Free Republic

The Old Dominion is trending in an ominous direction, and it’s a problem for the whole country. On Monday, the Virginia General Assembly ratified the Equal Rights Amendment. Advocates of the ERA have argued that Virginia is the 38th and final state needed to add it to the Constitution, though the legal argument for that is dubious. Nevertheless, if the ERA were to become law, it would almost certainly provide the legal basis to enshrine left-wing social dogmas nationwide, among other negative consequences. Other states should take note: No matter how conservative your state has been in the past, you’re...

MADISON, CT - So-called "Supercharging" Tesla stations will soon be open on both sides of Interstate 95 in Madison. Superchargers are under construction at the 95 Madison rest areas, both northbound and southbound, between exits 61 and 62. Both are 10 stalls. Currently the nearest Superchargers are located in Milford. Tesla supercharging stations charge support peak rates of up to 250kW per car. AModel 3 Long Range operating at peak efficiency can recover up to 75 miles of charge in 5 minutes and charge at rates of up to 1,000 miles per hour. V3 Supercharging will ultimately cut the amount...

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...

HOUSTON – Following 20 months of construction of the new Ship Channel Bridge along the Beltway 8, the county has issued a pause. Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia said the decision was made following the discovery of a design flaw with part of the bridge. “I want to make sure that we are doing everything on behalf of public safety to ensure that everything is well,” Garcia said. “This was obviously concerning and alarming for me." John Tyler, the deputy director of engineering with the Harris County Toll Road Authority and in charge of the project, said the flaw was...

The widespread adoption of electric cars in California is reducing gas tax revenue by millions of dollars a year. That's money that would have been used for road repairs. Now, drivers of those cars are coming under increasing criticism for not paying their fair share to maintain the state’s roads. “Electric cars cause as much wear and tear to highways as traditional cars,” said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a nonprofit lobbying and policy organization. When California’s controversial gas tax measure Senate Bill 1 was passed in 2017, lawmakers included a $100 annual fee for zero...

Houston is a faraway place on FM 1413 in southern Liberty County, where a driver is more likely to see a pony munching on grass than a shop on the corner. If not for the trees and an electrical transmission line, the sky would be unbroken, horizon to horizon. It soon could look a lot more like other parts of suburban Houston where the Grand Parkway has gone, with cul-de-sacs replacing horse pastures and retail centers sprouting at major intersections.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan repeatedly steered state transportation development money to projects that would increase the value of his real estate holdings, according to a lengthy investigation by Washington Monthly’s Eric Cortellessa. Cortellessa reports that Hogan, who ostensibly left his brother in charge of his real estate brokerage firm when he was elected, has, in fact, maintained ownership and control while serving as governor; the trustees he handpicked to run his company have continued to keep him apprised of its business dealings. And as governor, he has advanced highway and road construction projects that directly boosted the value of land...

The lead contractor for a Mississippi River bridge is involved in a now-public feud with the state of Iowa over whether the bridge is buildable. The I-74 bridge is meant to replace a bridge on the same location connecting Moline, Ill, and Bettendorf, Iowa. Known as the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge, the bridge is a pair of suspension bridges located near the geographic center of the Quad Cities. The original bridge was designed by engineer Ralph Modjeski. The first span opened in 1935 as a toll bridge. In 1961, an identical twin span, built from the same blueprint, opened to facilitate...

After years of concern about the number of traffic accidents that occur in road construction zones, Pennsylvania is doing something about it. Beginning Jan. 4, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Pennsylvania Turnpike will begin a 60-day pilot program to formally test what’s called the Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement program. The program is designed to cause drivers to slow down in construction areas by setting up speed monitoring equipment in work areas. After the pilot program is finished, the two state agencies expect to deploy private contractors in white Jeep Cherokee SUVs at various sites throughout the state to...

Pennsylvania Turnpike users can expect 6% toll increases in 2020 and 2021 but then — if the state Legislature follows through with plans to change how the state funds public transit — the rate of annual increases gradually will go down to 3% in 2028. Nikolaus Grieshaber, the turnpike’s chief financial officer, outlined the agency’s financial future recently in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the 6% toll hike that begins Jan. 5. The increase marks the 12th year in a row that rates have gone up and will increase the fee for a car traveling the length of...

