In This Issue

	Texas House Passes Private Toll Road Moratorium
	Hybrids w/ CA HOV Access get Top Dollar
	County Seeks Private Funding for Tollway
	Judge Dismisses SCDOT from Bridge Lawsuit
	Lawmakers Call for Tolls on Highway 520 Bridge
	Authority to Fuel Transit Dreams
	The End is in Sight for Bay Bridge Project
	Lack of Bids/High Cost Could Delay Project
	Kentucky Ponders Bridge Privatization

Texas House Passes Private Toll Road Moratorium

Texas - The Texas House halted the Trans-Texas Corridor and seven other near-term private toll projects in the state after an overwhelming 134-5 vote approval of a two-year moratorium on toll roads. Gov. Rick Perry has pushed legislators to reject the proposal which requires the state to establish a commission to study the effects of private equity toll roads and report its conclusions to the state next year. The Senate has a similar bill in the works.

Rep. Lois Kolkhorst says she has been working for several years to halt the Trans-Texas Corridor, a superhighway that was contracted to a private firm earlier this year. “We need to put the brakes on these private toll contracts before we sign away half a century of future revenues and give away the local control of our transportation system,” Kolkhorst said.

Gov. Perry says the state’s current transportation system, which includes public-private partnerships to build toll roads, needs to continue for Texas to keep attracting large companies and jobs. Rep. Mike Krussee, R-Round Rock, said that the gas tax must be raised to pay for roads if private toll roads are stopped.

Hybrids w/ CA HOV Access get Top Dollar

California – The California DMV recently mailed out the last 85,000 yellow permits approved by lawmakers to allow hybrid drivers to use the HOV lanes without passengers. The only way to get one of the sticker permits now is to buy a car which already has them.

These permits are increasing the value of used cars, according to Kelley Blue Book staffers. Re-sale analysts say a used Prius with the yellow stickers is selling for $4,000 more than one without them.

The DMV says that reports of decals being stolen off cars are probably untrue, because the stickers are tamper-proof. If they are removed, they crumble and read “VOID.”

Similar to tickets to some very popular college football teams, the stickers almost appear to be something you would leave to your children. I have always marveled at the “slug” lines in the DC area. Both are examples of how the transportation system is impacted by sociological or economic factors which were not included in our formal education as engineers. TW

County Seeks Private Funding for Tollway

Lee County, Florida – Transportation officials in Lee County, in Southwest Florida are trying to persuade private companies to invest in a $1.2 billion tolled, elevated expressway between I-75 and Midpoint Bridge. If Lee County DOT officials can find a large company willing to help with financing, the highway would be built above the crumbling Colonial Boulevard.

“We certainly do not have that kind of money to build this project. It’s a much needed project,” said Amy Davies of the Lee County Department of Transportation. “Unless we can get a private concessionaire to come we won’t see it in the next 20 years.” In exchange for investing in the road, the private company will be allowed to keep the toll proceeds.

The county would pay for any pre-construction studies and for all of the needed land, and the private company would fund the rest. Davies said private funding would keep the county from having to go through the drawn-out process of issuing bonds, and the project could begin within 2 years. This would be the first public-private partnership of this size in which the county has ever participated.

Judge Dismisses SCDOT from Bridge Lawsuit

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The South Carolina Department of Transportation was dismissed from a lawsuit over a $150 million bridge by a federal judge in Charleston on Monday, but the department’s acting director must continue as a defendant. Environmentalists sued of both state and federal agencies and their leaders over plans for a three-mile bridge across the Upper Santee Swamp along the Briggs-Delaine-Parson Connector, saying there were flaws in their environmental impact statement.

The state’s attorney, Randy Lowell, argued in a hearing earlier this year that the FHWA approved the impact statement and the state should be dismissed from the case. U.S. District Judge David Norton ruled Monday that the state DOT enjoys sovereign immunity, meaning a government agency may not be sued unless it agrees to be sued. However, SCDOT head Tony Chapman must remain a defendant because “a plaintiff is not prohibited from bringing suit against a state officer to enjoin violations of federal law,” Norton said in the 22-page ruling.

Lawmakers Call for Tolls on Highway 520 Bridge

Washington - Members of the Washington Senate passed a bill Tuesday which prohibits state transportation officials from starting construction on a new Highway 520 bridge until a plan for financing the $4.4 billion project is in place. The bill, which passed 42-6, includes toll collection as part of the needed financing plan for the bridge between Seattle and Bellevue, crossing Lake Washington.

The Legislature must devise a plan for the six-lane bridge by Jan. 1, 2008, which is the state DOT’s deadline for producing a financial plan. The federally mandated plan must include “state funding, federal funding, at least $1 billion in regional contributions, and revenue from tolling.” Taxpayers in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties are expected to provide the regional funding with an $18 billion ballot measure this November that includes $1.1 billion for the Highway 520 bridge construction.

