delays

Canada's border staff will be stretched thinner next financial year. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) which conducts immigration and customs checks of motorists from the US has given notice of job termination to 1,100 staff, 325 being front line border inspectors. That's the result of a budget adopted last month which intends to cut the cost to taxpayers of CBSA by C$143m over three years.

A report in the Tacoma News Tribune this morning turns up the political heat on Washington state DOT (WsDOT) and its back office contractor Electronic Transactions Consultants Corp (ETCC) over delays in starting tolls. The report claims ETCC would be liable for $12m in liquidated damages if the department fully enforced the contract provisions against ETCC.

Two toll bridge incidents caused big delays to traffic in the northeast Thursday. On the Tappan Zee Bridge of the New York State Thruway in Tarrytown a hole in the deck led to 20km (13 mile) backups. Two of the bridge's southbound (and eastbound) lanes were closed between 6am and 8:45 until a large steel plate could be placed over the hole.

“KILLER HIGHWAY”