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May 26, 2017

INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDS * USA: Outlined $146 billion investment

* DC - Infrastructure spending could slash high U.S. traffic death rate

--- The nation’s roadways are getting even deadlier as federal, state and local governments stare down an expansive list of long-overdue infrastructure improvements... In the U.S., close to 11 of every 100,000 people die each year in fatal traffic crashes. By comparison, Sweden, which is considered to have the safest roads in the world, has a fatality rate of fewer than 3 per 100,000 people. It is clear the U.S. is missing the mark in roadway safety...
... The AAA Foundation’s research recommended six cost-effective roadway improvements with the greatest potential to reduce both the likelihood and consequences of crashes. Making the outlined improvements at a cost of $146 billion has the potential to save 63,700 lives and prevent 353,560 serious injuries over 20 years... The $146 billion investment outlined in the report will have a significant national-level impact, but increased investment is required at all levels of government to improve our transportation infrastructure... The outlined safety improvements, along with other improvements such as technology advancements, effective traffic laws and increased enforcement, and continuous public education, will make our roads safer. We must commit to investing and improving our nation’s roadway and transportation infrastructure – it could be a matter of life or death... 
Washington, DC, USA - Trucks.com, by C. Y. David Yang (executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety) - 25 May 2017

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May 25, 2017

RAISING STATE TAXES * USA: To truking Cos.

* Tennessee - Trucking Companies say additional fuel costs worth it for improved infrastructure
---  The IMPROVE act will raise the state gas tax by 6 cents on unleaded and 10 cents on diesel, phased in over three years. The plan was coupled with tax cuts, including reductions in franchise and excise taxes on businesses, a decrease in the Hall tax on interest and dividends and a drop in the food tax from 5 percent to 4 percent...While some businesses remained opposed to the increase, many Memphis companies said it was long overdue, including one of the most important employers in the city. FedEx Corp. operates fleets of vehicles that travel Tennessee’s roads, including delivery vehicles and freight trucks. “On behalf of FedEx, the IMPROVE Act will provide funding to make Tennessee’s roads and bridges safer,” FedEx spokesman Jack Pfeiffer said. “These investments in critical infrastructure will drive economic growth and job creation across our state” ... 
(Photo from Daily New, by Andrew J. Breig - Congestion on Lamar Avenue costs trucking companies time and fuel, and some say it adversely impacts driver turnover rates)   --  Memphis, TENN, USA - The Memphis Daily News, by JODY CALLAHAN - May 23, 2017

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Apr 7, 2017

INFRASTRUCTURES * USA: The world’s largest tunnel drill

* Washington - Bertha’s breakthrough just ‘halftime’ for tunnel project

 --- After nearly four years for boring under downtown Seattle, Bertha emerged into daylight on Tuesday in South Lake Union... The world’s largest tunnel drill has halted for cleanup work, after it spent Tuesday morning kicking up dust and grinding into daylight... Workers and politicians celebrated, but a lot of work remains before motorists drive the double-deck, four-lane tunnel, says a project administrator... AND ... Who pays what may take years to resolve... State Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, last week filed a bill that would withhold state revenue sharing for transportation, liquor and marijuana taxes for health programs, and municipal courts unless Seattle pays any future cost overruns... The state’s 2009 legislation approving a tunnel said excess state costs would be borne by property owners who benefit, and “a promise is a promise,” Orcutt argues... 
Seattle, WASH, USA - The Seattle Times, by Mike Lindblom - April 5, 2017

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Apr 5, 2017

TRUCKING & INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDS * Australia: Discussions

