Orlando floats congestion tolling to enter downtown

Link to article here.

Ideas to ease traffic congestion in central Florida could cost drivers
Posted: 3:04 p.m. Monday, Aug. 5, 2013
WFTV.com

ORLANDO, Fla. — More toll roads on some of central Florida's roads is one idea on the table to solve the congested transportation system problems.

 Channel 9's Racquel Asa found another solution could be charging drivers coming into downtown Orlando.

The whole idea of the study is to get more of central Florida's roads running more smoothly throughout the day instead of just off-peak hours.

But that could mean bringing toll roads down to the main roads. 

It's not an idea set in stone, but it's one MetroPlan is looking at and studying how it would affect not just the main roads, but side roads, too.



"It's fair to say that the managed lanes concept as it's being used now has applications on other types of roadways," said Eric Hill of MetroPlan Orlando, who is the project manager.



Part of the study would also look at creating a downtown core where drivers would need to pay to drive into the city during peak times.



MetroPlan Orlando got the concept from London, and San Francisco is also considering the idea.

But central Florida drivers who spoke with Asa said they don't like any of the ideas that are currently being considered.



"Oh, no. I would rather keep the one option where we don't have to pay," said driver Raul Ramirez.



Ramierez said charging people to drive into downtown Orlando would force him to change his driving habits.



"I'd take a bus. I'd leave my car somewhere and take a bus and go over there," he said.



The ideas are just a few of dozens being considered right now by MetroPlan, who still has a year and a half to study whether the changes would even make a difference on central Florida's roads.



"There is going to probably be a combination that creates a unique approach for us," said Hill.


The 18-month study will cost $500,000. It's being funded through a federal grant, MetroPlan Orlando and the Orlando Orange County Expressway Authority.

Texas legislature finally approves road funding bill

Link to article here.

Lawmakers Pass Roads Cash Plan, Adjourn Special Session
By Aman Batheja and Alexa Ura
Texas Tribune
August 5, 2013

The Texas Legislature adjourned its third special session since May on Monday night after passing a measure estimated to increase transportation funding by $1.2 billion annually if Texas voters approve it next year.

"Let's adjourn this mutha,” said state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, after the Senate had sent House Bill 1 back over to the lower chamber for final passage.

It was the third try by lawmakers since the end of the regular session to pass a measure to boost funding for the cash-strapped Texas Department of Transportation without raising taxes or fees.

Mass Turnpike to lose 400 jobs to electronic tolling

Link to article here.

Another downside of electronic tolling, job losses. It's a boon for electronic tolling companies and governments who can now keep the tolls in place in perpetuity with little incentive to ever make the easy money system go away.

Highway Robbery
Driving backwards on the Mass Turnpike
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
By Tom Vannah
Valley Advocate

It was folly to think we’d ever see the tolls come down on the MassPike. But if the denizens of Beacon Hill are determined to keep picking motorists’ pockets to pay for a road that was paid off decades ago, it would have been nice of them to at least let a few toll collectors keep their jobs.

The latest scheme to keep the Pike not only alive but growing comes as part of the new transportation financing law passed last month by the Legislature, overriding Gov. Deval Patrick’s veto. While Patrick and lawmakers were at odds during the fight over the bill, the state’s top dogs now appear unified behind a plan to restore tolls between Springfield and West Stockbridge this fall; those tolls were eliminated for passenger vehicles in 1996.

More sinister in my view is the Patrick administration’s plan to spend $250 million to eliminate toll booths and the need for human toll collectors from one end of the pike to the other by 2017. The state currently employs more than 400 toll collectors.

Under the Masachusetts Department of Transportation plan, drivers would no longer have the option to pay cash. Instead of paying workers to take tolls, the state will use cameras to photograph license plates of drivers who choose not to install a state-issued EZ Pass transponder. The Luddites without transponders will get a bill, and be charged higher rates that the transponder-compliant.

While state officials go through the motions of public hearings (including one this week at Springfield City Hall, Aug. 22 at 6 p.m.), the smart money says the MassDOT plan goes through without a snag, just as the first move to automate this highway robbery did under Republican leadership 20 years ago, when the EZ Pass system was first introduced.

I’ve been ambivalent about tolls on the Pike for years. As a driver, I tend to enjoy the niceties one encounters on most toll roads, which are generally, though not always, better maintained, more scenic or at least more tree-lined, and safer than free roads. As a taxpayer and a proponent of fair and progressive forms of taxation, I see the MassPike as a criminal enterprise, maintained cynically by generations of governors and legislative leaders to feed the state’s insatiable addiction to all that easy money.

The bonds that justified the tolls initially have long been retired. The toll we pay has been redirected to pay for the Big Dig and lots of smaller digs, though far fewer here in the Valley than we deserve based on our contributions.

Now we’ll pay more—$250 million for technology that not only tracks our whereabouts but makes it more convenient for the state to keep grabbing its take. And 400 jobs will be lost. Sadly, this is what passes for progress on Beacon Hill these days.

Maryland transit agency seeks P3 for light rail project

Link to article here.

Buyer beware: P3s are NEVER what government officials make them out to be. The private operators ALWAYS find a way to ensure taxpayers will bail out or heavily subsidize the project. It's always cheaper to have the public sector build and control public infrastructure projects. Anything less is a government-sanctioned private monopoly.

Commentary: The case for a Purple Line public-private partnership
By Maryland Transit Administration
Published: August 18, 2013
Washington Post

The Purple Line is a 16-mile light rail line that runs east-west inside the Capital Beltway with direct connections to Metrorail’s Orange Line, Green Line and two branches of the Red Line and to MARC’s Brunswick, Camden and Penn Lines. A total of 21 stations are planned. The total project cost is $2.2 billion.

The Purple Line is a great candidate for delivery as a P3 for several reasons:
■It is large and complex enough to have a potential for cost savings, but not too large to deter private interest.

