Free Republic

A $48-million contract awarded March 23 to AECOM to study impacts of widening 34 miles of the most rural southern part of the 117.2-mile New Jersey Turnpike has upset state environmental activists who say the project conflicts with the state's push to combat climate change; officials say construction remains at least five years off. The contract is the latest step in the overall $1.1-billion turnpike expansion plan outlined last year that focuses on addin a third lane in each direction to the section stretch between exits 1 and 4 through Camden County. But it also renewed criticism from advocates who...

TAMPA — Transportation planners are preparing to use new technology to try to solve an old problem — traffic crashes and congestion on Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando. The state Department of Transportation is designing a corridor management system that will relay real time information directly to motorists about congestion, accidents, work zones, weather warnings and even end-of-the-traffic-back-up locations on I-4 and alternate routes. The idea behind so-called connected vehicle technology is to improve traffic flow on the interstate and east-west alternatives without adding new lanes or acquiring new right of way. On Wednesday, Hillsborough’s Metropolitan Planning Organization —...

U.S. authorities caught more than 171,000 migrants at the U.S. border with Mexico in March, according to preliminary data shared with Reuters, the highest monthly total in two decades and the latest sign of the mounting humanitarian challenge confronting President Joe Biden. The total includes about 19,000 unaccompanied migrant children and 53,000 family members traveling together, the preliminary figures show. Single adults made up roughly 99,000 of the total. The Biden administration is struggling to find housing for unaccompanied children who have been backed up in crowded border stations and processing centers for days. The shelter system that houses the...

Here in McDonald County Missouri it may not look like much right now, but this is going to be Interstate 49 in a few months. We were standing on what’s called the Missouri-Arkansas Connector, this is the portion of the Bella-Vista bypass that MPDOT is responsible for, and so far things are going just as scheduled. Right now the only traffic on the future I-49 is construction traffic. The Bella Vista bypass is a joint venture between ARDOT and MODOT. Each state is responsible for its own road. In Missouri they are on the hook for just over 5 miles...

The anticipated opening of the Washington & Old Dominion trail bridge over Route 29 along the City of Falls Church and Arlington’s border is finally here, letting pedestrians and cyclists alike breathe a sigh of relief. A ribbon was cut for the bridge on Friday, signaling the completion of one major part of the Dual Trails project that is being started in Falls Church and eventually expanded to other sections of the W&OD, according to NOVA Parks executive director Paul Gilbert, the agency that primarily manages the trail. But more importantly, the bridge’s construction removes one of the 45-mile trail’s...

A local citizens group has formed a Facebook page urging New Jersey transportation officials to improve a stretch of Interstate 80 they say will become unsafe once construction begins on a $50 million fence project. I80DWG Coalition says the stretch of the highway through the Delaware Water Gap, where the four-lane highway is squeezed between a 1,526-foot-high cliff at its peak and a river, is too tight for traffic congestion during any type of construction and especially, once work commences on a fence designed to prevent rockfall on the winding highway. Tractor trailers, the group says, will become wedged between...

WILLIAMSPORT — Shane Burkett has been watching the Interstate 81 Potomac River bridge work from the cab of a tractor-trailer. Now that the new third lanes are open in each direction, the semi driver likes what he sees. "I think it's great. I-81 is a massive highway. ... It's a big help having that third lane now," the Williamsport resident said. The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration formally announced completion of the $104.6 million project Thursday. The work, which has been years in the making, widened the interstate from two lanes to three lanes in each direction from...

The highway headache in west Tulsa has only just begun. As part of a project to widen Interstate 44 from west of the Arkansas River to Union Avenue, and to improve the I-44/U.S. 75 interchange, significant delays can be expected, especially during peak travel times. “It’s definitely the hard part of the project right now,” Oklahoma Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kenna Mitchell said Tuesday. “They’re going to be placing some additional signage further back in the corridor to alert drivers.” Northbound U.S. 75 is narrowed to one lane at the interchange, causing northbound traffic to back up at least two...

WILMINGTON, Delaware (WPVI) -- Commuters can expect to see delays on Interstate 95 through Wilmington beginning in February. It's time for some rehabilitation, according to the Delaware Department of Transportation, which will be restoring a nearly one-mile corridor through Wilmington. They will also be overhauling 19 bridges to make sure it's safe for the next 30 years. The project will take about two years, and some commuters are frustrated. "Very frustrating. It's already always congested with traffic. So, if it's down to one lane, it's going to be even worse," said Stephanie Gentile from Tinicum. Traffic will be reduced by...

500,000+ new users today. 18 million visits. You don't need an account to use the site.The Silicon Valley Exodus has begun. Get in the Ark: https://t.co/J3Rfto6fi3The best is yet to come.— Gab.com (@getongab) January 10, 2021 ‘Checkmate, Silicon Valley’… “Our traffic is up 753% in the past 24 hours. Tens of millions of visits,” said Gab CEO Andrew Torba in response to a question about slow loading speeds.Citizen Free Press on GAB https://gab.com/CitizenFreePressIf your business is built on the backs of Silicon Valley tyrants (Apple, Google, et al) they can and will attempt to destroy you if and when you...