* Victoria - Pallas says trucking in not paying its way on infrastructure


--- Tim Pallas, Victorian treasurer, has taken an opposite view to the industry on the cost burden. Pallas has rejected the trucking industry’s position that it overcompensates for the use and building of road infrastructure... The assertion comes as the nation’s highest-profile industry figure and Pallas have taken to mainstream media over the state government’s truck-centric tolling strategy... In an ongoing argument over toll increases of up to 125 per cent on Melbourne’s Transurban-run CityLink route, Linfox founder Lindsay Fox, argues "residential streets should remain residential" and not be subject to truck traffic, but this must be supported by upgrades to Victorian infrastructure... 
(Photo: Infrastructures in Victoria, Australia) -- Melbourne, VIC, Australia - ATN - 3 April 2017
* Victoria - Pledge for local truck bans with West Gate Tunnel
--- Industry says advice ignored as Victorian government forces more costs on operators, about its newly named West Gate Tunnel Project, the former Western Distributor, the trucking industry digested more cost increases and the crimping of its ability to transport goods in Melbourne... The carrot of twin tunnels between the Westgate Freeway’s western West Gate Bridge approaches and the Port of Melbourne has been accompanied by the sticks of new forced tolls and the permanent banning of routes through Footscray... It has not gone down well with Victorian Transport Association (VTA), which notes the industry is "already under financial attack from disproportionate CityLink toll increases, higher registration and user charges and razor thin operating margins", while Container Transport Alliance Australia (CTAA) is calling for a ‘fair go’ on toll pricing for the link... 

(Photo: West Gate Tunnel Project announcement has left the industry deeply concerned)  --   Melbourne, VIC, Australia - ATN - 3 April 2017

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Sep 4, 2016

INFRASTRUCTURES' FUNDS * USA: Government grant funds

* DC - Two FHWA grants to help fund road use fee pilot projects

--- The Federal Highway Administration Thursday announced $14.2 million in grants for states under a new program to explore alternative revenue mechanisms to help sustain the long-term solvency of the Highway Trust Fund. The Surface Transportation System Funding Alternatives (STSFA) grant program will fund projects to test the design, implementation and acceptance of user-based alternative revenue mechanisms. One of the grants in the amount of $1,49 million to the State of Delaware will help fund a study to test a mileage-based user fee system for road users that could eliminate the future need for motor fuel taxes in collaboration with members of the I-95 Corridor Coalition. Another is a $2.1 million grant to the Oregon Department of Transportation for improvements to that state’s existing road usage charge program... 
(The Trucker file photo - One of the FHWA grants will go to Delaware to test a mileage-based user fee system, another to Oregon to expand its road usage charge pilot program)   --   Washington, DC, USA - The Trucker News Services - 31 Aug 2016

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May 17, 2016

TRUCK LANES * USA: Are they solution?

* California - Are truck lanes part of solution to worsening congestion?

--- With goods movement from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach expected to double in the next decade, logistics industry experts are looking at ways to address an expected tsunami of freight through the region’s already congested freeways and streets... Among infrastructure improvement ideas applauded by local truckers rolling through the Inland Empire are efforts by transportation officials to widen the freeways and fix potholes and a proposal to introduce dedicated truck lanes... Local officials have been developing plans for new toll lanes, wider freeways, safer on- and off-ramps and more rail transit opportunities – some of which are under construction... Dedicated truck toll lanes have been proposed by Southern California transportation officials, but to build them, according to the SANBAG’s online post, the public cost is likely to exceed $5 billion, of which at least $1.2 billion would be for truck lanes within San Bernardino County... 
(Photos, by David Bauman - Big rigs travel up the incline on I-215 near the junction with the 60 last month. Truckers say they favor truck-only lanes, both to help other traffic move more quickly and to promote road safety)   --   Los Angeles, CAL, USA - The Press Enterprise, by Neil Nisperos - May 15, 2016

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May 2, 2016

TOLLING TRUCKS * USA: Fair and reasonable ?

* Connecticut: Make truckers pay for road damage

---  Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is on the right track when he says he’s considering imposing tolls for big trucks moving on state roads in order to help fund his ambitious 30-year, $100 billion transportation plan... The Federal Highway Administration is currently considering Rhode Island’s plan, while the trucking lobby seeks to block the program in the federal bureaucracy or in court... Large trucks do serious damage to roads and bridges, with some analysts saying they are responsible for as much as 99 percent of the wear and tear, even though they represent less than 10 percent of total traffic volume... But the reality is that trucking hasn’t been paying its fair share for decades. One Washington think tank 10 years ago said that if trucking were to cover all of its direct expenses, including congestion, pollution and highway damage, the per-gallon federal diesel tax would have to be 69 cents (compared with today’s 24.4 cents) and trucks would also have to pay between 7 and 20 cents for every mile traveled... While trucks are vital to our consumer-driven economy, that shouldn’t exempt them from helping pay to maintain the very infrastructure that allows that industry to dominate the freight delivery business... Consumers will end up paying for those tolls through increases in the cost of the products they buy. But the highway damage will occur in any event, and allowing truckers to pulverize state roads without paying tolls unfairly shifts the total burden to state taxpayers. Just as in Rhode Island, the majority of the trucks that travel Connecticut’s roads are simply passing through on the way to somewhere else, but leave behind huge repair bills for state taxpayers... Tolling trucks is a fair and reasonable way to get the vehicles that cause most of the wear and tear on Connecticut’s roads to pay to maintain them...
 (Photo: Council busy repairing roads)   --   New Hampshire, CONN, USA - The Day, by Howard Abramson - May 01. 2016