■The Maryland Transit Administration’s other rail lines are in Baltimore, so it makes sense that the Purple Line be constructed and operated independently from these existing rail lines.

■A P3 is a recognized project delivery approach in the National Capital Region.

The selection of a P3 delivery method for this project means that a single private partner will be responsible for designing, constructing, operating and maintaining the project, as well as providing some financing. This innovative project delivery method differs from a typical project in which the state separately bids for the design and construction of the transit line and then operates the system, such as Light Rail in Baltimore.

This P3 approach is known as a design-build-finance-operate-maintain and is used extensively in Canada for rail projects and also for a rail transit project in Denver.

The private partnership will manage a team of primarily local workers and contractors to ensure successful delivery of the project, bringing creativity and efficiency.

By having the contractor who builds it also responsible for long-term operations and maintenance, the contractor has greater incentive to manage risks and design a project that is well operated and maintained over the long term.

In return for operating, maintaining and financing a portion of construction, the state will pay the contractor annual payments throughout the 30- to 40-year contract period. Deductions are made from the payments if the contractor does not meet predetermined performance targets, such as on-time performance, vehicle cleanliness and customer service.

The state will still pay for part of construction, provide oversight, set fares, keep fare revenue and specify service levels. The state also can specify the general appearance of stations, vehicles and other project elements, although providing bidders with more flexibility increases the potential for cost savings. It is typical for the public agency (the state) to perform all upfront environmental documentation, acquire right of way, secure general agreements with third parties such as utilities and railroads, collect fares and provide security.

The state will assess whether to keep or transfer these functions to the contractor before issuing a request for proposals. The P3 approach can accommodate other state goals, such as workforce development, minority/disadvantaged business enterprises, and environmental enhancements such as LEED-certified facilities.

The state will use a competitive solicitation process to select a private partner. Following review of the process by the General Assembly and preliminary consent by the Board of Public Works, the request for qualifications will be issued this fall. The process and evaluation criteria will be published prior to the RFQ at www.purplelinemd.com. The final request for proposals will be released next spring with construction possible in 2015.

Gov. Deal to take tolls off Georgia highway

Link to article here.

8/19/2013
Georgia: State To Remove Tolls From GA400 Highway
Governor Nathan Deal moves to demolish toll booths on the Georgia 400 toll road.
The Newspaper.com

Toll planAs many states are pushing to turn their freeways into toll roads, Georgia is moving in the opposite direction on at least one major highway. Beginning November 21, the Georgia 400 toll booths will be closed and motorists will no longer have to toss 50 cents into a basket to drive on the 6.2 mile route between Atlanta and Sandy Springs. Earlier this month the state agreed to hire Southeastern Site Development Inc to handle the process of toll booth demolition.

"I acted as quickly as the state's contractual obligations allowed to bring down the GA 400 toll," Governor Nathan Deal (R) said in a statement. "I pledged during my campaign for governor that I'd bring down the toll as the state promised commuters it would do when it opened the toll more than two decades ago."

In 1993, GA400 opened as part of a federal demonstration project introducing electronic tolling transponders, now known as Peach Pass. Despite the availability of an electronic payment option, about 60 percent of drivers still pay cash to use the road, generating about $20 million per year, less $7.7 million in overhead required to maintain the tolling apparatus. Now that the original bonds are paid off, the state will maintain the road as part of the freeway network. Most toll roads continue collecting tolls long after the original bonds were scheduled to be paid off.

It will take a year and at least $3.5 million to pull down the complicated and expensive tolling hardware. Signs must be removed and replaced and lanes need to be re-striped. Beginning in January, traffic will have to be diverted around the toll booths and toll plazas in temporary lanes as the obsolete concrete structures are demolished.

"In the coming weeks, the department will work with the selected contractor and with State Road and Tollway Authority staff to make certain that when the toll plaza removal process begins later this year, it will not unduly impede traffic flow," Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Keith Golden said in a statement.

The de-tolling project is scheduled for completion on May 31, 2014.

Irish govt may pay $300 mil in tolls to coax truckers off back roads

Link to article here.

Anyone who thinks the taxpayers don't bailout these private toll roads hasn't paid attention.

Government may cover €3million in tolls to try to ‘coax truckers off back roads’
The M50 and East-Link will be excluded from the plan, which the National Roads Authority is proposing to operators of toll roads.
The Journal.ie - DUBLIN, IRELAND
February 8, 2013

MOTORWAYS COULD BE free to use for heavy goods vehicles for the month of November as the Government tries to accurately assess the levels of toll avoidance in Ireland.

The National Roads Authority has written to operators of public-private partnership toll roads outlining the plan, which would see the Government foot the bill for around €3 million worth of expected tolls.

Transport minister Leo Varadkar said that the move would help increase the usage of some parts of Ireland’s €12 billion motorway network. Currently, four of the country’s tolled roads make losses; the M3, the Limerick Tunnel, the M6 and the N25 Waterford bypass.  HGVs pay €3.50 on the M3, but €6 in the Limerick Tunnel.

“I want to find out if trucks will start using our motorways more often if we change the current tolling regime,” said the Transport Minister.

The M50 and East-Link will both be excluded from the plan.

Tom Wilson of the Freight Transport Association of Ireland said that he hoped hauliers would take advantage of the scheme.

“We strongly believe that freight operators should see significant cost savings and benefits, such as cutting journey times, reductions in fuel, vehicle wear and tear, driver’s wages and improved delivery times.

“All this would lead to better customer satisfaction and we think it makes perfect sense for freight operators to take advantage of it.”

Tolling becoming increasingly unpopular

Link to article here.