Michigan drivers and taxpayers have been complaining about road and highway conditions for years. But the solutions policymakers have recently proposed ranged from the politically impossible, like raising the gas tax 45 cents per gallon, to financially-risky short-term fixes like borrowing billions in bonds to pay for teacher pension contributions so that money could be shifted to funding for roads. But it seems like Michigan lawmakers may be warming up to a long-term, sustainable, users-pay solution to achieving better roads: tolling. Lansing's interest in tolling has gone back decades but this year the state Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration...

A Texas A&M Transportation Institute report recently ranked the segment of Interstate 35 that goes through Austin the most congested roadway in the state. This congestion is one of the reasons behind the I-35 Capital Express Project, a multiyear, multibillion-dollar transportation initiative that will add two non-tolled managed lanes in each direction along I-35 from U.S. Highway 290 East to State Highway 71/Ben White Boulevard. The project will also add flyovers at I-35 and U.S. 290. Discussions about the plan were central to last week’s Urban Transportation Commission meeting, which kicked off with a presentation by Austin Transportation Director Robert...

The Drudge Report posted a 45 percent decline in web traffic in September as the site alienated its core readers by turning against President Trump ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The data — derived from comScore, which tracks the industry — were released in a report by TheRighting, a website that analyzes traffic to right-leaning websites. TheRighting told The Post that the Drudge Report had 1,291,000 unique visitors in September, according to data supplied by comScore, down from 2,340,000 in the same month a year ago. September’s eye-popping decline marks the ninth month in a row that the political...

After hours of emotional public testimony and a middle-of-the-night vote by Berkeley leaders, the progressive California city is moving forward with a novel proposal to replace police with unarmed civilians during traffic stops in a bid to curtail racial profiling. The City Council early Wednesday approved a police reform proposal that calls for a public committee to hash out details of a new Berkeley Police Department that would not respond to calls involving people experiencing homelessness or mental illness. The committee also would pursue creating a separate department to handle transportation planning and enforcing parking and traffic laws. The council...

Two women activists were hit by a car last night in downtown Seattle early in the morning on July 4th.The women activists were standing on the interstate at 1:30 AM. The protesters were wearing black on the highway at 1:30 AM.The car suffered front grill and windshield damage. The driver was in custody but was not impaired when he hit the women on the highway. Here are two pictures of the suspect vehicle that struck two protesters on I-5 this morning. Investigation into motive and point of entry in to I-5 are still under investigation. pic.twitter.com/gU1QH6TFTu — Trooper Rick...

Coronavirus has cleared US roads. And though there are fewer drivers, more of those who remain on the road are traveling at dangerously high speeds. State highway officials are reporting a “severe spike in speeding” during the pandemic, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), a nonprofit that represents state highway safety offices. Emptier streets and highways have resulted in a “significant surge” in reports of drivers reaching speeds of 100 mph or more in major cities and less populated ones, the safety association said. “Now that the streets are empty, the Fast and Furious wannabes really think they’re...

The strain is showing, and pretty early into construction along Interstate 35 through Waco. Some readers on the Trib Facebook page began to crack upon learning Waco-area transportation leaders last week approved $76 million worth of work to I-35 near New Road with hopes of finishing in 2023, around the same time larger I-35 reconstruction wraps up to the north. The Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization policy board approved the work, including new ramps, frontage roads and overpasses at Valley Mills Drive and New Road, as part of a long-range plan called Connections 2045. The improvements, divided between two $38 million...

As worsening traffic has put a stranglehold on New York, the country’s largest city has moved to squeeze out cars, taking away street space to make room for bikes and pedestrians, and all but banning vehicles from a major Manhattan thoroughfare. Now, New York is considering an even more startling step: eliminating one-third of the lanes on one of the city’s busiest highways. That is the key recommendation from a panel appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio that was tasked with coming up with a rescue plan for a key stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which is rapidly falling apart...

Dive Brief: In what Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is calling "a monumental and historic achievement," the three-member state Board of Public Works voted Wednesday to approve amendments to the public-private partnership (P3) that will deliver Hogan's $9 billion Traffic Relief Plan. The plan includes implementation of Maryland and Virginia's Capital Beltway Accord, which allows for a new American Legion Bridge between the two states near Washington, D.C., and the approval will allow the state to solicit bids. In order to win a majority vote for the plan, Hogan agreed to eliminate from the first phase of the project the widening...

Your commute could get worse before it gets better along a stretch of Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County. Later this month, crews will begin adding express lanes from Glades Road in Boca Raton to Linton Boulevard in Delray Beach. For realtor Ricky Hen, this is great news. "Traffic is awful to be honest with you," said Hen. The Florida Department of Transportation will add two tolled express lanes along that stretch of I-95 in southern Palm Beach County. "I think it's great idea," said Hen. "I think it will help a lot and add a lot and help a...