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Apr 27, 2016

TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDS * Australia

* Victoria - Has transport infrastructure focus in Budget

-- Public transport spending the main game as roads also get a boost... The Victorian Budget has big ticket transport infrastructure spending to tackle congestion with the exception being anything for a northern connection between the Western Ring Road and the Eastlink freeway... While the other road-related spending will be welcome, that connection is dear to the industry, other road-user groups and local residents... The Budget provides $7 billion in total for road projects including duplicating Yan Yean Rd and Thompsons Rd, building the Western Distributor, upgrading the Monash Freeway, streamlining Hoddle Street, and for other projects to improve road safety and reduce congestion... 
(Map: Project to link, the Western Ring Road and the Eastlink freeway, Victoria, Australia) -- Melbourne, VIC, Australia - Fully Loaded/ATN - 27 April 2016

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Apr 22, 2016

INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDS * USA: The Portland Heavy Vehicle Use Tax

* Oregon - City Officials want truckers to pay $2.5 Million yearly for street upkeep

-- As it works to convince you to institute a 10-cent gas tax on May 17, City Hall wants everyone to know it's not letting enormous trucks off for free. Sure, those trucks wouldn't have to pay the tax, but now we've got our first look at how the city will look to make them pony up... The Portland Bureau of Transportation is circulating a proposal for a "Portland Heavy Vehicle Use Tax" that would tack on an additional percentage to the state fees truckers already pay... By taxing 2.8 percent of the weight-mile fee trucking outfits pay the state for their abuse of state roads, the city thinks it can pull in the $2.5 million a year it says is heavy trucks' fair share of road repair. Taken in tandem with the gas tax on the ballot next month, the plan could result in $18.5 million a year targeted to city streets in the next four years—a fraction of Portland's estimated need for road repairs, but also the most progress Portland's seen toward corralling more cash for transportation in a decade or more... Even if the gas tax fails, PBOT says, the business tax plan will move forward. Truckers have said they oppose it... Portland City Council will take up the new tax May 4, according to PBOT spokesperson John Brady. It doesn't require a vote of the people to go into law, he says...
Portland, ORE, USA - The Portland Mercury, by Dirk VanderHart - Apr 19, 2016

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Sep 15, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDS * New Zealand - State or Trucking Industries?

* Whangarei - Logging and trucking industries asked to pay $132k

-- Logging and trucking industries will be asked to cough up cash to help solve a dusty road problem that has had residents up in arms for more than a decade... Whangarei District Council had allocated $400,000 over the next two years to seal ten 100m strips along the notoriously dusty Wright, McCardle and Pipiwai roads west of Whangarei, though the work was expected to cost $532,000, said WDC roading manager Jeff Devine... Ken Shirley, chief executive of New Zealand Road Transport Forum, said there was no mechanism for councils to get extra money from the trucking industry and that roads were already funded on a "user pays" basis through road user charges, fuel excise duties and oil motor registrations... However Far North District Council's manager of transport operations Wil Pille said sections of Diggers Valley Rd, Pipiwai Rd and Piccadilly Rd had been sealed with good faith contributions from the forestry industry - a similar outcome to what WDC hoped for... The companies had also agreed to voluntary speed restrictions...
(Photo by Graham Wright - Truck-generated dust at Pipiwai near Whangarei has been an ongoing issue for more than 10 years) -- Whangarei, NZ - The Northern Advocate, by Alexandra Newlove - Sep 14, 2015

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Jul 27, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURE'S FUNDS DISCUSSION * USA