There is one error in this article. The Texas Constitutional Amendment DOES NOT end the 25% education diversion of the state gas tax that currently goes to fund public schools. It simply creates a new diversion by capturing half the state's oil & gas severance tax that goes to the state's emergency fund and diverts it to fund roads

8/2/2013
Arizona, Texas: Opposition Mounts To Toll Roads
Arizona and Texas voters may have a chance to vote against toll roads at the ballot box.
The Newspaper.com

AAHC logoRoad tolling is becoming a less popular option in many areas in the country. In Arizona, efforts are underway to put an initiative on the statewide ballot that would ban the tolling of existing roads while in Texas lawmakers realize voters would never approve a transportation package that included authorization for tolling.

Lawmakers in the state of Texas reached a deal Sunday on transportation funding that included a clear proviso that the cash raised cannot be used for toll roads. The proposed constitutional amendment cleared the state Senate on Tuesday, and on Thursday a special committee in the House approved the complicated formula that would transfer about $1 billion per year from the state's economic stabilization fund into the state highway fund for use in building roads. The stabilization fund collects revenue from a tax on oil and natural gas production.

"Revenue transferred to the state highway fund under this subsection may be used only for constructing, maintaining, and acquiring rights-of-way for public roadways other than toll roads," Senate Joint Resolution 1 states.

Supporters suggest this is the only politically feasible road funding mechanism that also stops the diversion of 25 percent of gas tax revenue into the schools fund. If approved by the state House, the public would vote on the measure on November 4, 2014.

"If approved, the amendment would represent a sharp departure from relying on debt and toll roads as primary mechanisms for funding highways," proponents argued in material submitted to the House legislative analyst. "Using taxpayer dollars for purposes as closely related to the reason for their collection as possible is both a matter of good practice and honesty in appropriations."

In Arizona, the Arizona Automobile Hobbyist Council filed a petition with the secretary of state kicking off an effort to collect 259,213 signatures on a petition that would call for a vote on a state constitutional amendment to ban tolling. The proposal "Prohibits the conversion of existing publicly funded or maintained roadways into fee-based managed lanes or any form of toll roads." Arizona motorists currently pay an 18.4 cent federal tax and an 18 cent state tax on each gallon of gasoline.

"Who do they think their jiving here anyway?" asked AAHC president Al Tracy on a flyer promoting the initiative. "Because in reality, tolls are just another tax collected from those whose highway tax dollars built these roads in the first place. Double taxation allowed by our elected representation, it’s time to loudly say 'No New Taxes.'"

A copy of the Arizona initiative is available in a 125k PDF file at the source link below.

Source: Application for initiative petition serial number ( Arizona Automobile Hobbyist Council , 7/29/2013)

Debunking myths about tolling

Link to article here.

Obviously, this guy's job depends on his promotion of tolling. But he's also wrong on many of myth-busting claims below. For instance, he calls toll a 'user fee.' If you don't take the road, you don't pay it. Not true. In Texas, we found almost $10 billion in PUBLIC money that has or will subsidize toll projects that can't be paid for with the toll users. So tolls are a tax the way we're being implemented and it's is a DOUBLE TAX.

He claims highways aren't paid for. They are. They do not need to be rebuilt for 40-50 years. While maintenance is ongoing, the capital costs of building the road and acquiring the right of way far exceed maintenance costs over time. Our state and federal fuel taxes are collected to pay for road construction and maintenance when its necessary. If those dollars aren't sufficient then Congress and state legislatures need to first stop raiding our highway funds for non-road purposes, and then, if needed, adjust those road taxes for inflation in order to cover the cost of building and maintaing an affordable, freely accessible public highway system.

Bottom line is, we already pay fuel taxes for roads. Paying tolls, too, is a DOUBLE TAX and Americans can't afford to pay tolls to get everywhere on top of paying $3.50/gallon for gas. Our decline in driving is proof enough that there won't possibly be enough people with the discretionary income necessary to make any of these toll roads financially viable any longer. It's time to dump the toll idea. It's a dying trend and it needs to go away.

Debunking the Myths of Highway Tolling
By Patrick Jones, Executive Director, International Bridge, Tunnel, and Turnpike Association
Huffington Post
Posted: 07/30/2013

American drivers recognize that our iconic highways, from Los Angeles' 110 Freeway to the Capital Beltway around Washington, D.C., are in immediate need of major overhaul or reconstruction. Many of our nation's major roads were built in the middle of the last century, so it's understandable that nearly a third of them would be ready for significant repair or replacement.

But there's a bigger structural problem beneath our crumbling roadways: our method of funding highway infrastructure is broken, and there is little political appetite for increasing the gas tax, which is the traditional method to fund roads.

Highway tolling is a proven, reliable funding method that is already delivering results in 34 states and Puerto Rico, but unfortunately, federal law prohibits states from using tolls to rebuild existing lanes of interstate highways.

Now is the moment for governments, at all levels, to embrace a wider toolbox of transportation funding options that includes tolling. The federal gas tax has lost much of its buying power since it was last increased 20 years ago, and the federal Highway Trust Fund has almost run dry. The Congressional Budget Office recently projected that the Trust Fund will be completely out of money by the end of 2014 unless drastic actions are taken to restore its solvency.

In its recent report card on America's infrastructure, the America Society of Civil Engineers delivered a D grade for our highways and a C+ for our bridges. They also pointed to the need for another $79 billion per year in new investment.

Below are the major myths surrounding tolling that is making it tougher for tolling to help fill our nation's infrastructure funding gap.

MYTH 1: Our Highways Are Already Paid For
There is a common misconception that our roads and bridges are already paid for. That's unfortunate because roads and bridges need regular upkeep and maintenance just like your home, or any other built infrastructure. And even with good maintenance, eventually they will have to be replaced. People see the roads and drive on them without realizing that the city or state that built the road raised taxes or incurred debt to build the road in the first place and regularly spends tax dollars to maintain the roads. But few, if any, states are prepared to absorb the cost of replacing 50+ year-old interstates and the federal government is in a poor position to help. That means that future toll revenues, or new tax levies, will be needed to build the roads we need for the next 50 years.