Will County billboards that warned motorists about bridges stoked public-safety fears and helped convince state lawmakers of the need to approve a $45 billion infrastructure plan. The billboards and their impact arguably deserve to rank among the top political stories of the year, if not the decade. Construction unions paid to display the messages “Cross bridge at your own risk” and “Bridge ahead in critical condition” on electronic billboards near Interstate 80 bridges over the Des Plaines River in Joliet. The billboards heightened motorists’ fears about crumbling infrastructure and generated bipartisan support for the $45 billion Rebuild Illinois program. Marc...

Leaders who spoke during a Friday morning ribbon-cutting ceremony to open a new Interstate 15 interchange touted the $31 million project as a prime example of what can be accomplished when entities cooperate. The Northgate interchange opened to the public a few hours after the ceremony concluded, with Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad, Chubbuck Mayor Kevin England and members of the Bannock County Commission all driving their cars across the bridge as the official first users. The interchange is located north of both the Pocatello Creek Road exit and I-15’s “flying Y” with Interstate 86. The interchange was first added to...

State transportation officials want to do something about traffic and safety on Interstate 94 between downtown Minneapolis and Interstate 694, as well as state Highway 252 between I-694 and Highway 610. Minnesota Department of Transportation is considering converting a stretch of highway into a freeway and putting MnPASS lanes on I-94 and 252. But some are raising concerns about what the proposed changes might mean for residents of north Minneapolis who live along the I-94 corridor. Alex Burns is chair of the Sierra Club North Star Chapter's land use and transportation team. He said that more traffic on I-94 will...

Car after car sped past Bayport resident Heidi Olivier on Friday afternoon as she tried to cross Minnesota 95, the city’s busy main street. With 2-year-old son Otto in tow, Olivier first checked traffic in both directions. Then she left Otto in his stroller on the sidewalk and stepped off the curb at Second Avenue with her arms out. After verifying that drivers in both directions had seen her and stopped, she headed back to the sidewalk to collect Otto. “Only one car didn’t stop,” she said, after she made it to the west side of the highway just outside...

A long-dormant commission charged with planning major road construction opted not to advance any projects after a five-year hiatus that ended Friday. The Transportation Projects Commission met for the first time since 2014 on Friday. The commission is charged with advancing planned highway projects to the Legislature and directing the study of others as part of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Major Highway Development program, typically among some of the biggest in the state. “This committee has been un-functioning for several years and we want to have an opportunity for a good group of people to think through transportation issues...

Development of a proposed hyperloop transportation system linking Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Chicago would not only be a boon to communities along the travel corridors but also would be a strong business investment. That’s the conclusion of a 157-page feasibility study released Monday in Cleveland by the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies Inc., a California-based company developing the technology to move passengers and freight at more than 500 mph through low-pressure tubes. Consultant Transportation Economics and Management Systems performed the $1.3 million study of the proposed Great Lakes Hyperloop System. For the first time, the study estimated...

Three years after the colossal failure of demonetisation the Narendra Modi government has embarked on a similar venture, the FASTag programme, this time targeting road users across the country. But just a day before the November 30 deadline, by which date all vehicles plying the highways would have been mandatorily required to affix an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag on their vehicles, the government blinked. And, like demonetisation, the design of this scheme also reflects a simpleton’s naivete. The announcement that those without the tag would be charged double the tariff at the toll gates set off a firestorm of...

New analysis of projected provincial gas tax revenues in Ontario has revealed that that source of provincial funding will fall much more dramatically than predicted just five years ago due to increased use of electric vehicles and other factors. And so, concludes Trent University professor emeritus Harry Kitchen in a new report titled Ontario’s Downward Trend for Fuel Revenue: Will Road Pricing Fill the Gap?, the provincial government must look for other sources of revenues to build transportation infrastructure. Kitchen recommends road pricing, such as tolls and HOT lanes, with funds raised earmarked for future transportation improvements, and dynamic parking...

Leaders within the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation have approved a public-private partnership to reconstruct a portion of Interstate 81. PennDOT’s P3 Board approved the project, which will involve the reconstruction of a 4.5-mile section of the route near Wilkes-Barre, on Dec. 4. Wilkes-Barre, the seat of Luzerne County in northeastern Pennsylvania, is 20 miles southwest of Scranton. The project will involve widening a portion of I-81 to three lanes in both directions, realigning 2.5 miles of southbound interstate and replacing eight bridges. Other safety measures include eliminating a left-hand exit and improving a substandard weave distance between two routes that...