diversion

The law suit against diversion of Turnpike (I-90) monies to the untolled Big Dig (I-93) in Boston by wellknown class action lawyer Jan Schlichtmann has been rebuffed again in the courts. An appeal against an earlier ruling for the Turnpike by county superior court judge Herman Smith was this week upheld by an appeals court which characterized Smith's ruling as "a thorough opinion."

By some accounts half of total congestion on the roads is the result of chronic overloading, the other half comes from incidents. Many are small but it's the spectacular ones that attract the most attention - like a crash described by the Pittsburgh Tribune that occurred July 20 on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near mile marker MM140, a few miles west of the Bedford interchange IC146.

Ohio house and senate finance committees have stripped from a so-called "Jobs Bill" or "Stimulus Package" all references to tapping toll revenues of the Ohio Turnpike in a rebuff to the Governor Ted Strickland and Turnpike CEO George Distel. The Governor had argued that the Turnpike should set aside $20m a year to fund debt service on $200m which would be used to support spending by a state Public Works Commission in small make-work projects all over the state.