* California - Conservative group offers ‘trucker-friendly’ toll plan, ATA says plan anti-truck

-- The Reason Foundation said the entire transportation system needs to be rebuilt and paid for using truck and car tolls. ATA, however, dismisses the Reason Foundations’ report and its findings... A new study by a libertarian think tank/foundation advances the idea of what it calls “truck-friendly tolls” to pay for repairing and expanding the nation’s aging interstate highway system, but a leading trucking organization says the concept discriminates against truckers and calls tolls inefficient... The Reason Foundation, which has strong libertarian leanings and is based in Los Angeles, says in its report, Truck-Friendly Tolls for 21st Century Interstates that much of our system of highways needs replacing – not just repairing – and claims a projected 40 percent increase in truck traffic will require some expansion. That would cost almost $1 trillion, according to the report authored by Reason founder Robert W. Poole, Jr. ... To pay for these major projects, Poole’s report says, “…most states could finance the replacement and selective widening of their long-distance Interstates with tolls of 3.5 cents/mile for cars and other light vehicles and 14 cents/mile for large trucks, as long as those toll rates were indexed for inflation” ... The Senate voted late Wednesday to allow a vote on the six-year DRIVE Act highway bill that, if enacted, would remove from public view carrier ... That would be made possible, according to the report, with expanded use of electronic toll systems such as Bestpass and Prepass Plus. Tolls would apply to all users – trucks and cars alike – driving on all interstates... The ATA said it believes the best way to finance infrastructure improvements is through fuel taxes... 
(Photo: Interstate-highway)   --   Los Angeles, CAL, USA - CCJ, by David Hollis - July 23, 2015

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Jul 18, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES FUND * USA: Bill provide $8 billion to keep transportation aid flowing

* DC - House passes MAP-21 extension bill. The five-month measure buy more time for a longer measure
-- The House passed a bill Wednesday to temporarily shore up funding for transportation programs and prevent a shutdown in highway and transit aid to states at the end of this month. But Senate Republicans are trying to cobble together a longer-term bill that could provide money for several years... The House bill would provide $8 billion to keep transportation aid flowing through Dec. 18 while lawmakers work on a long-term bill... 
Washington, DC, USA - The Associated Press/The Trucker, by JOAN LOWY and DAVID ESPO - 16 July 2015


* DC - Senate proposes trucking regulatory package to attach to long-term highway bill

-- The Senate’s committee on transportation and commerce is scheduled to take up Wednesday, July 15, an expansive transportation regulatory reform package that calls for the removal of CSA scores from public view, allows hair testing to satisfy driver drug testing requirements and allows under-21 CDL holders to drive interstate, among other stipulations... The regulatory package would be a companion piece to the six-year highway bill, the DRIVE Act, already passed by the Senate’s Environmental and Public Works Committee... Debate and voting on the Comprehensive Transportation and Consumer Protection Act would remove scores in the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program from public view...
Washington, DC, USA - Truck News, by James Jaillet - July 15, 2015

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Jun 5, 2015

WHITE HOUSE VETO * USA: For the annual appropiations package including trucking rules

* DC - White House ‘strongly objects’ to trucking provisions in T-HUD; veto likely

-- Even as a House committee gave it a procedural go-ahead, a funding bill that contains several provisions sought by the trucking industry would likely face a veto, the White House said Monday... The annual appropriations package for the Transportation and the Housing departments, includes policy riders that would extend a suspension of the restart rules contained in the 2013 change in hours of service, would permit twin 33-foot trailers on Interstates, and would block an increase in carrier financial responsibility minimums... The trucking provisions are not the only reason the White House objects to H.B. 2527. It also holds that the level of funding for surface transportation is too low and would result in decreased infrastructure investment... 
Washington, DC, USA - Fleet Owner, by Kevin Jones - Jun 2, 2015

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TRUCKING INDUSTRY COSTS * USA - To the society: $ 128 billions yearly

