tunnel

PANYNJ and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority are under threat if the NYC-NJ ARC (Access to the Region's Core) tunnel proceeds. PANYNJ is already on the ARC hook for $3b with their six NY-NJ toll bridges and tunnels their only real income earning assets being put deeply into hock to raise that money. New Jersey similarly relies heavily on Turnpike profits to provide state backing for the ARC tunnel.

Washington state is a hot spot for new toll projects - and big, bold projects to boot. We reported recently on the array of alternatives being considered for the longrange transportation plan for the region - all of which involve substantial reliance on tolls - plus acceptance of tolls on the presently untolled 520 bridge ahead of construction of a wider replacement bridge, but there's more.

The $950m Port of Miami Tunnel project has collapsed because the chosen concessionaire Babcock & Brown can't raise the capital to close on the deal. Florida DOT's Miami district secretary Gus Pego is quoted in a stratement as saying the private partners "have been overwhelmed by the effects of the financial market (crisis) making delivery (of the tunnel project) unworkable."

The great global financial fiasco has its fun side. Mrs Fang He, apparently an emigrant Chinese woman filed with the Australian Stock Exchange November 5 that she had become, under the rules of trading, a "substantial holder" of stock in BrisConnections, a recently formed toll concession in Brisbane, Australia's third city. She bought 32.3 million shares ('units' there) or 8.6% of the equity of BrisConnections.

Virginia DOT is seeking proposals from investors to make about a billion dollars of improvements to the Downtown and Midtown Tunnels and the MLK Extension in return for a longterm toll concession. The project consists of building:

- a new 2-lane tunnel under the tidal Elizabeth River parallel to the existing Midtown Tunnel

- perform improvements to the existing Midtown Tunnel (2 lanes single tube)

A toll tunnel is being proposed under Long Island Sound to provide a new link between Long Island and mainland New York state in Rye. Called the Long Island Cross Sound Link (LICSL) the twin 3 lane tunnel would run between the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway (NY135) in Syosset near the Long Island Expressway (I-495) and I-95 and the Cross Westchester Expressway (I-287) in Rye.

The bankrupt Sydney Australia Cross City Tunnel concession is being bought from receivers for $590m (A$700m) paying off the lenders in full and providing a small amount to the unhappy equity holders in Hong Kong and Germany. The 2.1km (1.3mi) 2x2 lanes underland toll tunnel providing a quick ride into central Sydney from the inner eastern suburbs opened in August 2005 and is carrying a very respectable 35k vehicles/day.

Virginia DOT has scheduled a day-long affair Apr 24 on concession opportunities in the Midtown Tunnel project in Norfolk. The project encompasses tolls on the Downtown Tunnel closeby, as well as on the Midtown Tunnel which is to be twinned and on an extension of the Martin Luther Freeway.

The project ties together and improves capacity in the heart of the Norfolk-Plymouth port and downtown area in the center of the Hampton Roads region.