The reality is that there are no free roads. There are only toll roads and tax supported roads. The big difference is that you only pay for a toll road when you choose to drive on it. With tax supported roads, the taxes you pay on fuel, tires and other equipment, go to support roads throughout the state (and in the case of federal taxes throughout the country) that you may never use.

MYTH 2: Tolling Is Double Taxation
Tolls are a fair and precise way to pay for transportation facilities because there is a clear and direct link between use of the facility and payment for that use. A toll is a user fee, not a tax. If you don't use the facility, you don't pay for it. You only pay a toll when you choose to drive on a toll road for a higher level of convenience, reliability or safety. Toll customers, through the fuel they consume, also pay their share of local, state and federal taxes to fund non-toll roads that are open to all. There may be a double payment -- the toll pays directly for the trip you are taking, while the government gets the benefit of the tax for use on the roads you aren't using.

To meet their growing infrastructure needs, some states use both taxes and tolls to support their roads. This has benefits for motorists and those who haul freight. When a state supports some of its roads through tolling, it means that the taxes collected from all drivers are available for use on the non-tolled portions (toll roads typically receive no federal or state funding).

MYTH 3: Tolling Causes Delays and Congestion
In the old days, you paid a toll by stopping at a toll booth and handing your money to a person or dropping your coins in a basket. Paying a toll meant stopping and waiting. Not anymore. Today, most toll roads, bridges and tunnels collect tolls electronically. As your vehicle passes under a tolling gantry, you pay your toll at highway speeds using a transponder connected to your account. The added efficiency of all electronic tolling saves time. For many toll road users, time is money. All-electronic tolling (AET) also improves local air quality by reducing idling and congestion. The irony is that tolling used to be a barrier to mobility because you had to stop and wait to pay your toll. Today, the barrier to mobility is continued reliance on the gas tax and the inability of states to use tolls to rebuild their interstate highways.

MYTH 4: Tolling Technology Violates Drivers' Privacy
The purpose of electronic toll collection is to properly assess a toll to a customer based on the classification of the vehicle (car, truck, motorcycle, etc.) and the distance that vehicle travels on the toll road. The operator of the toll facility is not interested in any other information. In fact, toll facility operators comply with very strict guidelines to limit the amount of information they collect, and ensure that the information collected is used solely for the purpose of assessing the proper toll. Toll road customers on today's modern toll facilities can be assured that their personal information and privacy is protected by the toll agency.

MYTH 5: It Costs Too Much to Collect Tolls
Most transportation experts believe that collecting the gas tax is the cheapest way to raise funds to support highways. But all-electronic tolling is rapidly becoming a very inexpensive way to raise much needed funds for highways. And according to a 2012 Reason Foundation study, the cost of collecting tolls in a mature all-electronic tolling system may actually be cheaper than the cost of collecting the gas tax.

Cost data for some all-electronic tolling (AET) operations in the United States demonstrate that the net collection costs of an AET operation can be in the vicinity of five percent of the revenue collected for a $5.00 toll (or eight percent of revenue collected for a $2.00 toll). This suggests that toll collection costs can be (and are in some cases) similar, in magnitude, to the actual costs of collecting federal and state motor fuel taxes.

Also, once you consider the opportunity costs of retaining motor fuel taxes in lieu of using tolls to manage congestion, tolls are clearly a more cost-effective option for generating revenue for our highway system.

America's highway network is incredibly diverse and no single funding mechanism is right for every circumstance.

Tolls are one of the tools in the toolbox that should be given serious consideration by state legislatures and Congress. Federal law currently prohibits the use of tolling on the existing non-tolled lanes of the interstate highways. However, we would see steady improvement in our highways and bridges if Congress granted states the flexibility to choose tolling when it's the right option for their communities and constituents.

Consequences of depleted highway trust fund

Link to article here.

What a Depleted Highway Trust Fund Means for States
Posted By Ryan Holeywell | July 29, 2013
Governing.com

Last week Congress was warned of what might happen if the federal accounts that pay for transportation become depleted, as they’re forecast to do in fiscal year 2015. The scenario, outlined by Polly Trottenberg, the undersecretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), prompted plenty of questions from members of Congress. But it’s state transportation officials who should be worried.

By now, the fiscal challenges facing the Highway Trust Fund, which receives federal gas tax revenue and then distributes it to states for infrastructure projects, are well known: Americans are driving less, vehicles are becoming more fuel efficient and the gas tax hasn't been increased in 20 years. If the trust fund experiences a cash shortfall, the DOT will be forced to start taking steps to manage whatever cash it has left. Trottenberg gave Congress a detailed look at what exactly that might mean for states -- and the situation isn’t pretty.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sends funds to states through six formula programs, but the money isn't provided in advance. Instead, state departments of transportation enter agreements with FHWA, award contracts to construction companies and then rely on getting payments from the feds in order to make payments to the contractors.

Some states bill the feds daily; others bill them weekly. But if the trust fund gets too depleted, states will start getting reimbursed less and less frequently, perhaps as rarely as twice a month, Trottenberg warned. Even worse for states: If the situation gets bad enough, the feds might only be able to cover a portion of states’ reimbursement requests. If that happens, states could be forced to pull back on some projects.

If such a scenario seems far-fetched, it shouldn’t. While the Highway Trust Fund has a relatively healthy history that dates back to 1956, it was in fiscal year 2008 that the DOT announced that it didn't have enough cash in the account to cover states’ outstanding bills. At the time, it was agreed that FHWA would stop twice-daily payments and switch to weekly payments. States would get most of what they were owed on their scheduled payment dates, with a portion of the balance carried over to the following week. The system ensured a steady stream of funds coming to states, but it quickly built up the balances owed on the back end and relied on states to carry the difference.

