road hog,” callers said they’d seen a “monster pig” that was so big it was blocking the motorway and jamming traffic. Police officers were able to persuade the 200-kilogramme (440-pound)...

NEW CASTLE, Ind. -- Folks here figured the mile-long stretch of a hundred-plus yellow rail cars, which divides this small town like a graffiti-covered wall, would leave soon after it arrived. That was a year ago. "They stayed and they stayed and they stayed," says Bruce Atkinson, a local resident. "Then more moved in." Tens of thousands of boxcars are sitting idle all over the country, parked indefinitely by railroads whose freight volumes have plummeted along with the economy. And residents of the communities stuck with these newly immobile objects, like the people of New Castle, are hopping mad about...

For the full transformation of transportation, Obama must move more mountains of mindset. For instance, it makes no sense to give General Motors and Chrysler an additional $21.6 billion in bailouts on top of their previous $17.4 billion, when they are cutting 50,000 jobs and still have not offered a credible plan for a fuel-efficient future. The administration should cut off the cash and let Ford, and the American plants of Toyota, Nissan, and Honda, salvage any GM and Chrysler assets valuable to them. Obama should instead invest the bailout billions into transportation that moves billions of people, and creates...

All aboard! After a decade of quiet tinkering around the margins, the dream of making Chicago the center of a high-speed rail network finally is taking real shape, thanks to a massive infusion of cash tucked into President Barack Obama's stimulus bill. Big clout -- by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Sen. Dick Durbin, D, and other well-placed Illinoisans -- likely guarantees that the Chicago-based network soon will get as much as $2 billion for new track, rolling stock, high-tech signals, bridges and other fixes. If so, in as soon as three or four years, reliable train travel...

AP reports: In late-stage talks, Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pressed for $8 billion to construct high-speed rail lines, quadrupling the amount in the bill that passed the Senate on Tuesday. The Senate Conservatives Fund has more details: This of course exposes the little game the President is playing with the public. He tells everyone there are no earmarks in the bill but then turns around and either (a) gives the money to the states, which he knows will fund the earmarks, or (b) instructs his agencies to fund the earmarks directly. It's all very clever, if...

When we went to bed last night, people who track transit spending were in agreement there would be $1 to $2 billion allocated for high-speed rail in the economic stimulus bill — and a document from the conference negotiations illustrates that. When we woke up, the wires were moving a story that said high-speed rail would get $8 billion. How is it possible that high-speed rail did so well, when everything else was getting cut? The answer goes about as high as you can go... More from The Takeaway congress and lawmakers economy infrastructure politics stimulus 2009 transportation white house...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11, 2009 – Mileage was made on several fronts in Iraq recently, with U.S. and Iraqi forces teaming up to get a train rolling again and working to improve the quality of life for Baghdad children. Army Capt. Agustin Dominguez shows Iraqi children his camera after taking a picture of them during a humanitarian mission in eastern Baghdad’s New Baghdad district Feb. 4, 2009. U.S. soldiers and Iraqi National Police distributed more than 800 wool blankets to New Baghdad residents. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Joshua W. Lowery  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. In Taji, Iraq,...

Col. Todd McCaffrey, commander of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, receives a bouquet of flowers before the transfer ceremony of Joint Security Station Salmyiat, northwest of Baghdad, Feb. 5. Photo by Maj. Allen Hing, 2nd Stryker Brigade. CAMP TAJI — Coalition forces transitioned control of Joint Security Station Salmiyat, northwest of Baghdad, to the Iraqi Ministry of Transportation (MoT) during a ceremony, Feb. 5. JSS Salmyiat once housed a rail and rail car production facility, which are now idle.  However, the MoT has big plans for the station. “This is a great day for Iraq,� said...

Suffice to say, President Barack Obama likes his new ride. Before taking off yesterday on Air Force One for his first trip as president, Obama told reporters traveling with him that the plane is "spiffy" and showed off his new crew jacket with his name stitched on it. "What do you think of this spiffy ride here? It's not bad," he said to reporters sitting in the back on the plane.

Semis account for roughly one out of every four vehicles that travel through Virginia on I-81’s four lanes, the highest percentage of any interstate in the country. They’re there for a reason: I-81 traces a mostly rural route all the way from the Canadian border to Tennessee, and the cities in its path—Syracuse, Scranton, Harrisburg, Hagerstown, and Roanoke among them—are midsized and slow growing. This makes the highway a tempting alternative to I-95, the interstate that connects the eastern seaboard’s major metropolises, which is so beset with tolls and congestion that truckers will drive hundreds of extra miles to avoid...

