tolls

Patrick Forrest, a leading Republican candidate for the Virginia state Senate is making tolls on the Dulles Toll Road (DTR) his major campaign issue, and he has endorsed a website and a petition no17tolls.com - a take on a projected $17 round-trip toll within five years.  The roundtrip toll now is $4.00 (2 mainline toll plaza tolls of $1.25 and 2 x 75c ramp tolls or Greenway collected end-toll).

US secretary of transportation Ray LaHood (Dem) and US House of Representatives transport committee chair John Mica (Repub)  are both out of touch with public opinion in their hostility to use of tolls to rebuild interstates and relieve congestion - according to surveys by the big Kansas City based engineering firm HNTB.

Declaring gas tax financing of roads "not sustainable" the Florida secretary of transportation Ananth Prasad said recently that tolls will be the first choice for financing all new capacity and doing major bridge replacements in Florida.

Virginia and federal officials are discussing a US Government permit for tolls along the length of I-95 from the Potomac River in Alexandria south to the North Carolina border. A preliminary application was submitted by Virginia in January for tolls on VA/I-95 under the Interstate Reconstruction and Rehabilitation pilot program.

The Providence Journal reports that Rhode Island DOT are not discouraged from plans for tolling I-95 in that state by remarks from US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. Dana Nolfe chief spokesman for the DOT said Governor Chafee's plan fits the reconstruction provisions of current law on tolling the interstates.

Atkinson Construction got their notice-to-proceed from Los Angeles Metro in January on detailed design of a toll Express Lanes project on the I-10 and the I-110 - two of the busiest highways in the LA metro area. Actual construction is due to begin mid-year for an opening of 25 miles, 41km of 2x2 toll lanes late 2012.

Supporters of the Hudson River rail tunnel to New York City prevailed 27-9 in the New Jersey senate passing a bill S2636 instructing the New Jersey Turnpike to roll back toll increases designed in part to fund the cancelled tunnel.

Cato Institute transportation specialist Randal O'Toole asks rhetorically in a blog: "When am I going to be able to get an app for my iPhone that allows me to use it as a transponder for tollways?" His question was provoked by a CNN Money report discussing how cellphones are taking the place of debit/credit cards as a payments mechanism:

The Democratic Majority leader in the New York state Senate Pedro Espada is pushing for $2/vehicle tolls on the four presently tax-supported East River bridges - the venerable Brooklyn Bridge, and the Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensboro bridges. Three other crossings are already tolled - the Triboro bridge, Queens-Midtown Tunnel and Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. (see map nearby)

Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell says "all" transit agencies in the state will benefit from tolls on I-80. Capitolwire out of Harrisburg PA reports that Rendell made the statement at a conference of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania late last year.