* DC -Trucking Industry imposes their costs to society every year

-- During National Infrastructure Week earlier this month, we again endured what has become a common refrain of woe about crumbling bridges, structurally deficient roads, and a lack of federal funding for infrastructure. This call for alarm was quickly followed by yet another Congressional band-aid for the nearly bankrupt highway trust fund — and this one will hold for just sixty days... It’s clear that our transportation finance system is broken. To make up the deficit, politicians frequently call for increased user fees — through increased taxes on gasoline, vehicle miles traveled, or even bikes. All the while, one of the biggest users of the transportation network — the trucking industry — has been rolling down the highway fueled by billions in federal subsidies... A new report from the Congressional Budget Office estimates that truck freight causes more than $58 to $129 billion annually in damages and social costs in the form of wear and tear on the roads, crashes, congestion and pollution — an amount well above and beyond what trucking companies currently pay in taxes...
There’s a clear lesson here: It may seem like we have a shortage of infrastructure, or lack the funding to pay for the transportation system, but the fact that truck freight is so heavily subsidized means that there’s a lot more demand (and congestion) on the the roads that there would be if trucks actually paid their way. On top of that, there’d be a lot more money to cover the cost of the system we already have.
So the next time someone laments the sad state of the road system, or wonders why we can’t afford more investment, you might want to point out some 18-wheelers who are now getting a one heck of a free ride, at everyone’s expense...
(Photo: Martin, Himes deplore state of I-95 bridge - StamfordAdvocate - Workers repair a portion of the damaged I-95 bridge passing over the intersection of Lafayette Street and State Street in Stamford, Conn.) Washington, DC, USA - Streets Blog USA, by Joe Cortright - June 2, 2015

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May 13, 2015

TRUCKING ISSUES USA * Hours of Service * Highway Fund extension * Trucking audits by OIG

* DC - ATA pushes Congress for tough HOS study

-- The American Trucking Associations (ATA) Tuesday urged members of the House Appropriations Committee to support a stronger version of the bipartisan hours-of-service restart study requirement Congress approved last December... The letter, signed by more than 120 other interested organizations, highlights the need for Congress to prevent the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) from skewing results of its study to fit its own conclusions — conclusions that trucking advocates say run counter to the industry’s experience under the agency’s onerous restart restrictions... The letter cited recent findings by the American Transportation Research Institute showing an increase in not only daytime driving by large trucks after the restart restrictions were imposed, but a statistically significant increase in property damage and injury crashes as a result... Without the stronger language, ATA argued that FMCSA could be allowed to re-impose the restrictions once its current study is completed — even if that study shows the restart restrictions were overly constricting and harmful to public safety... 

 * DC -  Highway Fund extension
-- In addition this week, the ATA called on Congress to quickly pass a short extension of the federal highway program while continuing to focus on a long-term bill... The trucking industry already pays $16.5 billion in federal highway user fees, and has repeatedly urged Congress to raise the primary user fee — the fuel tax — in order to fund important projects to reduce congestion, improve capacity and efficiency and create jobs... 
Arlington, VA, USA - Trucking News - May 13, 2015


* DC - DOT OIG initiates audit of FMCSA's review of high-risk carriers 

 -- The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Transportation has initiated an audit of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s efforts to intervene in cases where a motor carrier is identified as high risk for an accident... Those interventions include targeted roadside inspections and compliance reviews... In 2013, the National Transportation Safety Board investigated four carriers involved in crashes that collectively resulted in 25 fatalities and 83 injuries. These investigations revealed that FMCSA conducted safety reviews of the carriers prior to their crashes — one only 5 days before — but did not uncover certain pre-existing safety deficiencies or act on others until after the crashes... The OIG cited a particular case in 2014 where a motor carrier known to FMCSA as high-risk was involved in a fatal crash in Illinois, after which a lawmaker called for an audit. Despite the carrier’s risk status, FMSCA did not conduct an investigation, the OIG’s office said... The OIG’s office said its audit objective is to assess FMCSA’s processes for ensuring that reviews of motor carriers flagged for investigation are timely and adequate...
Washington, DC, USA - The Trucker News Services - 11 May 2015

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May 1, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES FUNDS * USA - Road usage plan: Pay-by-the-mile

