Free Republic

FEATURE — Anyone wanting a dose of authentic European architecture and ambiance does not have to hop on a plane and “cross the pond” but drive just over four hours south of St. George to what one writer called “The largest antique ever sold.” That large antique is the London Bridge, which is now located in Lake Havasu City in northwestern Arizona. It’s not the original London Bridge, nor is it one that inspired the nursery rhyme or song. Even so, it is an impressive sight in the United States. A series of bridges have spanned the River Thames in...

On December 4, California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) Build North Coast Corridor (NCC) crews performed the final concrete pour to complete the underground foundation for the new Interstate 5 (I-5) bridge at the San Elijo Lagoon in the City of Encinitas. The bridge reconstruction will help relieve traffic congestion, improve lagoon tidal flows, and create new bike and pedestrian paths when complete in late 2021. “Throughout the course of this regionally significant transportation project, the efforts to reestablish the health of the San Elijo Lagoon is an achievement with regional environmental benefits,” said...

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...

The surface transportation construction industry has long had to rely on Washington for its prosperity. We spend most years holding our breath and hoping we will receive more Federal funding to fix our crumbling roads, bridges and highway systems. Currently in the United States, 7 percent of bridges are structurally deficient, and 19 percent of major highway pavements have deteriorated. Yet, our existing financing structure has few tools to address the looming reconstruction challenges facing existing infrastructure. In 2020, Congress passed a one-year extension of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. While the one-year extension of the FAST Act...

Public transit services and Connecticut’s transportation building program have been forced to compete for limited resources for nearly a decade. But if Connecticut is to revitalize its economy in an inclusive fashion, experts say, legislators and governors must embrace both priorities in equal measure. Without a comprehensive, time-efficient system of buses and trains — and interconnecting bicycle and walking paths — too many workers can’t get to the jobs, classes and other training they need to make the economy grow. And if a construction industry that has languished since the last recession isn’t allowed to rebuild Connecticut’s aging infrastructure, many...

The caller, identified as “Bob from West Hartford,” hit a nerve when he dialed into Gov. Ned Lamont’s Jan. 9 appearance on WTIC-1080 AM with morning hosts Ray Dunaway and Joe D’Ambrosio. “Hi Governor Lamont. In the most recent [state] budget you diverted $170 million out of gas taxes in the Special Transportation Fund,” Bob said. “That’s a myth that gets perpetrated day-in and day-out,” Lamont responded. “There is no diversion taking place, so you can put that one to rest.” Not so fast, governor. Although Lamont and fellow Democrats insist the diversion charge is a “myth,” the truth is...

Congressional leaders passed a new stimulus package meant to alleviate the financial pain of the coronavirus, but it won’t cure all that ails PennDOT’s pocketbook. PennDOT press secretary Alexis Campbell said Monday afternoon it wasn’t clear if the relief plan will cover the $600 million funding gap plaguing PennDOT. Early media reports indicate that $10 billion of financial relief could be distributed to the 50 states’ highway systems, though it’s unclear how much would come Pennsylvania’s way. State Sen. Pat Browne, a Lehigh County Republican and longtime chairperson of the Appropriations Committee, said Tuesday that transportation-specific wording included in the...

The Covid-19 pandemic has hit some public transit systems hard. Passenger numbers on New York’s MTA and London’s Underground metro system initially crashed by around 95 percent, and have since recovered to only about one-third of last year’s levels. And while those numbers have rebounded, passenger numbers are likely to be lower in the near-to-medium term. But that's not what has experts worried. With cities around the world facing financial problems because of the economic impact of the pandemic, governments may look to cut funding since ridership is down. That can create what some have dubbed a “death spiral” —...

Dive Brief: Skanska USA Civil Southeast has turned to the federal courts in an attempt to eliminate or significantly reduce its liability for damages caused by barges that broke loose from the $430 million Pensacola Bay Bridge construction project during Hurricane Sally in August by having its barges recognized as vessels protected under maritime law. In five separate filings each covering a different barge, Skanska asked the U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Florida, to declare that it is not liable "for any loss, injuries or damages" related to barge damage, including economic losses suffered by businesses from the closure of...

Proponents have called the state’s massive new toll road project a monumental opportunity and a thoughtful plan for smart growth. The 330 miles of new highways will curb interstate congestion, bolster the economy and facilitate hurricane evacuations, they say. In short, the argument goes, the roads would be a good investment. So why is it that so many of the preliminary studies are at best lukewarm on the idea? And the latest reports only add to the list of reasons to reconsider the controversial project. The tolls roads, dubbed the Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance, were largely pushed by...

