In This Issue

	Road Plan Attracts Big Contributors
	NYC Seeks Solutions for Congestion Issues
	Tenn. 385 Completion Faces Delays
	Oberstar: ‘Bridge Maintenance is in the Stone Age’
	Report Looks at Rush-Hour Toll Hike
	Major Contractor Backs out of I-35W Bidding
	Truckers say Toll Lanes Plan is Illegal
	Transportation Funding a Top Priority, says Maryland Gov.
	Private Co. Offers Plan for East-West Highway

Road Plan Attracts Big Contributors

A massive road and mass transit measure on the Seattle-area November ballot is drawing contributions from major businesses, including the Seattle Mariners and Microsoft Corp. The $17.7 billion Keep Washington Rolling campaign received $200,000 from Microsoft, and the Mariners contributed $75,000. Campaign-related donations received by construction companies and related firms so far total about $690,000, according to records from the state Public Disclosure Commission.

King, Pierce and Snohomish county voters will decide on $6.9 billion in road construction for projects and $10.8 billion in mass transit projects to add 50 miles of light rail. The plan is to be funded by sales and motor vehicle excise taxes.

Other large contributors to the campaign include PEMCO Mutual Insurance Co., the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties and the Washington Association of Realtors, which have each donated $50,000. Many of the contributions to Keep Washington Rolling have come from construction companies or related businesses that will benefit from the public spending the measure would authorize.

Rebecca Hale, spokesperson for the Seattle Mariners, said team surveys show that fans care about transportation. “On any given game, over half of our fans are coming from outside King County,” Hale said. “They’re traveling more than an hour to get here. We want our fans to be able to get to the ball park.”

NYC Seeks Solutions for Congestion Issues

New York is seeking firms which have the ability to execute most or all of the services necessary to design, implement, operate and maintain a congestion pricing plan for New York City, Mayor Michael R. Blooomberg announced Monday. Responses to the Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) will give the New York City Traffic Mitigation Congestion Commission and other local officials information on the process by which a congestion plan could be implemented.

“The Traffic Mitigation Congestion Commission will examine our plan and other pricing plans, and the responses from firms with the right technological expertise will be useful to demonstrate in detail how such a plan may be implemented,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “If we are going to meet the required implementation date of March 31, 2009 to receive $354.5 million in federal funds, we have to begin planning now.”

Bloomberg first unveiled the congestion charge plan in April 2007, and in July, a law to create the New York City Congestion Mitigation Commission was approved by the State Legislature and Gov. Eliot Spitzer. New York was one of several cities chosen by the federal government to receive grants for congestion relief efforts. The City’s congestion pricing proposal will be reviewed by the commission, as well as develop alternative congestion mitigation plans.

Tenn. 385 Completion Faces Delays

Tennessee’s 385 outer loop around suburban Memphis could be facing several years of construction delays because of escalating costs and dwindling federal funding, state officials report. Despite two segments opening this month, Tennessee Department of Transportation officials say the current timetable with a 2012 opening may be optimistic.

“With the rescission in federal funds along with escalation in costs,” it might take longer, said TDOT regional director Chuck Rychen. The highway already connects Collierville with I-240 and I-40 with Millington, and will eventually provide an outer loop for the Memphis area. Local transportation officials expect the route to divert truck traffic away from clogged I-240.

The final phases have yet to be contracted, and with an 11-mile gap remaining in the loop, the project has been plagued by federal funding cuts. Over the last two years, the federal government has taken back about $170 million that TDOT had been authorized to spend, said Rychen. These cutbacks are part of the Congress-mandated cutback of $3.84 billion nationwide in 2006.

The soaring costs of steel, asphalt and other materials has added to TDOT’s woes, increasing construction costs by 10 percent annually. Rychen says inflation is one of the reasons it is difficult for the department to determine an accurate cost estimate for the remaining segments of Tenn. 385.

