In This Issue

	Unclogging California’s Carpool Lanes
	NJ Governor Voices Congestion Charge Concerns
	New Yorkers Favor Congestion Charge to Cut Transit Fares
	OK Contractor Banned from Federal Projects
	The Debate over Digital Billboards
	Governor Can’t Suspend Gas Tax
	County Agrees to Fund Rail to Dulles
	Utah Panel Passes Nearly $1B in Highway Work
	Missouri’s I-70 Toll Efforts Fail Again
	Crist Signs Privatization Bill

Unclogging California’s Carpool Lanes

California - Solo hybrid drivers using the California HOV lanes may soon find themselves back in the mainstream of traffic. The California Department of Transportation is considering restricting the number of single-occupant hybrids as a possible option to increase speeds in the HOV lanes, which often are just as clogged as the regular lanes.

Caltrans has been notified by the FHWA that some segments of California’s HOV network are out of compliance with federal law because of the congestion levels. Caltrans officials say they believe the HOV congestion is primarily due to the state’s growing population, not hybrid access.

The lanes have more stringent congestion requirements under the purview of the Federal Transportation Act, because single hybrid drivers are allowed in the HOV lanes. Caltrans has until August 31, 2007 to prepare a plan of action to fix this problem.

Possible congestion-reducing solutions Caltrans plans to consider include:

• Increasing enforcement by state highway patrol

• Adjusting vehicle entrance and exit points in car pool lanes

• Modifying hours of car pool lane operation

• Limiting hybrid access in congested areas

NJ Governor Voices Congestion Charge Concerns

New Jersey - As New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg continues to push his congestion pricing plan, New Jersey’s governor expressed concern about the proposal Thursday. Gov. Jon Corzine said the mass transit systems in New Jersey are not prepared to handle “dramatic surges” of riders.

Mayor Bloomberg says he does not expect the number of New Jersey motorists to change dramatically since they are already paying to cross the Hudson River. “So you would not expect and our modeling does not expect a large change in the number of people driving in from New Jersey,” said Bloomberg. “Our estimates are maybe a couple thousand cars fewer per day. There are about 60,000 cars that come in every day from New Jersey so it is a very small percentage and it is a very small number of people who would increase the traffic on mass transit so it is not an issue.”

Meanwhile, Port Authority Executive Director Anthony Shorris, said he is unsure of his position on the congestion fee, but that the city should keep in mind the burden the charge will put on commuters, and have the best interests of regional travelers they serve in mind. The Port Authority runs PATH trains, Hudson River crossings, and New Jersey Transit Bus terminals.

Mayor Bloomberg’s plan would charge cars $8 and trucks $21 to drive into Manhattan from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Senate could vote on an amended version of the plan as early as this week. Some state Democrats, including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, are strictly opposed to the charge.

New Yorkers Favor Congestion Charge to Cut Transit Fares

NEW YORK - Voters in New York would support a congestion charge to travel into Manhattan’s busiest areas if they prevented increases in mass-transit in mass-transit fares and tunnel and bridge tolls, according to a recent study. The Quinnipiac University poll found that while voters across the state opposed the charge 52 percent to 31 percent, they agreed to the plan 52 percent to 36 percent if the revenue fixed toll and fare rates.

State lawmakers continue to debate Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to cut greenhouse emissions by 30 percent by 2030. They must give their approval, along with Gov. Eliot Spitzer, for it to be made into law. The governor has said he agrees with the general concept of the congestion pricing plan.

“This poll clearly demonstrates that New Yorkers put top priority on an affordable and reliable mass transit system,” said Kathryn Wilde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a group of business executives. “When assured that they stand to benefit from the revenues generated by congestion pricing, the overwhelming number of people support a toll on people who choose to drive into Manhattan during the busiest times of the day.”

We usually don’t run two stories on the same topic in a week. However, the unfolding policy implications of what is going on in New York are too important not to give our readers the multi-dimensional view on congestion pricing. This is going to be a great experiment in public acceptance of a somewhat new (for the US) concept in transportation management. TW

OK Contractor Banned from Federal Projects

Oklahoma - An Oklahoma road contractor has been suspended from bidding on all federal construction projects by the FHWA. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation has been in a legal battle for over a year with Muskogee’s Glover Construction Company, saying Glover tried to save money on a stretch of U.S. Highway 64 by using substandard gravel from his own quarry.

Owner George Paul Glover claims the reason the road started falling apart before his company finished building it because of the state’s own design, and ODOT is retaliating by trying to ban him from the bidding process.

The FHWA sided with ODOT in a letter dated last week, telling Glover it hopes to make the ban permanent, citing Glover’s no contest pleas to charges of defrauding the state on the Muskogee County highway project, and intimidating a grand jury witness. The letter also mentions that Glover pled guilty to a bid rigging charge in 1984, which led to Glover being disbarred for more than a year at that time.

ODOT says FHWA’s move won’t affect its fight to permanently disbar Glover from bidding on state projects, which may take years to resolve. A Muskogee judge ruled Glover is allowed to continue bidding on state projects until the matter is concluded. Glover has filed a federal lawsuit against ODOT as well, claiming the agency violated his civil rights by trying to rob him of his livelihood.

The Debate over Digital Billboards

National - High-tech digital billboards are popping up along major thoroughfares, and the question of their safety, and effectiveness, is being debated in city halls throughout the country. Is their ability to change messages every few seconds a revolution for the billboard industry, or a distracting safety hazard to drivers?

