In This Issue

	Report says No Toll Roads for Texas
	$2.2B in Bond Money Recommended for So. Cal.
	VDOT Takes New Approach to Road Maintenance
	Session Scheduled for DOT Projects
	Missouri gets 2,200 miles of Smooth Roads Early
	Highway Project Costs’ Sharply Increase
	Riverside County Looks at $2B Plan for Congestion
	Indiana, Illinois Partner on Study For Possible New Highway
	Lawmaker Wants Tolls for I-80
	Executive Pushes Maryland Gas Tax Increase

Report says No Toll Roads for Texas

Texas - A new study suggests that toll roads are not needed to support the future population of Texas. The Texas Transportation Institute, based at Texas A&M, says a more efficient way to fund long-term transportation costs is through existing gasoline taxes. The study, which was presented to the legislature’s Study Commission on Transportation Financing on Nov. 28, looked at the transportation needs of the state’s eight largest metropolitan areas.

Researchers found that an extra $44 billion in new road capacity would be necessary throughout the next 25 years, a significantly different number than the one TxDOT had reported while promoting the expansion of tolling in the state. The new information says that $30 billion less is needed for new construction than TxDOT estimated, which caused officials to believe an increase in the gas tax from $1.20 to $3.00 per gallon would be the only other option besides tolls.

“We recognize that there have been a lot of different numbers thrown around as to the level of need regarding transportation improvement,” said David Ellis, of the Transportation Institute, who presented the findings to the legislature’s Study Commission with Tim Lomax. Although, currently, 25 percent of the gas tax goes to the public school system.

Ellis said that by indexing the gas tax to inflation, the increase in construction costs would be covered. Bond issuances could be avoided by a modest increase in the tax. The option of dedicating all of the gas tax to transportation was not considered as an alternative to a tax increase.

“I think what this report shows is that there is no easy solution to how we’re going to solve the transportation needs here in Texas. Not only today’s needs, but the future needs,” said Randall Dillard with TxDOT. The department says it will study the report and possibly use it for future recommendations on road work.

There is obviously some problem between the numbers from TTI and TxDOT. Reconciliation would prevent confusion among lawmakers and the public which is never productive at a time like this.

I was concerned about the comment on indexing motor fuel taxes to cover inflation in construction costs. In 2005 if you indexed the motor fuel tax to the CPI it would have accounted for about a fourth of the 15% increase in construction costs experienced by state DOT’s and contractors that year. TW

$2.2B in Bond Money Recommended for So. Cal.

California - Caltrans recommended Monday that several Southern California counties should receive over $2.2 billion from the governor’s infrastructure bond to widen freeways and relieve congestion. Orange County, hoping for $618 million for projects on the 405, 22, and 91 freeways, is scheduled to receive $405 million. Los Angeles was at the top of the list, with suggested $1.5 billion, down from the $1.7 billion sought by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Caltrans also recommended a northbound carpool lane on the 405 freeway between the Santa Monica and Ventura freeways, and a 40-mile southbound carpool lane on the 101 in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

Los Angeles also requested a separate bid for a transportation system to control the flow of traffic entering the freeways, which was declined by Caltrans. The state DOT is instead requesting a pot of $150 million from the commission for Caltrans to distribute statewide for such projects.

There have been requests for over $19 billion in bond money to be made available to counties in the state, while bond provisions allow for a pool of $6.1 billion to be available on a competitive basis. The Caltrans endorsements will give the counties some extra weight in their requests for bond money, but the California Transportation Commission will make the final decision in its February meeting.

VDOT Takes New Approach to Road Maintenance

RICHMOND – The Virginia Department of Transportation has finalized decisions to consolidate 335 maintenance locations into 248 by July 1, 2008, the agency announced Thursday. The move is part of VDOT’s plan to completely subcontract all interstate maintenance by July 1, 2009 in compliance with state law.

VDOT spent a year studying the factors relating to the new facility structure, including safety considerations, population in the areas served, and administrative workload for the all of the service areas. The comments were analyzed before VDOT Commissioner David Ekern presented the conclusions to the Commonwealth Transportation Board Thursday. Through the study, VDOT determined it can sustain its current levels of customer service and emergency response throughout the state while streamlining operations and cutting the number of facilities.

“We will continue providing snow removal, emergency response and routine maintenance services for all Virginians. If you need VDOT, we will be there. We just might respond from a different location than we did in the past,” said Ekern. “In those areas where we have consolidated crews, we will stage appropriate equipment and people for inclement weather or other anticipated events. This is not a new practice, but one we will adopt consistently statewide to ensure our response times.”