Oberstar: ‘Bridge Maintenance is in the Stone Age’

MINNEAPOLIS – Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, met with editorial writers for the Minneapolis Star Tribune last week to discuss the Interstate 35W bridge collapse. Reporters asked the representative what the federal response should be, as President Bush has rejected Oberstar’s earlier suggestion of a gasoline tax increase.

In his response, Oberstar cited testimony from Dec. 1, 1987, from two days of hearings on bridge safety. “Our national bridge program is in serious trouble. The safety of millions of Americans have been jeopardized by inept federal stewardship over our bridge inspection and rebuilding effort. States have misspent millions of federal aid bridge dollars through dereliction of their responsibilities to the traveling public. One of the most fundamental defects is the persistent failure of states to perform reliable, cost-effective maintenance of our bridges in compliance with federal statutory responsibilities. Bridge maintenance is in the Stone Age.”

That was 20 years ago ... and very little has been done [by various administrations, Congress or the states]. It has only gotten worse. So this disaster is not really a wake-up call, it's a reawakening.”

Oberstar has proposed an initiative to repair the nation’s 154,000 deficient bridges in the nation. “This is an opportunity. We should raise the standards on deficiency, raise the standards for inspections and the federal oversight of state responsibilities, and develop a formula for rating deficient bridges based on threat to public safety, risk, importance to mobility. We need new ratings, state by state, a ranking of those most critical to be repaired.” He recommends that ratings be done by the FHWA and the states and validated by the National Research Council.

Oberstar wants that formula to include a state’s commitment to provide matching share to federal dollars. He has proposed a 5-cent gas tax increase over the next three years to create a separate Bridge Reconstruction Trust Fund which would provide a dedicated revenue stream.

Report Looks at Rush-Hour Toll Hike

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Legislature is hoping to use gas tax increases and new tolls on highways like I-93 to pay to fix the state’s crumbling infrastructure and deteriorating roads. Lawmakers are looking at adding tolls to I-93, and increasing them during rush hour.

The ideas come from a draft report presented to the Legislature by the Transportation Finance Commission. The Commission, created by the Legislature, released initial reports last winter that disclosed a $15 billion to $19 billion state funding deficit for maintaining transportation facilities over the next two decades. The report indicates that a gas tax hike would only be a short-term revenue boost, with income declining as gasoline consumption decreases with new technologies and hybrid vehicles.

The report’s recommendations are still preliminary, and could change before the official release. However, the commission has vowed to propose solutions which could essentially alter the way transportation is funded by the state over the next 20 years.

Major Contractor Backs out of I-35W Bidding

One of the largest general contractors in the nation has withdrawn from the bidding process for the construction of the new Interstate 35W bridge. Kiewit, of Omaha, Nebraska, headed a joint venture with Traylor Bros. and Massman Construction, before informing the Minnesota Department of Transportation that it would not submit a bid for the project.

Kiewit would not comment on its decision not to bid on the project, which could exceed $250 million, however company spokesman Kent Grisham said he was confident the four remaining bidders were well-qualified for the work. Kiewit is regarded as a top contractor in the transportation industry, having just finished work on the largest U.S. suspension bridge in 40 years, Washington’s Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

“My reaction is surprise, because a player like that you’d think would be in it,” said Tim Worke of Associated General Contractors of Minnesota. He speculated that a possible reason for pulling out might partially be due to the lack of connections with local suppliers and subcontractors. Composing a bid on an accelerated schedule can also be costly for contractors, so MnDOT has offered contractors who submit qualified bids a $400,000 stipend for their efforts, as long as the company gives design rights to the department.

Bids are due September 18th, and state officials hope to have the bridge open by the end of 2008. The state is offering up to a $27 million bonus if work is completed ahead of schedule.

Truckers say Toll Lanes Plan is Illegal

The trucking industry is putting up a fight against the giant toll lane project along I-75 and I-575 in Georgia. Lawyers representing the trucking industry and freight companies have notified the state Department of Transportation that they believe the current draft plan for the toll road is illegal under both federal and state law, as well as ill advised.

