Florida

2013-02-24: Orlando's expressway standard highways are all tolled with the exception of the busiest - the I-4 that wends its way southwest to northeast though the middle of the metro area going right by the central business district.

2012/12/19: Florida and North Carolina plan to have interoperable electronic toll systems working from July 1, 2013 according to an announcement today by Florida secretary of transportation Anath Prasad and his North Carolina counterpart Gene Conti. Georgia will follow.

Florida's department of motor vehicles plans to make new license plates that are more camera-readable than the present ones.

Julie Jones chief of the department says toll and speed enforcement cameras are missing or misreading far too many plates.

2012-10-01: Jeff Jones acting executive director of the Oseola County Expressway Authority (OCX) is aiming to break ground on his first tollroad, the Poinciana Parkway about February next year. The project is already delayed five years.

2012-08-27: The $1.9 billion First Coast Outer Beltway project in the southwestern part of the Jacksonville metro area is moving into construction.

The Veterans Expressway FL589, a major highway  going north from the west of Tampa is having a 7 mile, 11km stretch widened from mostly 2x2 lanes up to 2x4 lanes and getting all-electronic toll (AET) collection.  It is a $236m project - estimated  construction cost $202m, design $20m, right of way $14m.

Who is least corruptible - appointees of elected officials, or elected officials themselves? That's the issue being discussed in Florida in the context of a tussle at the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority (OOCEA).

There's value in retaining local or regional toll authorities, and doubtful validity to claims that consolidation into a state toller will bring increased efficiencies - according to a Reason Foundation paper by Robert Poole and Daryl Fleming.

The regional planning organization of the Orlando area termed MetroPlan has approved the new Wekiva Parkway tollroad. Approval was regarded as more than a formality since the project was seen by some as taking money that has better uses. However the vote in favor was 17 to 2 according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The project is in a lightly developed northern section of the metro area but it will complete  belt route add well as providing improved mobility east-west across the north of the built-up area.

All at a high cost however of $1.7b for 25 miles.

Within a few weeks Florida Turnpike Enterprise will begin procurement of 3- or 4-mode readers to allow them to read E-ZPass transponders.