In This Issue

	Environmentalists Ask Feds to Halt ICC Work
	TDOT Permitted to Look Into Toll Roads
	Companies Face Fight on Privatization
	Dem Claims Feds Meddling in Calif. Waiver Request
	Fl. Ponders Putting Toll Roads in Private Hands
	$14.5B Road Plan Approved for Nov. Ballot
	Group Fights to Keep Transit Tax
	Governor’s Budget Shifts $1.3B from Transit
	Governor Pushes for More Highway and Transit Money

Environmentalists Ask Feds to Halt ICC Work

WASHINGTON – Environmentalists are asking the federal government to halt work on Maryland’s Intercounty Connector, saying that construction on the 18-mile toll road would violate tightened federal air-quality standards on soot. The Environmental Defense and Sierra Club have requested the U.S. DOT withhold further approvals of the $2.4 billion six-lane project.

“We’re asking that work on the project be halted until this supplemental environmental impact statement is finished and provisions made for reducing the environmental impact,” said Bob Yuhnke, a lawyer for Environmental Defense.

The project, approved by the FHWA last year, will connect I-95 with I-270 to ease congestion on the Capital beltway and side streets by creating another east-west option for commuters driving through the D.C. suburbs. A contract has been awarded to begin work on the first seven-mile phase of the project, which could be complete by 2010.

TDOT Permitted to Look Into Toll Roads

Tennessee - The Tennessee Department of Transportation is free to explore the option of creating toll roads after state lawmakers approved the legislation Monday. Two pilot projects can be performed under the legislation: one road and one bridge.

One project under consideration by officials is a six-mile stretch close to the suburbs northeast of Nashville. TDOT performed a feasibility study of a toll bridge and connector road between Sumner and Davis Counties, at an estimated cost of $267 million.

Governor Phil Bredesen said he supports the measure, although some lawmakers expressed concern that the legislation would allow immediate construction of toll roads. Senate sponsor Diane Black said the Legislation prohibits the construction of toll roads until after feasibility studies, public hearings and legislative approval. The bill would not allow existing roads to be converted into toll roads, and would prohibit instituting tolls in carpool lanes for single drivers.

Companies Face Fight on Privatization

WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats are being pushed by the trucking industry to curb state efforts to lease toll roads to private companies, most notably Macquarie Bank Ltd., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Privatization critics say tolls are more likely to be raised by private investors than by government authorities.

Trucking companies such as U.S. Xpress Enterprises Ltd. are asking House Democrats to consider withholding highway funding from states if their leases do not meet proposed federal standards. New federal regulations may make some private consortiums rethink their investments in the $1.7 trillion of public roadways.

PennDOT faces a $1.7 billion deficit in transportation funding over the next 20 years, and could raise between $12 billion and $18 billion by leasing the 537-mile Pennsylvania Turnpike, without raising tolls. Goldman Sachs raised $6.5 billion in 2006 for a new fund to invest in toll roads and infrastructure, and is one of the 48 firms interested in leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The trucking industry pays up to $4 billion in tolls annually, according to the truckers trade group. Former Kansas Governor Bill Graves, chief executive of the American Trucking Associations, said the group would prefer higher fuel taxes to increased tolls.

Dem Claims Feds Meddling in Calif. Waiver Request

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Transportation Department admitted Tuesday to urging members of Congress to consult the EPA regarding California’s greenhouse gas emissions law, which would implement global warning restrictions on automakers. An attorney for the Department of Transportation said the move was appropriate and legal.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stated to the EPA Wednesday that a state lawsuit over their request “now appears to be inevitable.” EPA administrator Stephen Johnson has not yet set a date for deciding whether to grant California’s request for the waiver, which was originally requested under the Clean Air Act in 2005. The Schwarzenegger administration began the 180-day notification process of the intent to sue the EPA in April, and plan to take the agency to federal court Oct. 22 when that period ends.

The EPA is accepting public input through June 15 over whether to grant the waiver, which would enact a state law designed to cut greenhouse emissions by 25 percent from cars and 18 percent from SUV’s starting in 2009. If California is allowed the waiver, at least 11 other states have identical emission controls ready to be enacted.

There is strong movement to face up to critical environmental strategies in this country. Whether you believe in global warming or not the mood of our citizens is to be more responsible and aggressive in dealing with emissions and other related issues. Frankly, I think this is a good thing. It takes a crisis or a dramatic goal (getting to the moon by 1970) for us to act. California and 11 other states have set a dramatic goal. TW

Fl. Ponders Putting Toll Roads in Private Hands

Florida - Gov. Charlie Crist is considering a bill that could give private investors control of some toll roads in order to pump new life into delayed projects and new highway construction.

The Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority is in negotiations with a foreign company to build a short toll road in Tampa and eventually charge $2.75 to drive three miles.

Florida’s Turnpike would double their bonding capacity to $10 billion under the wide-ranging bill and would permit stretches of Florida highways to be privately leased for up to 75 years. The bill would also allow developers to build roads that are not in growth plans, with the permission of elected officials.

