In This Issue

	Voters Prefer Toll Hikes to Tax Increase
	Federal Grant Hinges on 520 Bridge Tolls
	Minn. Looks at Preliminary Bridge Designs
	Oklahoma Contractor Loses Round in Highway Battle
	San Francisco to get Congestion Pricing
	NC Turnpike Authority Looks at Private Investors
	Big Dig Tunnel Leak Critique is Withheld

Voters Prefer Toll Hikes to Tax Increase

TRENTON – Most voters would prefer higher tolls instead of increased property tax to help pay off state debt, according to a recent Rutgers-Eagleton poll. New Jersey governor Jon S. Corzine has mentioned the prospect of using toll revenue to relieve the state’s increasing debt.

“If the governor can convince voters that there is a fiscal crisis, and that the only alternatives are increases in tolls or taxes, or service cuts, then he might begin to turn things around,” said Tim Vercellotti, poll director at the Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics. “But he has not made the case yet.”

The poll, released Tuesday, found that 64 percent of voters oppose raising tolls to pay off state debt. However, 44 percent of voters would take toll hikes over higher property taxes; 28 percent would opt for service cuts, and just 9 percent would take higher taxes.

Although Gov. Corzine has not yet released a plan to decrease the debt, he will likely establish a nonprofit corporation to manage the toll roads. The agency could borrow against future revenue, and toll increases would be used to pay off the bonds. The governor could face an uphill battle though, as 61 percent of voters oppose creating a nonprofit organization to operate state toll roads, and state Republicans have launched a campaign against any proposal, hoping to gain control of the Legislature in November.

What I found intriguing about this story was the statistics about how voters felt. 44% would take tolls over an increase in property taxes (perennially the most hated tax in our system). Only 28% would suggest service cuts although if it meant something they were very invested, then I suppose they would not like to have those services cut. Finally, 9% would raise taxes to fix New Jersey’s financial problems. To sum up: we don’t want to cut services and we don’t want to raise taxes. TW

Federal Grant Hinges on 520 Bridge Tolls

King County, Wash. - Washington will receive a $138.7 million federal grant for the Evergreen Point Bridge if the state decides to toll the old Highway 520 floating bridge, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters announced Tuesday. King County would use the grant money for new buses for the county’s transit system, tolling equipment, telecommuting projects and message signs to help relieve congestion in the Seattle area.

Tolls would be instituted no later than September 2009, according to an agreement among the Washington Department of Transportation, King County, the Puget Sound Regional Council, and the U.S. Department of Transportation. It is now up to state lawmakers to decide on the issue of tolls for both the 520 bridge and I-90 at the next legislative session.

Tolls must be in place on state Route 520, which crosses Lake Washington, by the 2009 deadline or all but $1.1 million in planning money will be forfeited, transportation officials said. State, county and local officials said the grant reflects federal officials’ recognition that the Seattle-King County area has some of the worst congestion in the nation.

Minn. Looks at Preliminary Bridge Designs

MINNEAPOLIS – Politicians in Minnesota are looking at preliminary ideas for replacing the I-35W Bridge, which collapsed into the Mississippi River Aug. 1. The Minneapolis City Council gave a lukewarm reception to the state department of transportation’s plan to build five lanes in each direction to replace the old four-lane version. City leaders’ hesitation may delay the state’s fast track schedule, which would have the bridge up by end of next year.

Some local officials disagree with the state’s accelerated plan, saying it could compromise safety and longevity, as well as overlook the necessary elements for a memorial. Lucy Kender, MnDOT spokesperson, disagreed, saying a speedy replacement does not mean a poor quality replacement. “The bridge, on a major interstate in a major metropolitan area, is a key link to the whole interstate program throughout the entire nation,” Kender said. “Our economy, our society here, needs that bridge back up.”

City leaders also complained that the bridge design did not contain plans for future light rail, which they say would save money by constructing it along with the bridge. Transportation officials worry that adding a light rail line would not be covered by the federal relief money they hope will pay the $200 million to $250 million cost of the new span. Minnesota was also recently approved for a separate $133 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation for congestion relief on I-35W south of the collapsed bridge.

