News

The Ambassador Bridge company has lost its appeal against a major demolition order obtained by the state. Judge Cynthia Stephens presiding officer of the Michigan Court of Appeals today denied leave to appeal, and a motion to stay the demolition order, saying simply that the bridge company had "failed to persuade the Court." (see nearby)

Truck traffic at the US-Canadia Ontario border show signs of recovery this year but this is offset by continued decline in passenger vehicles, leaving total traffic numbers about level-pegging with last year.

Whether the Feds will go along with the state plan to toll PA/I-80 is one of the hottest political issues in the state right now with dire predictions being made about the retrenchments that will be needed at state agencies if the US Secretary Transportation says no. At stake is an annual half a billion dollars the Pennsylvania Turnpike is due to pay the state with I-80 tolled that will be lost from another No.

For sheer chutzpah and audacity at tapping the public till a prize goes not to a Pennsylvanian but to New Jerseyite - to "legal counsel" for the South Jersey (toll) Transportation Authority (SJTA), Michael A Angelini. The guy though clearly an outside consultant managed to persuade someone at SJTA years ago that he should be paid as if he were an employee and enrolled in the state pension system called PERS (Public Employees Retirement System).

The US Attorney's office in Philadelphia this morning formally charged Mitchell Rubin with a single obstruction of justice count in line with reports that he has been cooperating with the Feds to help them dig deeper into corruption at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

They call them 'groundbreaking ceremonies' - ridiculous rituals whereby besuited bigwigs don hardhats and stand in a line behind some already finely dug soil holding glossy shovels for press photographers.

Local officials in Horry County in northeast South Carolina want to explore private financing of a long-sought 4-lane expressway as a tollroad. The road project known as Storm Evacuation Life Line (SELL) is at an advanced stage of permitting with a preferred alternative route.

Maryland officials say recovery in traffic at the state's existing toll facilities will be very slow and longer-term growth prospects must be revised downwards too. They say increasing costs dominated by debt service expense will likely call for major hikes in tolls - from about $2.60 now to $3.60 in 2012 and to $4.50 in 2014 (average statewide toll on existing facilities).

Detroit International Bridge Co (DIBC) owner and operator of the Detroit to Windsor Ambassador Bridge is seeking bids for replacing the main deck which goes back to 1929. The deck has undergone repeated maintenance and repairs but spokesman Phil Frame say they've decided "it is time to fully replace it."

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is keen to move quickly to get a "pilot" project for all-electronic tolling (AET) running on the Turnpike. In a radio interview this week he mentioned the possibility of "tests" of all-electronic tolling at the Turnpike's interchange with MA128 (I-95) and also on the Tobin Bridge.

North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) has engaged cash stores operator ACE Cash Express to provide walk-in options for NTTA customers to pay their video toll - local brand is "ZipCash" - invoices. The ACE Express stores and cash machines will also allow north Texas tollroad users to open and load cash-backed transponder accounts locally branded TollTag.
 
Customers will be able to use the ACE Cash Express stores and machines to:

West Virginia senate majority leader Truman Chafin (Democrat) wanted to legislate for a special $1 toll at the state turnpike's three mainline toll plazas for residents of four counties (Kanawha, Fayette, Raleigh and Mercer) adjoining the Turnpike but he ran into a head-on conflict with the US Constitution.

The Indiana legislature has passed enabling legislation (SB382) allowing toll concessions to be procured for construction of the Illiana Expressway in the far northwest of the state and two new toll bridges over the Ohio River in the southeast. Governor Mitch Daniels said he was "excited" saying: "This is exactly what we've been advocating a long time."

Federal Signal corporation says it has acquired VESystems LLC, toll back-office and customer services specialists. They are paying $33 million for the company including approximately $8.4m stock.

The Coast Guard, the US Government's designated authority at the Detroit River is refusing to consider an application by the Detroit International Bridge Company (DIBC) to twin their Ambassador bridge, the major toll crossing between Detroit Michigan and Windsor Ontario.

North Carolina Turnpike Authority (NCTA) have slimmed down their planned Garden Parkway on the westside of the Charlotte NC metro area to reduce its costs and make it fly financially. What was a $1280m project early 2009 has a year later been cut by 27% to $928m. Construction cost is dropped 35% from $1021m to $662m and right of way cost 7% from $191m to $179m.

Toll agencies and the toll industry as a whole have a vital interest in having governments desist from unwarranted anti-car/anti-road travel policies advanced on the basis that they are needed to "save the planet" from manmade global warming.

This is a big personnel change we should have picked up months ago even though no one made any announcements. Jose Maria Lopez de Fuentes (Lopez) one of the major figures in PPP/private sector tolling in North America for over a decade quietly departed Cintra late last summer (August we think) and his offices in Austin Texas.

Port Authority New York New Jersey (PANYNJ) will completely replace their existing toll system with one allowing easy conversion to all-electonic toll (AET) collection. The new system will support existing cash collection so the move to all-electronic or cashless tolling can be made separately from the switchover from old to new systems.

The Maine Turnpike Authority this week voted unanimously at their monthly board meeting this week to seek US government permits for a wide new mainline toll plaza with open road tolling (ORT) down the middle, but retaining cash collection to either side.