Economists in the area are concerned the bill will promote urban sprawl and damage natural resources, with a wave of new road building by developers. However, one of the bill’s strongest backers, Sen. Carey Baker, R-Eustis, said all roads would still have to follow the existing regulations for approval, and toll roads need heavy usage to be profitable. “It’s takes regional use to pay for toll roads,” said Baker, who is chairman of the Florida Senate Transportation Committee. “A road to nowhere would fail.”

The deadline for Crist to approve, veto or ignore the package is June 20.

$14.5B Road Plan Approved for Nov. Ballot

SEATTLE – In a November ballot, Seattle-area residents will be deciding on a $14.5 billion roads plan officials have completed, after a compromise with environmentalists over the disputed Cross-Base Highway near Fort Lewis. The proposal for Kind, Snohomish and Pierce counties primarily funds highway projects not funded through gas taxes alone.

Included in the proposal is both partial funding for a new Highway 520 Floating Bridge and adding two lanes in each direction to I-405 from Bellevue to Renton. The proposal nearly came apart over the Cross-Base Highway, which officials cut last week under pressure. However, Pierce County Executive John Laden threatened to reject his county’s section of the highway plan unless Cross-Base was revived.

All-night negotiations ensued and officials finally compromised on spending $427 million on interchange and road projects nearby, including a minimum of $10 on environmental work. Work on the main highway cannot begin until after mediation talks in 2009, and an additional $200 million in funding must be found to complete the entire project.

The situation is politically similar to that of the Alaskan Way Viaduct…as leaders have decided to begin work on the south portion while discussions continue about whether to build a new highway in front of the central highway or vie for a surface-transit alternative.

Group Fights to Keep Transit Tax

North Carolina - A grassroots organization has formed in the Charlotte area to fight the proposed repeal of the Mecklenburg County’s half-cent sales tax which funds public transportation. The seven-member group, headed by Charlotte City Councilman Pat Mumford, plans to work on raising awareness for the need for transportation funding and the significance of public transportation in the growing region.

“If we don’t stop this repeal, we’ll be dealing with this for the next decade,” said Mumford, adding that the group has just begun fund raising and organizing for community meetings and mass mailings to fight repeal efforts until the Nov. 6 election. Opponents of light rail collected almost 49,000 signatures from registered voters on a petition ratified by the Mecklenburg Board of Elections to place the repeal on the November ballot.

The half-cent transit tax was approved in 1998, and Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory and transit and city leaders warn that a repeal could force a tax increase, impair the Charlotte Area Transit System bus operations and eradicate the possibility of CATS’ fledgling rail system. “You’d be paying more property tax for less service,” said McCrory.

Governor’s Budget Shifts $1.3B from Transit

SACRAMENTO – California’s governor is proposing to use sales tax revenue from high gas prices to balance his overall budget instead of shifting it to public transit, the outcome for which Democratic legislators are pushing. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also plans to use a bare-bones budget for the proposed high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The executive director of the long-delayed rail system said the sparse funding could finally kill the long-delayed project.

Opponents of the governor’s $1.3 billion funding shift say it conflicts with his national image of combating global warming by decreasing emissions from vehicles. “You can't pose for the cover of Newsweek as the savior of global warming one day and then turn around and slash funding for public transit the next,” said Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, after the governor issued a revised budget proposal last month.

Public transit is monetarily one of the biggest issues on the $145.9 billion budget proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger for the new fiscal year which begins July 1. The Senate gives transit all of the $1.3 billion the governor wants to shift in its version of the budget. The Assembly’s budget takes only $468 million of the transit money sought by the governor.

Governor Pushes for More Highway and Transit Money

HARRISBURG – Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday that he is anxious for a plan to be produced by the legislature to find new funding for the deficit-ridden mass transit system and deteriorating highways. “It’s June 12 and we’ve done nothing in terms of moving any significant piece of legislation,” the governor said.

His comments came amid protests at the Capital by transit riders, labor leaders, and advocates for the poor lobbying for more state funding for fare hikes, warding off layoffs, and transit agency service cuts.

House Democratic whip Rep. Keith McCall, Carbon County, said the plan his caucus is working on relies heavily on borrowing against future revenues of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to raise highway and mass transit funding. McCall said the plan may reach the $1.7 billion the Rendell-appointed commission said would be needed to improve Pennsylvania’s highway and transit systems.

House Democrat Rep. Dwight Evans, Philadelphia, has proposed a bill that would institute the oil company tax proposed by the governor to produce $760 million a year for transit agencies.

Note that one plan being advanced is to borrow against future revenues to pay for current needs. Frankly, a well thought out debt strategy makes good sense for many projects. However, if the sole purpose of incurring heavy debt is to avoid raising taxes then that strategy will ultimately put a state into the same situation as couple of them are right now, where almost all their revenue stream is dedicated to debt service. The old fiscal conservative hated raising taxes and incurring debt. The new fiscal conservative in our country still hates to raise taxes but seems more and more enamored with debt to avoid doing so. TW