Session Scheduled for DOT Projects

SHALLOTTE, N.C. – The residents in Brunswick County, N.C., are desperately searching for a way to convince officials in the county that they need new and better roads. The state department of transportation can’t afford to meet the demands for new roads in Brunswick or elsewhere in the state because it is short billions of dollars needed to complete the work.

“We need to let people know how badly we need roads,” said Commissioner May Moore recently. Concerned residents will have a chance to vent their frustration at a public comment session Tuesday on the state Department of Transportation’s Transportation Improvement Plan. Some believe the shortfall is the fault of the legislature, for using funds from the Highway Trust Fund to balance the state budget over the last few years.

Local officials agree that there is little chance the General Assembly will allow Brunswick County to levy a property transfer fee, which would raise nearly $200 million in road construction. However, even this amount, financed over 20 to 30 years, would hardly make a dent in the road construction needs countywide. Officials say the legislature needs to be pressured to fix the situation statewide as well as try to boost local construction.

Moore said a big turnout at the session Tuesday “may help make a difference as we struggle to get those very scarce dollars for Brunswick.” Some say people in the Brunswick area should feel lucky that the county still has three projects on the Transportation Improvement Plan going forward as originally planned, despite many others that are to be delayed a year.

Missouri gets 2,200 miles of Smooth Roads Early

Jefferson City, Missouri – The Missouri Department of Transportation has delivered its state residents 2,200 miles of smoother, safer roads a year ahead of schedule, thanks to the state’s Smooth Roads Initiative. MoDOT Director Pete Rahn and Gov. Matt Blunt announced Saturday that the agency had completed the governor’s challenge to improve thousands of miles of the state’s busiest highways by the end of 2007.

The project delivered smoother pavement, brighter stripes, rumble strips, and other safety improvements to Missouri’s most heavily traveled roads. Upon completion of the initiative, nearly 70 percent of the state’s major thoroughfares are in good condition. Highway workers laid 12.8 million tons of asphalt over the last two years, nearly double what they would have typically laid. The agency also installed more than 188,000 signs, 12,000 emergency markers, and 150,000 guardrail and cable reflectors as part of the program.

The project impacted a majority of the state population, 86 percent of whom live within 10 miles of one of the improved roads. Motorists drive 80 million miles on the improved roads each day. Three-fourths of the initiative’s roads were in fair to poor condition at the beginning of the project in 2005.

“In just two short years, we repaired or repaved almost enough highway miles to stretch from New York to Las Vegas,” said Rahn. “We want to thank Missourians for approving Amendment 3 and giving us the funds to tackle this important road work. I think everyone was tired of hearing how bad and unsafe Missouri’s roads were, and we worked hard to turn that around in a short amount of time.”

With the conclusion of the Smooth Roads Initiative, Rahn said MoDOT is working with interested contractors on a design-build program that will replace or repair 802 of the state’s worst bridges by the end of 2012.

Highway Project Costs’ Sharply Increase

SEATTLE, Washington - Elected officials in the Seattle area are struggling to produce a realistic plan for next fall’s ballot as cost estimates for regional projects are rising at alarming rates. The $7 billion tax proposition suggested last year will no longer be enough to bridge the gap between the current state gasoline taxes and the cost of the transportation projects in Snohomish, Pierce and King counties.

For example, the Regional Transportation Investment District has reported that the cost for a three-mile extension of Highway 509, to create a trucking route from the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to I-5, and add lanes to I-5, is now between $1.3 billion and $1.4 billion. The original cost estimate for the project was $900 million.

The state department of transportation officials would not comment on the numbers, saying they are still working on their estimate, which will be released in a week or two. Prices are predicted to rise by 20 percent, said Jim Horn, a former state Senate Transportation Committee chairman who is monitoring the situation.

Elected officials are still seeing the after-affects of sticker shock since the news in September that costs for the Alaskan Way Tunnel and a six-lane Highway 520 bridge had each increased by at least $1 billion when the state DOT substituted a more realistic inflation rate. Transportation planners are still looking at how to scale back some projects as the suburban highways continue to feel the effects of the rising costs of concrete, steel and labor.

