tolling

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Several new spaces have been created and existing space has been redesigned to encourage more engagement on the site. As we move into 2012, we are excited to have a fresh new look with larger ad spaces. We hope to see advertisers take advantage by creating ads that offer more than increased visibility, enticing our readers to click and take action. 

Kenneth Orski who follows transport funding issues in Washington DC says US Government grants to the states for highways will drop from the current level of $41b/year to about $32b next year based on the end of deficit financing under a newly budget conscious House of Representatives. That $32b will be the result of relying solely on federal gas/diesel tax revenues - as we used to before the massive deficit spending of 'stimulus' funds the past three years.

The state Senate in West Virginia recently voted down enabling legislation for toll development of  US35. The legislation SB606 sponsored by the state governor would have provided authority for sale of $80m of toll revenue bonds plus a backup pledge of up to $8m/yr lottery monies. It passed the finance and transportation committees but was defeated  on the floor of the Senate by a 21 to 12 vote.

Highway Toll Administration LLC say they got a favorable preliminary ruling in a patent court battle with rival PlatePass. The two companies provide electronic toll collection equipment and services to rental car companies around the US.

The Federal Highway Administration officially announced this afternoon in a short five paragraph statement that it declined to approve tolling on I-80 in Pennsylvania "because the application did not meet the federal requirement that toll revenues be used exclusively for the facility being tolled."

USDOT officials have told state Governor Ed Rendell that Pennsylvania cannot toll I-80 because state plans for use of the proceeds are not permitted under existing federal law. Governor Rendell said this at a press conference in Harisburg this afternoon. He was confirming the news which was broken this morning by the Patriot-News of Harrisburg.

Tom Barnes in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette quotes Governor Ed Rendell as saying he expects the Feds to say something on I-80 tolls in the next two weeks. Rendell and Pennsylvania officials had a meeting on the subject with US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood in Washington last week.

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.

Year's end saw a widely circulated satire trumpeting the success of the interstate highway system as an argument for government-provided health services (see link at bottom). It generated this comment from a transportation analyst who has to remain anonymous: "Apparently we are expected to think that because the Interstate Highway system is heavily used it therefore follows that Federal funding (90%) was the best way to pay for it.  There are several reasons to think otherwise.

An obscure company whose main expertise is jails is key financial advisor to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission in their application to the Feds for permission to toll I-80.