Harris County Commissioners approved a restructuring of how county toll road revenue can be used, which is concerning some people in northwest Harris County about how road projects will be funded. The measure approved creates a corporation to oversee duties performed by the Harris County Toll Road Authority. According to HCTRA, this measure would also change the grip the state has on where toll revenue can be spent by the county. A memo from Peter Key, HCTRA’s interim executive director, said HCTRA currently can only provide the issuance of revenue bonds for tolled infrastructure, and not non-toll transportation infrastructure challenges....

With the Texas House Committee on Transportation currently studying the funding of highways in Texas, advocates of toll roads and other funding methods are making their voices heard. As part of the interim charge by Speaker Dennis Bonnen, the committee was tasked with investigating whether “the current mix of use fee-based funding for the state highway system, including registration fees, tolls, and fuel taxes, and [determining] if current funding generated is sufficient to maintain cost demands” — making recommendations for additional methods for funding road infrastructure projects. Ordinarily, the committee would hold meetings and receive testimony from relevant state agencies...

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...

Motorists will have a little more room to navigate on the Turner Turnpike near Tulsa when a nearly $45 million construction project to widen the highway and make other road improvements is completed. The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority approved a contract this week with Sherwood Construction Co. Inc. of Tulsa to fund work on a four-mile stretch of the highway. The project will widen the four-lane turnpike to six lanes beginning near the Creek Turnpike interchange at Sapulpa and extending east nearly to Tulsa. The improvements will be similar to the completed widening of the turnpike to six lanes from four...

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The SH-288 toll lanes are open and you'll have to pay to use them starting today. Until now, the fees had been waived. Adjustable pricing is based on time of day and volume of traffic. In other words, if the lanes get too congested, toll prices will increase to control traffic. "I think you have to realize that the tolls will be managed based on time of day. If you're in the tolls during peak, it will cost a little more. If you're driving off peak, it will be less. And that's how they're designed," said...

Work on the west leg of the Gilcrease Expressway continues with officials saying Monday that completion is still expected in about 18 months. Joe Echelle, Oklahoma Turnpike Authority assistant executive director of maintenance, engineering and construction, told stakeholders during a virtual meeting that the contractor was slightly ahead of schedule with concrete pouring for the new roadway scheduled to begin in February. As the concrete is poured, first between 41st and 51st Streets, the highway “won’t just look like a dirt road at this point,” Echelle said. State officials in July 2019 awarded a $259.3 million construction contract for the...

With the Metropolitan Transportation Authority facing a budget crisis, New Yorkers may have to dig into their pockets to help out. Under a new proposed bill, New York City residents would be required to pay a $3 surcharge on packages they ordered online, with the exception for medicine and food. Assemblyman Robert Carroll, who proposed the bill, says the online shopping fee would raise more than $1 billion a year "to fund the operating costs of buses and subways in the city of New York."

HODGKINS, Ill. (WLS) -- The Illinois Tollway has reached the first milestone in its enormous Mile Long Bridge project. The northbound section of the new bridge, a stretch of Interstate 294 between 75th Street and La Grange Road, is scheduled to open next week. Crews started building the new Mile Long Bridge alongside the existing one two years ago. Weather permitting, the northbound section of bridge will open by Wednesday morning. "We were hoping for the end of the year; clearly we're a month early and want to obviously thank everyone involved, but we're super excited that the bridge itself...

“Toll free in ’73.” That was the campaign slogan over five decades ago that promised tolls on Illinois interstates would be a temporary revenue sources. Today, the tolls are higher and the tollway authority is more permanent than ever. Lawmakers promised tolls would help fund 186 miles of interstate construction and would be removed when the roads were paid off. After that, highway maintenance would be funded by the gas tax. In 1968, the General Assembly made the Illinois Toll Highway Authority permanent. What started at just 10 cents at the exits and 25 cents at the plazas has grown...

WESTERN SPRINGS, IL — Western Springs and Hinsdale appeared to have found agreement on the style of the new pedestrian bridge over Interstate 294. This week, the Western Springs Village Board received more detailed numbers on the village's cost of maintenance for the bridge, which would be next to 47th Street. Western Springs was told a couple of months ago that its costs would amount up to $250,000 in 25 years to repaint the entire bridge with a painted finish, plus $60,000 for picket-style fencing. But Illinois Tollway official Nicole Nutter told the Western Springs Village Board on Monday that...