Riverside County Looks at $2B Plan for Congestion

California – Riverside County’s transportation commission will vote Wednesday on whether to proceed with a $2 billion plan that would improve four major freeways in the county, according to a report released last Friday. Among the ideas up for consideration are adding toll lanes to I-15 and building an extension of the 91 Freeway Express Lanes as officials attempt to relieve the congestion in the Inland Empire.

Transportation officials are also looking at building a collector road to alleviate congestion near the 91 freeway and the I-15 interchange in Corona, which would allow entering and exiting traffic to merge off through lanes of the freeway.

The report details the county’s transportation plan for the next decade to address the traffic problems on the 91 Freeway, and interstates 15, 10 and 215. The commission will vote on whether to accept the report’s recommendations, which would begin the long journey toward the final adoption.

“It’s a significant capital investment that would have a huge positive impact on mobility, as well as the community, in terms of job creation,” said commission spokesman John Standiford. He said the improvements would be funded by a combination of Measure A revenues, state gas tax revenue, and funds from the state’s $20 billion Proposition 1B.

Indiana, Illinois Partner on Study For Possible New Highway

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels announced Tuesday the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) have signed an agreement to study potential locations for a new interstate-quality highway connecting I-57 in Illinois to I-94 in Indiana. The proposed highway, known as the Illiana Expressway, would be publicly owned but built with private funds, not tax dollars, and operated under contract as a toll road. The highway would help relieve increasing traffic congestion in Northwest Indiana and the Chicagoland area.

The bi-state study, estimated to cost between $5 million and $10 million, is expected to be compete within three years. INDOT will be the lead agency, but the two states will share the cost of the study. The highway would be approximately 63 miles, with 50 of that in Indiana.

300,000 vehicles travel between Chicago and Indiana each day on the Borman Expressway, US 6, US 30, the Indiana Toll Road and local streets. The metropolitan planning organization for Northwest Indiana estimates that the Illiana Expressway would reduce truck traffic on US 30 by 59 percent and on the Borman by 22 percent. Truck-only lanes will be evaluated along with the latest technology to facilitate the efficient movement of traffic and freight.

The costs of congestion are considerable. According to the Texas Transportation Institute, wasted fuel and time delays cost each traveler in the Chicago area nearly $1,000 annually. A national study, conducted in 2005 by the FHWA, found delays due to congestion cost the trucking industry and its customers a minimum of $32 an hour, or some $8 billion annually.

Lawmaker Wants Tolls for I-80

CHEYENNE, Wyoming – A Wyoming lawmaker has proposed tolls as a solution to solve the mounting maintenance costs for Interstate 80. Sen. Michael Von Flatern, R-Gillette, a member of the Senate Transportation Highways and Military Affairs Committee says the road should pay for itself by charging a fee to drivers.

Von Flatern said that based on projections from other states, a motorist could pay $12 to $15 to drive the entire 400-mile stretch of I-80 in Wyoming, or around 3 cents per mile. Someone who commutes from Laramie to Cheyenne might only pay $1.20 each day, while commercial vehicles would pay more. With the toll revenue, the interstate could be widened, and receive better maintenance, along with more snow plows working on the roads.

The proposal will be controversial, particularly in southern Wyoming, said Von Flatern. However, the region enjoys considerable economic benefit from the interstate supported by taxpayers statewide.

While the Wyoming Department of Transportation is not pushing toll roads, the State Planning Engineer, Bob Milburn recently acknowledged that tolls may be a worthwhile consideration if projections about traffic growth and maintenance costs hold up.

Executive Pushes Maryland Gas Tax Increase

Maryland – A Montgomery County Executive says an increase in Maryland’s gas tax is necessary in order to fund road and mass transit projects he believes would not be possible without a sustainable funding source. The proposal by Isaiah Leggett, the new leader of the state’s largest jurisdiction, was called an “interesting proposal” by Gov.-elect Martin O’Malley (D).

The 23.5-cent tax has not been raised since 1992, but is already higher than the rates in Virginia and the District of Columbia. Many city council members supported the increase, so the governor would not need to resort to the transportation trust fund. Residents in Montgomery County ranked concern over traffic and growth higher than anywhere else in the state in a Washington Post poll this summer.

The state transportation fund receives $30 million to $35 million for every penny the gas tax is increased. Leggett said the size of the possible increase “is open to debate,” but should be combined with a hike in the vehicle registration fee, which was nearly doubled in 2004 by outgoing Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.

State Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller (D-Calvert) said that the gas tax increase has “been needed for some time, but I’m not certain the political will is there.” He said the proposal would be tough to sell to the General Assembly.