Then-Transportation Secretary Mary Peters asked Congress for financial support, resulting in the transfer of $8 billion in general funds to the Highway Trust Fund. Ever since then, Congress has been transferring money to the fund regularly. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), since 2008, Congress has transferred a cumulative $41 billion from the general fund to the fund to avoid shortfalls, with another $12.6 billion set for 2014.

The Highway Trust Fund is made up of two accounts -- one for highways and one for transit. As it stands, budget forecasts indicate that by the end of fiscal 2014 the highway account will have a cash balance of $4.6 billion. That's problematic, because in a given month the feds might reimburse states more than $5 billion. The transit account faces a similar shortfall as the highway account: It will end the year with a $300 million balance, but some months, it pays out as much as $1 billion.

“While the timing of the forecasts is subject to change, there is little doubt that another funding shortfall will soon be upon us,” Trottenberg testified.

Congress has options to prevent the situation from becoming dire. It can transfer another $15 billion into the trust fund and authorize increasing large transfers in subsequent years. It can raise the gas tax by 10 cents per gallon. It can eliminate the $51 billion in highway and transit spending authorized for 2015. Or it can implement a combination of transfers, tax hikes and cuts.

After the 2008 scare, new standards were put in place to give states greater warning when the account’s balances drop below certain thresholds. But it’s not necessarily a given that Congress will act in a timely manner to prevent states from getting stiffed. After all, it’s shown a willingness to play chicken with transportation issues before. Earlier this year, fliers experienced delays due to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) furloughs attributed to sequestration. In 2011, Congress failed to extend the FAA’s authority, forcing the agency to tell contractors to stop doing work at dozens of airports. And that same year, there was concern that congressional inaction would cause the gas tax to lapse, which could have resulted in lost revenue of $100 million per day.

Michigan Transportation Secretary Kirk Steudle says that if the feds start holding back on payments, it could be an especially big problem for states that have their own cash flow problems. But even more troubling than delays, he says, is the possibility that states will never fully get repaid.

Deb Miller, who served as secretary of the Kansas Department of Transportation in 2008, says the situation back then caused a lot of fear and uncertainty. She says her state conducted analyses and determined it could handle a slowdown in reimbursements for a few months before it would struggle to pay its own bills without the feds help. Of course, Congress ultimately bailed out the fund before real problems materialized.

Today, Miller says, states are perpetually planning for the worst. “[There] is endless uncertainty," she says. "Absent a permanent fix, we're just not going to get out of this situation.”

It’s not entirely clear how states might respond to the current situation. Kim Cawley, a CBO analyst, testified that there are a few possibilities. They might be willing to simply wait longer for their reimbursements; they might slow down on projects to avoid overextending themselves; or they might actually speed up construction in an effort to get reimbursed ahead of other states and before the money runs out.

Detroit's private operator of Windsor Tunnel declares bankruptcy

Link to article here.

Detroit Windsor Tunnel operator American Roads files for bankruptcy
By Bloomberg News
July 25, 2013 11:07 AM

American Roads LLC, which operates highways including the mile-long Detroit Windsor Tunnel, sought bankruptcy court protection, citing $830 million in debt related to swaps and bonds.

The Detroit-based company listed more than $100 million in assets in Chapter 11 papers filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

The filings "are not the result of the recent bankruptcy filing of Detroit - although Detroit's financial situation has contributed to the difficulties," Chief Executive Officer Neal Belitsky said in court papers.

SC's infrastructure bank board gone awry

Link to article here.

Scoppe: The latest stop on SC’s road to perdition
Published: July 25, 2013
By Cindi Ross Scoppe — Associate Editor
The State.com

Columbia, SC — SOMETIMES, I can’t decide whether to laugh or cry about South Carolina’s highway funding mechanism.

Consider the opening paragraph from a recent Greenville News article: “Some state highway commissioners are worried that political influence might be used in determining where some of the road money approved … by lawmakers will go because of language in the bill.”

To be sure, it’s a legitimate concern. Decisions about how to spend $500 million in new highway funds will be made not by those highway commissioners, who signed off on their interstate-expansions-heavy wish list last week, but by the State Transportation Infrastructure Bank Board, which last year maxed out all of its own bonding capacity and committed $150 million in future bonding capacity on a controversial highway that is not on the state’s priority list. It is, however, in Charleston County, home to the two legislators who until last year appointed the majority of the board’s members and recipient, along with Horry County, of a full 56 percent of the bank’s funding over the past 15 years.

And as the article points out, the Legislature didn’t even mandate that the bank spend the money the way the Transportation Department recommends, as legislators assured us they had. Instead, the law simply says the department will submit a list of projects to the bank “for its consideration.”

In that way, the new law is reminiscent of Act 114, the 2007 state law that legislators assured us required the Transportation Department to use objective criteria to decide which road and bridge projects to fund. Only it didn’t.

The 2007 law does require the commission to use objective criteria to rank road projects, but it allows the commission to ignore that ranking. As it did most spectacularly in 2011, voting to max out our highway bonding capacity for a decade on a $344 million bond package to build five projects, only one of which scored well and one of which — a $105 million interchange to nowhere — hadn’t even been graded. Last year, the Transportation Commission finally bowed to public pressure and abandoned the package.

That would be the same commission whose members are now fretting that the Infrastructure Bank board might ignore their priorities. And allow politics to influence their decisions.

“We’re going to give the SIB board a list generated under Act 114 and hope they follow that,” Department of Transportation Chairman Johnny Edwards told The Greenville News. “I don’t think they have to follow that but we’d like to see them follow that because I think Act 114 is critical to take the politics out of roadwork.”

Well, yes, using Act 114’s objective criteria is critical to taking politics out of roadwork. Too bad Mr. Edwards and his fellow highway commissioners haven’t previously seen fit to actually comply with the rankings generated by those criteria, rather than employing the loophole that freed them to make their decisions based on political influence.

For his part, Infrastructure Bank Vice Chairman Max Metcalf said he expected the bank “is going to be very responsible, as we have been in the past.” Which leaves me wondering which it’s going to do: Act responsibly? Or act the way it has in the past?

