rebuild

New York State DOT's abandonment of a project to rebuild the 70 year old Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) and a connecting portion of the Gowanus Expressway for lack of money has produced calls to reconsider it with toll financing and public private partnerships (P3s).

Missouri department of transportation (MoDOT) is pushing the state legislature to support their move to get 200 miles, 320km of MO/I-70 rebuilt and widened with a longterm toll concession or public private partnership (P3).

Is the West Virginia Turnpike getting a mere "facelift" as some local reporters termed it, or is it being rebuilt. We had a bit of a slanging match via email with a local reporter who'd headlined and led his piece with the term "facelift" then casually mentioned mid-report what amounted to a total rebuild of WV Turnpike pavement to bare earth.

On the Northeast Extension (NE Ext), I-476 north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Turnpike contractors Walsh Construction have begun work on the first complete rebuild and third laning since this pike opened 1955-1957.  Work is concentrated in this stage on the southernmost 6 miles, 10km, extending north of the Mid County Interch

When some of the world's biggest container ships are able to transit the Panama Canal and take big cargoes directly from Asia to the northeast US - rather than via the port of LA and overland - most will head for the wharves of New York's Upper Bay and Newark Bay.

Delaware DOT have advertised for bids to build two pairs of highway speed electronic toll lanes through the middle of their big toll plaza on I-95 near Newark, presently the bane of travelers in the Washington-Baltimore-Philadelphia-New York corridor. The toll plaza not far from the Maryland line had been planned in the 1990s for complete rebuild and modernization as a conventional straight-across plaza at a cost of over $100m, but was stalled by funding.

November 22 and 23 Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA) opened 1.4km (0.86 miles) of two extra lanes eastbound on the FL408 East-West Expressway over the Lake Underhill Bridge between Conway Rd to Crystal Lake Drive. This links two recently widened segments either side eliminating a "pinch point".

The tale of two I-95 toll plaza rebuilds make an interesting comparison. There are similarities and differences. Similarities are that in both states the Turnpike is the major east coast highway artery and the major link to adjoining states.

Kansas Turnpike Authority has embarked on its largest rebuild project, letting a contract for new bridges over the Kansas River in Lawrence and reconstruction of interchanges and a toll plaza on one side. Project cost is around $140m of which construction is $113m. The existing steel truss bridges are 52 years old - they go back to the original construction of the Turnpike - and are judged in need of replacement.