By the end of the week lawmakers are expected to approve $110 million in the 2007-2009 budget for planning design and development of a construction site by the Highway 520 bridge for pontoon construction, in addition to the $60 million the state has already spent. Although the 16-year plan for the bridge allots $671 million in state funding, that amount is far short of the most recent cost estimates of $4.38 billion. The two-year budget will also contain $1 billion to be used in the future for either the 520 bridge or Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Authority to Fuel Transit Dreams

Florida - Lawmakers in Florida are on the verge of establishing a powerful new transportation authority that would be charged with developing a transportation network including toll roads, rail lines, and bus rapid transit for the seven Tampa Bay area counties. The Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority’s (TBARTA) powers would include the ability to override local zoning regulations, acquire property through eminent domain, and join companies to develop housing and retail developments near new rail stops.

Supporters of the agency hope it will generate money to create a billion-dollar light rail network through Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties. But so far no one has figured out where the rest of the money will come from, even though lawmakers say it is still the region’s best bet at getting rail. Some local leaders wonder if the rail is worth the cost – Hillsborough moved a $968-million rail line to the back burner in 2003, and Pinellas rejected a $1.5 billion monorail in 2006.

While some argue that the authority would be nothing more than another toll road agency in disguise, Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, the sponsor of the bill, argues TBARTA would be focused on mass transit. He said the authority’s success would depend largely on collaboration with local businesses. Companies interested in the potential development opportunities around the rail line could invest in the rail project and share in the profits generated at the hubs.

This is an interesting approach. To date it has been very difficult for a “transit only” entity to provide the needed capital for construction and operations of their system. Fare box revenues and financial gains from adjacent land development have never mustered sufficient revenues to break even let alone finance new or expanded service. Existing properties all have public subsidies. If the TBARTA pulls this off then they may have found a model worth emulating. TW

The End is in Sight for Bay Bridge Project

SAN FRANCISCO – Caltrans officials say the end is in sight for the new eastern span of the Bay Bridge, even though it will still be another six years before the lengthy project is complete. Work on the 8.25 mile bridge, including major retrofit work on the western approach, will make the span more seismically secure after it received extensive damage from the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989.

“Today marks the beginning of the last act” of the project, said Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney last Wednesday at a news conference. “We’re on the stretch to 2013 to deliver a new bridge.” Transportation officials released plans to demolish and reconstruct the football-field sized westbound viaduct which runs between the eastern span of the Bay Bridge and the Yerba Island Tunnel.

Following the completion of the viaduct work, Caltrans officials will focus on finishing the self-anchored suspension span portion, which will be the main architectural feature of the bridge. The bridge will be closed in both directions over Labor Day weekend as the new viaduct is pushed into place. Transit cars will run around the clock over the weekend, and extra trains and ferries will have extended hours.

Lack of Bids/High Cost Could Delay Project

Pennsylvania - A massive widening project in Pennsylvania looks like it’s going to be delayed because the department does not have the funding for the single bid they received - $35 million over the agency’s most recent cost estimate. Construction on the long-awaited plan to widen and improve portions of Route 15 and Route 581 in Lower Allen Twp. and Camp Hill was originally scheduled to begin this spring.

The Walsh Group of Chicago submitted the only offer when PennDOT opened bids on April 5, for $127,370,000, compared with the department’s $92,426,000 estimate. “We currently don’t have the funding to cover this cost increase,” said Greg Penny, PennDOT District 8 office spokesman.

Transportation officials attribute the lack of bids to the skyrocketing costs of construction materials. After only a half dozen contractors showed up to the pre-bid in March, Penny said the department, hoping to attract more bidders, postponed the bid opening and eliminated the requirement that contractors had to be in attendance in the pre-bid meeting. PennDOT officials are analyzing different options and ways to repackage some of the project work in an effort to reduce expenses.

Kentucky Ponders Bridge Privatization

Kentucky – As the cost of the $3.9 billion Ohio River bridges project continues to escalate, Kentucky leaders are considering following a nationwide trend of using private financing to fund major road projects, or possibly leasing a state highway to a private consortium. Three Republican candidates in the Kentucky governor’s race debated whether tolls would be necessary for the Ohio River project under which two more bridges will be built between Louisville and Southern Indiana. The project is one of several megaprojects the state has on the horizon.

The original cost estimates for the project were $2.5 billion, but projected inflation has increased the cost to nearly $4 billion. So far, Kentucky has secured $98 million of the $2.8 billion of the state’s share.

“Many, many states are finding that this is the only way feasible to fund a megaproject,” said Debra Gabbard, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s budget director, to lawmakers last month. Colorado was able to build the long-awaited $1.2 billion toll road around Denver after private companies and tolls financed the project. California was able to begin construction on the $635 million South Bay Expressway in San Diego after a state law allowed private contractors to step in.