It would be bad enough to trust our highway-building and -repair decisions to these two logrolling political boards if the underlying funding plan were sound. It is not.

Politics, of course, is all about compromise. That means that sometimes you have to accept policy decisions that aren’t ideal in order to achieve monumental progress. On the other hand, sometimes in order to make really smart policy choices, you have to accept incremental progress.
The highway-funding package the Legislature adopted before leaving town last month gives us the worst of both worlds: bad policy that accomplishes little.

Depending on who’s doing the counting, South Carolina needs to spend anywhere from $500 million to $1.5 billion more than already expected on roads and bridges every year for the next decade. Or two. The plan the Legislature passed this spring could generate up to $1 billion, when you include federal matching funds.

Which sounds impressive, until you realize that’s not $1 billion per year. The Legislature appropriated only $141 million this year — and only that much if there’s enough surplus money that didn’t get spent in the year that ended June 30. Fifty million dollars of that is a down payment to borrow $500 million, which would have to be repaid with the corresponding $50 million per year that the legislation diverts to highway funding.

The legislation would make only $41 million available annually. That’s compared to the $500 million to $1.5 billion we need annually.

In other words, it’s an itty-bitty, teeny-tiny drop in the bucket. And in order to get that drop, lawmakers agreed to permanently divert sales tax revenue from the general fund, for the first time ever abandoning the proposition that roads should be funded through gasoline taxes and license fees and other payments that are directly related to the use of roads.

Until now, we’ve reserved general tax revenue for more general needs, and indeed, the sales tax was instituted, and on several occasions raised, specifically to pay for public schools. No more.

The diversion is small, but once we’ve broken the barrier and started using general fund revenue to pay for roads, the only questions are how soon and how rapidly it will grow. The backlog is so formidable that it’s not inconceivable that road spending could crowd out public education, which already is being crowded out by medical care, at the top of our general expenditures.

And you thought our legislators made lousy decisions about how to spend our tax dollars.

Wait till you see what happens when more and more of those decisions are made by people whose judgment worries even our highway commissioners.

Sacramento man billed for $17,000 in wrongful toll violations

Link to article here.

Call Kurtis: $17,000-Plus In Toll Violations And They’re Not Mine!
By Kurtis Ming
July 23, 2013 11:56 PM
CBS Sacramento

SUISUN CITY (CBS13) — A Suisun City man receives $17,000 plus in toll violations in Southern California.

But he says not one belongs to him.

After a four year battle, it was time to call Kurtis.

A four year long battle trying to convince the toll authorities it wasn’t him.

Turns out, it was a DMV mistake.  But in four years, the DMV didn’t seem interested in helping him clear this up.

“Surprise, shock, I don’t live in Southern California,” said Myron Martin, Suisun City resident.

Yet Myron has received more than $13,000 in toll violations from The Toll Roads in Orange County and about $4,000 from the Orange County Toll Authority in the past four years, all stemming from a DMV mistake.

A year after he bought his truck in 2008, he realized his license plate didn’t match the one listed on his registration.

The DMV got him new plates but the violations from Southern California kept coming. And he says they refused to help him get these violations dropped. Some are now in collections.

“You go to DMV, you raise this red flag with them, you’d think they’d fix it right away. Uh uh, year after year after year, we can’t do anything about it Mr. Martin,” said Myron.

“It’s really outrageous for the DMV to let this go on for years,” said Rosemary Shahan, President, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety.

Shahan says Myron shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to fix the DMV’s mistake.

“That’s their responsibility, they’re the ones that made the mistake,” said Shahan.

Myron received this letter from the DMV, clarifying the plates were not his but he couldn’t figure out where to send it.

Our volunteer Dan took the case and we got that letter into the right hands at the toll companies.

“After that time, the toll company removed the charges from his account,” said Dan.

Finally.

So why didn’t the DMV help fix this years ago?

They’d only say “… sometimes mistakes happen due to human error. This customer’s issue has been resolved and the DMV apologizes for any inconvenience.” – Jan Mendoza, spokesperson

Myron no longer on the hook for whoever racked up these violations!

“He hasn’t had to pay his registration now for four years. And he’s probably dancing in the tulips, right?” asked Myron.

He says the person is driving the same make and model but different color.  His truck is blue, theirs is white.

The Orange County Transportation Authority didn’t want to comment.

The other company, The Toll Roads, tells us they stopped mailing violations to Myron in the fall when he contacted them.

FL governor appoints P3s oversight board

Link to article here.

Governor’s Office Quietly Announces Appointments to Oversight Board
By Steve Miller
August 5, 2013
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting

A new Florida law that took effect July 1 broadened the use of public-private partnerships and created a new taskforce to oversee the arrangements. The legislation required Gov. Rick Scott to appoint the seven-member Partnership for Public Facilities and Infrastructure Act Guidelines Task Force.

But if Scott’s office hit the July 1 deadline to make the appointments, it did so quietly. No announcement was made about the appointments until the Florida Center of Investigative Reporting asked about it Friday. In response, Scott’s office emailed a press release announcing the appointments.

Under the law, the panel is composed of the Secretary of the Department of Management Services and six members appointed by the governor, including one county government official, one city government official, one district school board member, and three representatives of the business community. The panel’s main objective is to “recommend guidelines for the Legislature to consider for purposes of creating a uniform process across the state.”

The legislation extends the former boundaries of these public-private partnerships to entertainment complexes “or any other public facility or infrastructure that is used or will be used by the public at large or in support of an accepted public purpose or activity.”

Public-private partnerships, or P3s, have been present in Florida for a while, primarily used by the Florida Department of Transportation. The bill is seen as a boon for private commercial construction contractors.

The new legislation allows the participation of non-profits, with some caveats. Park projects using public dollars and non-profits must be at least 20 acres, while education works must involve buildings that are at least 90,000 square feet.