Karlene Barron, a DOT spokesperson, said the allegations are “significant” but not unanticipated in the progression of such a massive and revolutionary project. The dispute could threaten or delay the $4 billion project to fight congestion in Cobb and Cherokee counties by constructing truck-only lanes, HOV/toll lanes, and bus rapid transit.

The Southern Environmental Law Center, writing on behalf of itself and seven other groups opposed a federally mandated draft report on alternatives for the project because no alternatives to truck lanes are presented. The SELC also contended that rail should be presented as an alternative to buses for the transit component.

Barron said the state is carefully considering the comments made by the interest groups, and no decision on what to build has been finalized. “This is not meant to be the end of it,” she said, emphasizing the report was just a draft.

Transportation Funding a Top Priority, says Maryland Gov.

A major transportation-funding bill for Maryland is one of the top objectives for next year’s legislative session, Gov. Martin O’Malley has announced. He said he is concerned about the safety of the state’s bridges following the Minneapolis bridge collapse, and the state needs a major transportation-spending initiative to improve the state’s infrastructure.

O’Malley did not offer any possible funding sources or cost estimates for the upgrades in the state, which normally spends about $2 billion annually on transportation. Currently transportation is paid for through a separate account from the general fund, although the fund is facing a $1.5 billion budget deficit next year, according to the Washington Post.

Maryland transportation officials estimate $600 million is needed in annual revenues to stay on top of the state’s needs over the next 20 years. They say at a minimum, state fuel tax rates should be increased on a periodic basis to keep up with increasing construction costs. Currently, the tax brings in about $800 million in annual revenues.

Nearly every state is looking for more money to fund transportation improvements. Whether it’s the Tri-County ballot initiative, the proposed toll roads in Georgia and Maine or congestion pricing, they all speak to the lengths leaders are going to in order to solve this increasingly difficult problem. No single answer fits every state or circumstance. In fact, the solution in any given state probably does lie in multiple strategies. TW

Private Co. Offers Plan for East-West Highway

BANGOR, Maine – A private company with a vested interest in building a long-debated east-west highway is attempting to speed up the debate by submitting its own proposal for the toll road between Calais and Coburn Gore. Cianbro Corp. president and CEO, Peter Vigue presented to the plan to transportation officials last week, catching them by surprise.

A taxpayer-funded highway is not a possibility, Vigue told the Chamber of Commerce, so his plan calls for the highway to be paid for with tolls. He said his proposal got a “thumbs up” from a New York bank when he pitched it to them. Under the plan, three privately held roads would complete the route from Calais through Dover-Foxcroft to Coburn Gore.

Approximately 1,000 heavy American and Canadian trucks drive through Calais each day, and are banned from the interstate because of their weight. Vigue believes the highway would significantly reduce travel time, costs and fuel emissions for these truckers. “The largest investors in this state in the last 10 years are the Canadians. Let’s accept it, embrace it, understand it. We’re not competitors,” Vigue said. He expressed his frustration with state and federal government officials over their failure to get the road built. “We can talk about it, we can stir it up and we can study it till the cows come home. It will not happen,” Vigue told the nearly 250 business leaders.

MDOT Commissioner David Cole said the department will need to study the proposal before offering an opinion.

CA High-Speed Rail Forges Ahead

SAN DIEGO – The high-speed rail authority is forging ahead with the proposed 700-mile high-speed train from San Diego to the Bay Area, despite new state budgets cuts in the project’s funding, rail officials asserted Saturday. However, engineering and design work will be restricted by the 2008 fiscal year allocation which is only a third of the $60 million requested by the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

Rail officials are holding out hope for a $10 billion bond issue for the project expected to be on the California ballots in November 2008. “This project has great momentum and we will move the project forward responsibly and quickly so that voters can confidently approve the $9.95 billion bond next year,” said Mehdi Morshed, executive director of the Rail Authority.

The authority will use the $20.7 million budget to complete environmental analysis in the Bay Area and select a preferred route, said Morshed. The electric trains would travel at 220 mph, carrying passengers from Los Angeles to San Francisco in under three hours.