A paper written by four students from High Technology High School in Lincroft, New Jersey, entitled Ethanol: Not All It Seems To Be has been published in the January 2009 issue of The Mathematical Association of America's College Mathematics Journal.The paper, which was the winning submission in the 2008 Moody's Mega Math Challenge, is the first M3 Challenge entry to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. It was submitted to the Internet-based applied math competition last March by Afanasiy Yermakov and Jason Zukus, current seniors at High Technology High School, Tom Jackson, now a freshman at Cornell University, and Kelly...

All schools in the Bloomington School District will be closed today after state-required biodiesel fuel clogged in school buses Thursday morning and left dozens of students stranded in frigid weather, the district said late Thursday. Rick Kaufman, the district's spokesman, said elements in the biodiesel fuel that turn into a gel-like substance at temperatures below 10 degrees clogged about a dozen district buses Thursday morning. Some buses weren't able to operate at all and others experienced problems while picking up students, he said. "We had students at bus stops longer than we think is acceptable, and that's too dangerous in...

The United States will need $1.6 trillion to repair damage to its infrastructure from a massive influx of immigrants, a new report reveals. In his report titled, "The Twin Crises: Immigration and Infrastructure," prominent researcher Edwin S. Rubenstein examines 15 categories of infrastructure: airports, border security, bridges, dams and levees, electricity (the power grids), hazardous waste removal , hospitals, mass transit, parks and recreation facilities, ports and navigable waterways, public schools, railroads, roads and highways, solid waste and trash, and water and sewer systems. Rubenstein, a financial analyst and former contributing editor of Forbes and economics editor of National Review,...

There's a new front in the conflict between Jew and Muslim: Broward County Click here for restaurant inspection reports buses. Fifty of the county's 290-bus fleet have been chugging around area streets for the past several weeks with a message that might seem more oblique than inflammatory. Black letters on a white backdrop proclaim, "ISLAM: The Way of Life of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad." The $60,000 ad was paid for by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "We owe it to our fellow Americans to let them know that Islam stands for peace," said Altaf Ali, director of CAIR's South...

Two years ago, lawmakers went to war with Gov. Rick Perry over his push to privatize Texas toll roads, but their efforts to stop the idea largely failed. As they return Tuesday to launch the 2009 legislative session, lawmakers will be faced with a choice of either raising taxes – which both Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst have called a bad idea – or giving private companies a greater role in paying for, and operating, a fast-expanding network of toll roads. The two-year moratorium on private road deals that passed in 2007 slowed but didn't kill Perry's plan to...

Representative Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) purported to have driven to Washington for the opening session of congress in a GM electric fuel-cell powered Equinox. “Taking this GM electric fuel-cell car to Washington reflects all that I will stand for as your Representative,” Massa boasted. Massa’s boast wasn’t true to the facts, though. The 282-mile distance between the congressman’s district and Washington exceeds the 200-mile range of the car and there are no refueling locations along the way. The trip was managed by abandoning the first car in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and continuing in a second identical car. Both fuel-cell cars ultimately had...

Supercar to use wind power to reach amazing speeds A revolutionary new supercar will be able to hit a top speed of 155mph - using wind power. By Daily Telegraph Reporter 11 Jan 2009 The new environmentally-friendly high performance car was designed in California The Formula AE car will use a solar-powered battery to get it moving but will then use the airflow passing over the vehicle to power a turbine. It will be able to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in less than four seconds and is expected to cost around £100,000 when it hits the market.

A truck driver — in a burst of James Bond-like ingenuity — rigged his license plate to evade cameras at the George Washington Bridge allowing him to avoid $1,200 in tolls, authorities said today. Allan Flores, 50, of Jersey City, was arrested and charged with theft of services and deceptive business practice by the Port Authority Police, authorities said.“Our commercial vehicle inspections unit, despite what appears to be a clever method of avoiding tolls, has done an excellent job staying one step ahead,” agency spokesman Pasquale DiFulco said. “And toll violators would be well advised to know that we are...

DETROIT - General Motors Corp. turned its opening news conference at the Detroit auto show into a pep rally touting the health of the company and its products, announcing plans Sunday to build a 40-mile-per-gallon minicar for the U.S. market and unveiling a Cadillac concept car powered by electricity like the Chevrolet Volt. The Chevrolet Spark subcompact was called the Beat when GM unveiled the three-door hatchback as a concept car in 2007, powered by a 1.2-liter turbocharged engine. It's about the size of a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris and is set to go on sale in Europe next...

The biofuel's developers showcased its algal origins A US airline has completed the first test flight of a plane partly powered by biofuel derived from algae. The 90-minute flight by a Continental Boeing 737-800 went better than expected, a spokesperson said. One of its engines was powered by a 50-50 blend of biofuel and normal aircraft fuel. Wednesday's test is the latest in a series of demonstration flights by the aviation industry, which hopes to be using biofuels within five years. The flight was the first by a US carrier to use an alternative fuel source, and the first in...