The freshly minted panel is required to hold its first meeting by August 31.

Below is the release sent to the Florida Center of Investigative Reporting in response to our queries about the panel:

Governor Rick Scott Appoints Six to Partnership for Public Facilities and Infrastructure Act Guidelines Task Force

Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Governor Rick Scott appointed six to the Partnership for Public Facilities and Infrastructure Act Guidelines Task Force.

Frank C. Attkisson, 57, of St. Cloud, is a County Commissioner in Osceola County. He is appointed for a term beginning August 2, 2013, and ending December 31, 2014.

Sonya C. Little, 47, of Tampa, is the Chief Financial Officer for the City of Tampa. She is appointed for a term beginning August 2, 2013, and ending December 31, 2014.

Andy Tuck, 43, of Sebring, is a school board member for Highlands County. He is appointed for a term beginning August 2, 2013, and ending December 31, 2014.

George M. Burgess, 55, of Pinecrest, is the chief operating officer for Becker & Poliakoff. He is appointed for a term beginning August 2, 2013, and ending December 31, 2014.

Michael H. Olenick, 61, of Palm City, is the vice president of corporate affairs and chief compliance officer of The Morganti Group. He is appointed for a term beginning August 2, 2013, and ending December 31, 2014.

John “Jay” Smith, 39, of Tallahassee, is a vice president at Ajax Building Corporation. He is appointed for a term beginning August 2, 2013, and ending December 31, 2014.

###

Credit agencies uneasy about toll roads

Link to article here.

Credit Rating Agencies Uneasy About Toll Roads as Americans Drive Less
by Tanya Snyder
DC Streets Blog
August 5, 2013

Toll roads aren’t the cash cows they used to be. The assumption that the roads will “pay for themselves” is no longer a reliable one, and credit rating agencies are taking notice.
In Orange County, California, traffic on the San Joaquín Hills toll road is half what was projected.

A recent toll road extension outside of Austin, Texas, is also seeing just half the expected traffic volume, leading the company that oversees the road to cut toll prices in hopes of attracting more “customers.” Moody’s Investor Services has downgraded the company’s credit rating.

In the DC suburbs, the Inter-County Connector and new high-occupancy toll lanes along the famously congested Capitol Beltway are both getting far less than half the use that was projected. In San Diego County, the private company that built and operated the South Bay Expressway went into bankruptcy when the cars failed to materialize.

El Paso P3 for Loop 375 barrels forward

Link to article here.

The rush to privatize Texas public roads...the ink barely dry on the legislation and onward TxDOT marches.

‘Huge:’ Last leg of Loop 375 OK’d
By David Crowder staff writer | Posted: Sunday, July 14, 2013 6:00 pm
El Paso Inc.

With no fanfare, the Texas Transportation Commission has approved the most expensive highway project in El Paso’s history: a nine-mile tolled expansion and extension of the Border Highway from U.S. 54 to Sunland Park Drive.

Construction of the toll-road project, approved by the commission at its June 27 meeting, will start early next year, take three years to complete and cost about $800 million.

The four-lane toll way will complete Loop 375 around El Paso, and it will require the demolition of 32 residences and businesses in the Downtown area.

Are certain Virginia toll roads unconstitutional?

Link to article here.

Are certain toll roads in Virginia unconstitutional?
by Tracy Sears
June 19, 2013
WTVR.com

A Portsmouth judge’s ruling over proposed tolls for tunnel crossings in Hampton Roads, could have far reaching implications for a 1995 law that allows public and private partnerships to help pay for the construction of new roads.

In May, Portsmouth Circuit Court Judge James A. Cales Jr., questioned the legality of such partnerships, and weeks later refused to stay his decision pending an appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court.

Virginia could face penalties  and liabilities of nearly $3.5 billion dollars if the judge’s ruling is upheld by the state’s high court.

The Public-Private Transportation Act, adopted by the Virginia General Assembly, was passed in an effort to use tolls as a way of generating millions of dollars for transportation projects.

Judge Cales ruled that public-private tolls were essentially a tax on Virginians and taxes could only be levied by the Virginia General Assembly, not private companies or the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Delegate John O’Bannon, R-Henrico, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, says Secretary of Transportation Sean T. Connaughton, warned lawmakers on Monday about the legal implications of the ruling.

“It’s a huge financial obligation to the commonwealth,” O’Bannon says.

O’Bannon says one of the biggest liabilities is The Pocahontas Parkway, a poor performing toll parkway between Chesterfield and Henrico counties.
If the high court upholds the judge’s ruling, the state could assume a $502 million dollar liability on the parkway alone.

“It’s important because it impacts all the other projects in the state that the same law has been used to build,” O’Bannon says, “like I-495 hot lanes and the I-95 lanes out of Washington to Stafford, and the new (Route) 460 project.”

Earlier this year, the governor decided against plans to place a toll on I-95 in Sussex County and between Richmond and Fredericksburg after an outcry from the public.

However, a deal was reached between lawmakers to build a second Midtown Tunnel between Portsmouth and Norfolk and upgrade the existing tunnel and the Downtown Tunnel, using tolls to help pay for the projects.

The Virginia Supreme Court is expected to hear the Portsmouth case by next spring.

Delegate O’Bannon says it will be up to lawmakers to rewrite the existing 1995 law, if the Virginia Supreme Court upholds the ruling.

San Antonio: Plush ballpark wastes road money

Note: The ball field was funded with ROAD money while San Antonians remain stuck in gridlock and told they won't get their roads fixed without tolls. More wasted dollars! This is NOT how voters wanted their road taxes spent.

New ball field is pretty dreamy, indeed
By Eva Ruth Moravec
San Antonio Express-News
July 10, 2013 : Updated: July 10, 2013 10:50pm

At first glance, the Missions Baseball Academy on the West Side is just four new baseball diamonds. But for game lovers like the San Antonio Men's Senior Baseball League, it's a “field of dreams.”