Oklahoma Contractor Loses Round in Highway Battle

MUSKOGEE, Okla. – An Oklahoma appeals court has dismissed a court order that had allowed a road contractor to continue bidding on state projects despite being banned by the state department of transportation. The agency suspended Paul Glover and Glover Construction Company from bidding on state projects after a no contest plea to conspiracy and witness intimidation charges.

The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals said Glover had other avenues of appeal before seeking the injunction to allow the company to continue bidding on projects. ODOT accused Glover of using unauthorized materials on three highway reconstruction projects in the state, including one on U.S. Highway 64 between Warner and Muskogee, which had to be redone.

The order by the appeals court states that the Oklahoma Transportation Commission “shall be the sole judge of the qualifications of prospective bidders” and “shall ascertain, to their exclusive satisfaction, the qualifications of each pre-qualified bidder.” Glover has a debarment hearing scheduled for Aug. 29 at the Oklahoma Transportation Commission with an independent hearing officer.

San Francisco to get Congestion Pricing

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco will soon receive nearly $159 million in federal transportation funds to help fight congestion on the city’s streets. The city was awarded the money for its submission of a plan to combine congestion pricing with other technical and infrastructure improvements to result in “faster commutes and less stress,” said Mary Peters, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the grant announcement Tuesday.

About $35 million of the funding will go to the reconstruction and implementation of a congestion charge on Doyle Drive, an elevated roadway leading to the Golden Gate Bridge. Motorists will be charged a variable toll based on the time of the day they drive on the roadway. San Francisco transit authorities are also considering a toll to drive into the downtown area. The rest of the federal grant money will go toward new parking meters and signal controller technology to give buses priority at intersections, and the creation of a payment card system for motorists to use at parking meters, city garages, bus fares and other commuter fees.

Twenty-six cities across the nation applied for federal funding to combat congestion, and San Francisco was one of five cities chosen to receive funding. Minneapolis, Seattle, Miami and New York City will also receive federal money to help implement congestion plans.

NC Turnpike Authority Looks at Private Investors

RALEIGH – The North Carolina Turnpike Authority has chosen to consider another option to build toll roads in the state: Plan B would look into using private financing to fund the roads. Plan A was to receive legislative funding, but lawmakers shelved that plan this year.

The estimated cost of the first proposed toll road is nearly a billion dollars, and tolls and bonds should pay for 75 percent of it. The final 25 percent equals $250 million, for which lawmakers rejected funding two weeks ago.

“People don’t give you $250 million without a cost attached to it. They want something in return and that’s something we have to evaluate – what are those costs,” explained David Joyner, the director of the Turnpike Authority. The authority voted on Wednesday to consider having private investors front the money while the state kept control of the project and the toll rates.

“It’s more like a second mortgage than anything I could describe and it’s just private money,” Joyner added. “There’s a lot of private capital out there in the marketplace that’s being used to build infrastructure.”

Big Dig Tunnel Leak Critique is Withheld

BOSTON - After a state report downplayed the magnitude of leaks which have caused almost 2 million gallons of water to flow into a Big Dig Tunnel each month, Wednesday, state leaders chose not to release a two-page critique of the report prepared by an independent engineering firm, according to the Boston Globe. In the state report, officials said the amount of water pumped out of the Thomas P. O’Neill Jr. tunnel had been reduced by 50% since 2003 and the amount of water running into it is below “industry guidelines.”

Michael P. Lewis, state director of the $15 billion Big Dig project, delivered the 19 page report via power point presentation to a closed meeting with the Turnpike Authority Board on July 17. Bernard Cohen, state transportation secretary and Turnpike Authority board chairman, hired engineering firm Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, to review Lewis’ analysis. Wiss, Janney, Elstner was also contracted last year to conduct a safety review on the project after a ceiling collapse.

Although state officials had originally promised to release the Wiss, Janney, Elstner report as well as the one from Lewis, as of Wednesday, no report was forthcoming. On July 1, the Boston Globe reported an 18 percent increase in the amount of water leaking through the O’Neill tunnel from the first quarter of last year. The Turnpike Authority spokesman responded to this report by saying the leaks “are an issue we will have to deal with for the foreseeable future.”

Under the authority’s environmental permits, 36,000 gallons of water is permitted to be pumped from the tunnels each month.