A major winter storm that has tapped into sub-tropical moisture, continues to send wave after wave of rain into the Pacific Northwest, triggering landslides, shutting highways and sending rivers over their banks. A 20-mile stretch of Interstate 5 was closed in both directions just before 6 p.m. tonight. MORE NEWS • Landslides block Washington highway • Vernonia watches flood gauges, ponders fate of new gym floor • Storms hit Washington state, bringing flooding, avalanches and mudslides • Heavy rains could flood swollen Johnson Creek • Small slides, flooding hit coast The interstate was closed at milepost 68 at the eastbound...

The Texas Department of Transportation made an announcement Tuesday that sounded like bad news for South Texas, but isn’t — its multibillion-dollar state infrastructure plan known as the Trans-Texas Corridor is dead. The key part of the plan for South Texas, known as I-69, is not. The state’s $180 billion plan, announced seven years ago, called for thousands of miles of 1,200-foot-wide traffic facilities to include toll roads for vehicles, rail for passengers and freight, and technology and power infrastructure such as fiber optic lines. Tuesday’s announcement by Texas Department of Transportation executive director Amadeo Saenz was a reaction to...

Federal regulators have given a green light to Canadian National Railway's plan to divert freight traffic through Chicago's suburbs, a possible boon for the economy but potentially bad news for many suburban motorists likely to encounter delays at blocked crossings. The U.S. Surface Transportation Board unanimously approved on Wednesday CN's $300 million purchase of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway. But in response to critics, the board imposed an unprecedented condition: CN must pay tens of millions of dollars to build two overpasses in Aurora and Lynwood. Approval means the Montreal-based railroad can turn the lightly used EJ&E into a...

Instead of investing in a gorgeous new design, Miles had just picked a workable, practical five-seater sedan already in production in China, and adapted it into an electric vehicle, designed it to stay below $40,000 before subsidies (which would be $7,500 off, under the current legislation - and likely more with the new probably filibuster-proof Senate majority) and just kept going with developing it. Then they limited the top speed to a sensible 85 MPH in order to keep the range to a practical 100 mile round-trip per charge.

Bandera local farmers and rancher charge that the I-69 Trans-Texas Corridor Tier One Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) has failed to meet important environmental standards. Barbara Mazurek, Bandera County Farm Bureau President says that these failures are indicative of the problems that exist with the entire Tran-Texas Corridor (TTC). “Because these environmental standards have not been met, the Texas Department of Transportation should seriously consider alternatives to its current model,” Mazurek said. According to Mazurek, there are three main reasons that the DEIS is flawed. • It limits its analysis to alternatives that fit the TTC “vision” of a multimodal...

AUSTIN, Texas — If anyone wondered whether Texas toll road rage had subsided or lawmakers' irritation at the Texas Department of Transportation had eased, those questions got answered a few days before Christmas: Not so much. Denouncing the massive transportation agency as dysfunctional and out of control, a group of lawmakers reviewing the department said it will be intensely debated in the legislative session that begins Jan. 13. "This is a big agency that is a mess," said Rep. Carl Isett, a Lubbock Republican and one of the leaders of the Sunset Advisory Commission that periodically examines state agencies. He...

HETHEL, England — British sports car maker Lotus will build a battery-powered performance car, according to a Thursday report in the Financial Times. The technology used in the Lotus car will be similar to that in the Chevrolet Volt, with a fuel-powered range extender that works after the battery charge has depleted. The car is reportedly expected to achieve 300 to 400 miles on a single tank of gas. The Financial Times quoted chief executive Michael Kimberley as saying: "Don't be surprised to see an electric Lotus shortly. We are working on the technologies that will go behind it." Lotus...

When eccentric doctor and compulsive hoarder Harold Carr died at the age of 89, his relatives faced a daunting task to sort through his possessions. His home was packed with piles of medical machinery, 1,500 beer steins, thousands of receipts and even a World War Two spy drone. But all the effort became worth it when they opened the door of his garage - and struck gold. Inside they found a 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante, one of only 17 ever made. The historic automobile with only 26,284 miles on the clock still has 99 per cent of its original...

While the exact details are still being ironed out, Gov. Kulongoski's web page gives the basics of the plan. In it he states, "As Oregonians drive less and demand more fuel-efficient vehicles, it is increasingly important that the state find a new way, other than the gas tax, to finance our transportation system." He is creating a task force "to partner with auto manufacturers to refine technology that would enable Oregonians to pay for the transportation system based on how many miles they drive." Key studies were performed in 2006 and 2007 that indicate that such a program would indeed...