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff threw the first pitch Wednesday to officially open the $4 million complex off Texas 151 near Callaghan Road. The project is one of 13 amateur sports complexes funded by $80 million in short-term motor vehicle taxes, an expenditure approved by voters in 2008.

“You're welcome to go in and roll in the grass if you want to — it's gorgeous,” said Skip Bradley, league president and park director. “And I get to play out there myself!”

Read more here: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/New-ball-field-is-pretty-dreamy-indeed-4658036.php

Road usage fee coming to Oregon

Link to article here.

Road usage fee “option” coming to Oregon
Jul. 9, 2013 Wendy Leavitt | Fleet Owner

Thanks to the recent passage of Senate Bill 810, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) will soon be authorized to assess a charge of 1.5 cents per mile for up to 5,000 cars and light commercial vehicles and issue an equivalent gas tax refund to those who volunteer for the new fuel tax alternative.  

Oregon Governor, John Kitzhaber, is expected to sign the bill into law. The bill calls for the system to be operational by July 1, 2015.

Like many more traditional tolling systems, this one will require some effort by participants and some administrative overhead on the part of the state. Vehicle owners must apply to participate in the program and, once accepted, use an approved metering technology that will track mileage.

The new measure assigns the state’s Department of Transportation a longer to-do list, including:
* Establishing the methods for recording and reporting the number of miles that subject vehicles travel on highways
* Considering the accuracy of the data collected, privacy options for persons liable for the per-mile road usage charge, the security of the technology, the resistance of the technology to tampering, the ability to audit compliance, and “other relevant factors that the department deems important.”

The DOT is also charged with establishing “at least one method of collecting and reporting the number of miles traveled by a subject vehicle that does not use vehicle location technology” and adopting standards for open system technologies.

The International Bridge,Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA), the worldwide association representing toll facility owners and operators and the businesses that serve them, is among the first to celebrate the new highway funding concept.  In a press release, IBTTA’s executive director and CEO, Patrick D. Jones, called the bill’s passage, “A major victory for alternative forms of transportation funding across the country at both the state and federal level.

“By the passage of this historic legislation paving the way for a voluntary road usage charge (RUC) system, Oregon has lived up to its pioneer history and established a new frontier in transportation funding,” he said. “This example gives momentum to the need for exploring alternative funding options, such that tolling provides, in addressing our national transportation infrastructure challenges.”

According to IBTTA, “Since 2000, gas tax revenues have declined significantly as a result of less driving, increased fuel efficiency and decreasing purchasing power.  As gas tax revenues dwindle, federal policymakers in the U.S. have had to divert $55 billion from the federal government’s general fund and other non-transportation funds to pay for infrastructure.  This is increasing pressure on transportation policy makers across the country to search for new, viable road financing options.”

In January, IBTTA launched “Moving America Forward,” a national public awareness campaign highlighting the benefits of tolling among the public, policymakers and the media.

Tollroads News has taken a dissenting view, arguing that, “We prefer real tolls linked to a particular road and administered flexibility to operate that road as an independent business. Real tolls allow distinctions to be made in toll rates according to demand, to local conditions and highway costs and they allow different roads, bridges and tunnels to be financially self-supporting and accountable more directly to their customers, and to their investors….

“We'd frankly like to see revenues of state DOTs wither gracefully away with the gas tax and the major highways progressively turned over to toll road service providers. Publicly owned or privately owned, we don't care, so long as they are self-financing businesses whose revenues depend on satisfying customers with their service and providing options.”

The Statesman Journal reported that “implementing the voluntary program would cost an estimated $2.8 million in the 2013-15 biennium, which will be used to fund staffers, according to the bill’s fiscal note. Revenue from the program is expected to be minimal.”

Many other states, not to mention Congress, are also searching for ways to fund highways, now that more fuel-efficient vehicles have left highway funds running on fumes. 

Washington State, for example, is exploring charging electric vehicle owners an annual fee to make up for the fact that they no longer must pay fuel purchase taxes.

TxDOT's unconstitutional loan guarantee raises ire

Link to article here.

Unconstitutional loan guarantee by highway department raises ire
By Terri Hall
July 21, 2013
Examiner.com

With state and federal highway dollars pinched and toll road traffic taking a hit from a sustained economic downturn and high gas prices, states are looking for ways to get projects built with limited resources. Bond documents for the $2.6 billion Grand Parkway (State Highway 99) tollway reveal the bonds issued by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will be backed by the state highway fund for all but $200 million of the debt if toll revenues are insufficient. Counting interest, that's an obligation of up to $9.6 billion for Texas taxpayers, without approval or oversight from either voters or the Texas legislature.

Florida expands public private partnership law

Link to article here.

How is putting our tax rate in the hands of private corporations, known for charging oppressively high toll rates to use PUBLIC roads, living the American dream, Governor? What a laugh! Just like Texas Governor Rick Perry, they mistake being pro-business with being pro-special interests and crony capitalists where the government picks the winners and losers - not the free market.

Gov. Scott Ceremonially Signs HB 85 to Further Florida’s Public-Private Partnerships
July 19 News Release

Today, Governor Rick Scott ceremoniously signed House Bill 85, relating to public-private partnerships, alongside bill sponsors Senator Miguel Diaz de la Portilla and Representative Greg Steube; Miami Dade College President Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón; City of Miami Commission Chairman Marc Sarnoff; Latin Builders Association President Bernie Navarro; and Chairman of the Board of Associated Builders and Contractors of Florida Carlos Adavin,along with other community advocates.

Governor Scott said, “Since I took office, our mission has been to create a job for every Floridian that wants one. As of yesterday, we have created more than 333,000 private-sector jobs. The signing of this legislation further ensures that Florida is a pro-business state, and that we will not stop until every Florida family has the opportunity to live their version of the American dream.”

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