Recently, municipalities including Atlanta; Des Moines, Iowa; Concord, N.H.; and Eden Prairie, Minn. have banned or restricted use of the signs. The FHWA is also looking into whether they are a threat to driver’s safety on interstates.

About 500 signs have been installed by the advertising industry, costing between $250,000 and $500,000 apiece. The signs are not the same as interactive, moving pictures as seen on signs in Times Square or Las Vegas. Instead, current federal regulations require that only stationary, fixed images can be posted on major highways, although the pictures can change every six to eight seconds. The industry claims the signs are widely used to promote safety through seat-belt reminders and Amber Alert messages.

The technology that makes this available to the outdoor advertising industry makes the old standard billboard outdated. If you haven’t seen one of these billboards, you can’t appreciate how dynamic the messages can be, how vibrant the colors are and, frankly, how distracting they are depending on the messages being displayed. Safety and driver distraction and general roadside visual pollution are all at play here. TW

Governor Can’t Suspend Gas Tax

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana’s governor cannot suspend the sales tax on gasoline under a 1981 state law, the attorney general’s office reported in a letter Thursday. Republican Governor Mitch Daniel’s administration was looking into the legality of the suspension of the six percent sales tax because of soaring prices at the pumps. The governor has rejected multiple requests for the break over the past couple years.

Former Gov. Frank O’Bannon used the 1981 law, declaring an “energy emergency” to temporarily suspend the gas tax in 2000. The energy emergency is defined as an “existing or projected shortfall of at least 8 percent of motor fuel or other energy sources that threatens to seriously disrupt energy supplies or diminish energy supplies to the extent that life, health or property may be jeopardized.”

Under the law, once the threshold is met and an emergency is declared, the governor can institute programs, quotas, controls, or curtailment to affect consumption or conservation of energy. While the interpretation from Republican Attorney General Steve Carter’s office is not binding as a court ruling would be, the governor’s legal counsel agreed that the law’s provision did not give the governor the authority to waive a tax law.

County Agrees to Fund Rail to Dulles

Virginia - Loudoun County has agreed to pay $240 million as its portion of the $5.2 billion second phase of Metrorail to Washington Dulles Airport. The county’s Board of Supervisor’s overwhelmingly approved the funding Tuesday with a 7-1-1 vote, with Chairman Scott York absent and Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling) voting no.

Under the three-way agreement with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and Fairfax County, Loudoun County was responsible for 4.8 percent of the project funding. On Monday, Fairfax County approved its $400 million share to kick off the first phase of the rail line.

“[Tuesday’s] approval ensures that Phase two of this project will extend west of Dulles Airport, ensuring transit and rail access to Loudoun for the first time,” said Gov. Tim Kaine (D) after the vote. The line will have 11 stations, with three in Loudoun County. Phase two construction is expected to be completed by 2016 or 2017.

Utah Panel Passes Nearly $1B in Highway Work

Utah - Nearly one-billion dollars worth of road construction projects has passed review by the Utah Transportation Commission in a meeting in St. George Wednesday. The 2007 Legislature approved 18 projects, for $913 million, under House Bill 314.

The list of primarily urban projects, created over the last three months, include $160 million for the first phase of the Mountain View Corridor on the west side of Salt Lake County and Mountain View’s $130 million east-west connector in Utah County. Legislators approved an unprecedented $90 million in General Fund taxes per year to be allocated to the fund.

Commissioner Stephen Bodily noted that the $913 million won’t fund the completion of all the projects, because some will come back for more funding in phases. The bill calls for the legislative Executive Appropriations to review the list, which UDOT predicts will happen in July.

Missouri’s I-70 Toll Efforts Fail Again

Missouri - General Assembly efforts to remove the barriers standing in the way of toll roads and bridges being built in Missouri have failed for the third year in a row. The failed measure would have allowed Missouri’s Highways and Transportation Commission to finance, build, and operate toll roads and bridges, most notably, on I-70 between St. Louis and Kansas City.

The initiative, by Sen. Matt Bartle, R-Lee’s Summit, was contingent upon an amendment to the state’s constitution which currently prohibits using state funds to build toll roads. A joint resolution was also sought by Bartle, amending the state constitution to give the highway commission the power it needed. Both efforts were still in the Senate Transportation Committee when the session ended, thus killing them for this year.

If the measure had made it through the legislature, alterations to the constitution require voter approval as well. Missouri has been given approval by the FHWA to toll existing interstate facilities, including I-70, because it cannot be sufficiently maintained or improved otherwise. State transportation officials have often asked legislators for a tolling authority, but lawmakers have refused to let it proceed to the ballot. Transportation officials say tolls may be the only way to pay for widening the 250-mile stretch between the two cities.

Crist Signs Privatization Bill

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Charlie Crist signed a bill to allow private companies to build and operate toll roads Wednesday because he said it would help relieve congestion on Florida highways, even though he didn’t approve of the provision for automatic toll increases. Environmentalists rallied in opposition of the new law, saying it encourage the construction of unnecessary roads and increase urban sprawl. Other critics argued that it would result in higher tolls.

The governor said more toll roads would allow drivers to choose to pay for a congestion-free ride. Under the new law, the state can lease toll roads to private consortiums, with the exception of Florida’s Turnpike and permits them to build and operate new ones. Leases would typically be a maximum of 50 years, but could stretch as long as 75 with legislative approval. Automatic toll increases to keep up with inflation are also allowed under the bill.