Ohio

E-ZPass electronic tolling off to a rough start on the Ohio Turnpike this week with mismatches between lane allocations and traffic, and motorist confusion about signs. Rather than speed throughput at the toll plazas there were longer queues than normal.

Ohio Turnpike Commission will fire up their first electronic toll system October 1, and the E-ZPass Inter Agency Group (IAG) will be able to boast a continuous interoperable toll system from Maine to southern Virginia and from Boston harbor and Rhode Island to west of Chicago.

Ohio Turnpike Commission is taking the lead in exploiting the famous Newark OH motorized bar stool in the news recently. Turnpike CEO George Distel told us this morning the Commission will soon issue an RFP for Lawn Mower Adapted Vehicle lanes (LMAV pronounced 'el-mav' or in common parlance 'stool lanes.')

Ohio Turnpike Commission's board have approved a schedule of new toll rates and vehicle classes to coincide with their introduction of E-ZPass electronic tolling due for the final quarter of 2009. Approved at the same Commission hearing is a second round of toll increases 24 to 27 months later - on Jan 1, 2012.

A transport bill proposed as part of Ohio Governor Ted Strickland's 2010 budget would give municipal governments and regional organizations the power to form a toll authority, generically named a Transportation Innovation Authority (TIAs).  Ohio TIAs appear to be somewhat similar in concept to Regional Mobility Authorities (RMAs) in Texas which although not officially described, are in fact, toll authorities.

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.

There's a major fight in Ohio over legislation to earmark revenues of the Ohio Turnpike to support state borrowing for spending programs that supposedly would create jobs. Dem Gov Ted Strickland initiated the plan earlier this month under which the Turnpike would provide $20m a year to the state to pay interest on debt for a make-work program of spending.

The Ohio Turnpike Commission has selected TransCore to do a toll system upgrade including the Turnpike's first electronic toll (ET) system for $28.7m. The contract also provides for setting up a customer service center to establish and manage ET accounts, dispatch transponders and handle violations and inquiries. The Turnpike Commission will staff the center itself.