The Texas Legislature is coming back Jan. 13, and change may be in the air. The Sunset Advisory Commission, by a narrow margin, recently voted to abolish the five-member commission that oversees the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDoOT), and replace it with a single commissioner. This is but the latest in the continuing evolution of Texas state government. When legislators think an agency isn’t working right, the urges generally are to change the agency’s personnel; to change the agency’s structure; to combine it with some other agency; to investigate it; or to abolish it. Such it is with TxDOT. In...

A year ago, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced it had demonstrated that a new way to pay for roads — via a mileage tax and satellite technology — could work. Now Gov. Ted Kulongoski says he’d like the legislature to take the next step. As part of a transportation-related bill he has filed for the 2009 legislative session, the governor says he plans to recommend “a path to transition away from the gas tax as the central funding source for transportation.” What that means is explained on the governor’s website: “As Oregonians drive less and demand more fuel-efficient vehicles,...

Confronted with a struggling transportation fund, lawmakers in Texas soon are expected to wage battle on various methods to help generate $14 billion for roads and bridges throughout the state. Another bill is intended to sideline the planned Trans-Texas Corridor. A report released this week from the Texas Department of Transportation says that the state will need to come up with $313 billion by 2030 for road and bridge maintenance and for congestion solutions. The report’s unveiling happened a couple of weeks before the Texas Legislature is set to convene its 2009 session. Lawmakers say they already were committed to...

NY officials want older trucks fitted with emission-reducing equipment; cost put at $195M ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- New York is taking steps to reduce diesel emissions in its construction fleet. The Department of Environmental Conservation is floating proposed regulations requiring trucks made before 2007 to be fitted with emissions-reducing equipment and to use ultra-low-sulfur fuel by 2011. The new regulations would apply only to state-owned trucks or trucks used for state contract work. The DEC estimates it will cost $195 million to retrofit about 30,000 state trucks. The New York State

AUSTIN — Legislators scrutinizing the embattled Texas Department of Transportation voted Tuesday to recommend replacing the existing five-member appointed transportation commission with a single commissioner. The Sunset Advisory Commission voted 7-5 for the recommendation, which would have to win approval in the full Legislature in the spring to take effect. Several senators on the sunset panel voted against the proposal, raising questions about whether the idea would make it through the Senate.

The black soot that big rig trucks belch from their chugging diesel engines may soon become a thing of the past. In one of the more far-reaching smog regulations that California has ever proposed, state air regulators are considering a first-in-the-nation plan that would require nearly every privately owned, heavy diesel truck in the state to install a filter that would reduce emissions of soot from their rigs by 85 percent. The new regulation would affect 1 million truckers, half of them registered out of state who regularly drive on California freeways. If approved by the California Air Resources Board...

MYFOXPhoenix.com/Arizona Dept. of Public Safety Arizona Department of Public Safety Detectives have confiscated about 2,118 pounds of marijuana from a truck that appeared identical to a United Parcel Service truck. A suspect fled the scene when an officer and narcotics canine attempted to stop the vehicle, according to MYFOXPhoenix.com. A search of the truck yielded nearly $1.2 million worth of marijuana bundles typically transported by

A citizens’ advisory committee appointed to advise the Texas Transportation Commission agrees with Texas Farm Bureau that the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) concept needs to be scrapped and new avenues explored to meet the Lone Star State's transportation needs, according to TFB President Kenneth Dierschke. “This advisory committee does not support the TTC concept,” A Citizens’ Report on the Current and Future Needs of the I-35 Corridor, issued Nov. 12, stated. “Instead we recommend a more inclusive solution that respects local communities and private property rights while addressing statewide and local transportation needs.” Dierschke said the state’s largest farm organization agrees...

Not so many years ago, cars that produced 300 horsepower or more were considered rather rare and desirable things. Generally only the top tier of sports car or the very most posh boulevardiers had engines that could muster such prodigious output, and the price tags of the vehicles reflected it. These days though, thanks to depreciation, a decade-long power race, and newly changing customer tastes, 300 horsepower cars can be had for much more reasonable rates—often less than $10,000. Those power and dollar figures are exciting starting places for those second-hand shoppers who may be looking for a deal on...

Bailed out Citigroup fund spends $10 billion buying 44 foreign toll roads. Just one week after receiving a pledge of $306 billion in support from US taxpayers, Citigroup announced the intended $10 billion acquisition of a debt-laden Spanish toll road group. Citi Infrastructure Partners will hand over $3.6 billion in cash and assume $6.3 billion in debt from Sacyr Vallehermoso, the parent company of the Intinere Infraestructuras toll road group. Itinere operates 32 toll roads in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Portugal and Spain and Ireland. Another twelve concessions are under construction. Sacyr today issued a statement to Spanish investors noting...