* Oregon - Selects 3 private partners for


-- The state of Oregon has chosen three private partners with whom drivers can enroll their vehicles as part of the state’s pay-by-the-mile road tax system... “Oregon is pioneering the nation’s first pay-by-the-mile road usage charge system. We now have three trusted private partners on board — Azuga, Sanef and Verizon Telematics — that Oregonians can choose from when they volunteer to enroll their vehicles in OReGO,” said Jim Whitty, manager of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Office of Innovative Partnerships and Alternative Funding. “It’s a huge step for Oregon and the nation” ... Participants in program, named OReGO, which launches July 1, are volunteering for the program and will be charged a per-mile fee, then either receive a credit or a bill for the difference in gas taxes paid at the pump... Several states — including Washington, California, Idaho, Colorado and others — are considering similar pay-by-the-mile road usage charge systems... Oregon has already conducted two pilot projects to test road usage charging, which led the 2013 Legislature to create the OReGO program and launch it statewide with up to 5,000 volunteer vehicle owners starting in July... 
(Photo: An Oregon coastal road: Bend before Feast Portland)  --  Portland, ORE, USA - The Trucker News Services - 29 April 2015

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Apr 23, 2015

BIGGER TRUCKS or LONGER TRAINS ? * USA: Road rage in between

* DC - The trucking and the railroad industries are at odds. Meanwhile infrastructures decaying
(Photo: Trucks on trains “Rolling Motorway” on the Alpes mountain, Europe- The rolling highway is a special form of combined transport in which full trucks are transported on special rail cars, generally accompanied by the truck drivers, who travel in a passenger car. Trains are loaded horizontally only, in other words, without a crane. The truck maneuvers onto the train on its own via a ramp. The rail cars, called low-loader cars, have especially small wheels and a low loading surface)

  ...  While Congress considers how to spend the Highway Trust Fund by May 31 the trucking wants language to allow for bigger trucks; and the rail industry doesn’t because that could divert business. Meanwhile there is the ongoing problem of decaying infrastructure on which all transportation depends. So here we go again, as President Reagan would say, listening to bickering about which mode of transportation is greener and safer. Indeed, the railroad industry and the trucking industry have waged a love-hate relationship since rubber-tired vehicles began hauling freight and competing with the railroads... The USA need a study that will help forecast the optimal mix of modes and vehicles to move nation’s freight. What sizes and weights are required? What impact would this have on the infrastructure, capacity, congestion, fuel consumption, pollution, and productivity? What capital requirements would support the strategy and enable infrastructure improvements and investments? ... The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission released a seminal report in 2007 that stated: “We need to invest at least $225 billion annually from all sources for the next 50 years to upgrade our existing system to a state of good repair” ...  Given limited resources, the time is right to encourage Congress to fund a comprehensive, holistic plan for intermodal transportation that makes long-term economic sense... 
Washington, DC, USA - The Hill, by Brooks A. Bentz - April 22, 2015

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Apr 8, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES USA: * DC: Nation's 600,000 bridges need repairs - * Vermont: Slide bridges - * Georgia: Funds for construction projects

* DC - USPIRG's new study indentifies higway boooggles across the country
(Figure. Vehicle-Miles Traveled in the United States, 1946-2013. America’s driving habits are changing, and those changes are likely to last) 
  --  A new report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) Education Fund identifies 11 examples of wasteful highway spending that are slated to cost at least $13 billion and are based on outdated assumptions of ever-increasing driving. The study calls on the federal and state governments to reprioritize scarce transportation dollars to other projects... The report, “Highway Boondoggles: Wasted Money and America’s Transportation Future,” details how the 11 projects are based on driving forecasts that are out of synch with the decade-long trend toward less driving. 
(Image: Partnership Border Study)
The wasteful highway expansions include: 
 ° Illiana Expressway, Illinois and Indiana, $1.3 billion to $2.8 billion – A new privatized toll road proposed primarily to speed freight trucks across the Midwest may instead charge tolls too high to attract trucks, and will likely require hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies. 
° Cleveland “Opportunity Corridor,” Ohio, $331 million – A new highway has been proposed for a community where driving has been stagnant for years, and where residents are calling instead for repairs to existing roads and investment in transit improvements. 
° Dallas Trinity Parkway, Texas, $1.5 billion – A nine-mile urban highway through the heart of Dallas would have a minimal impact on congestion while detracting from popular, ongoing efforts to make downtown Dallas an attractive place to live and work. 
° Double-decking I-94 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, $1.2 billion – Insisting on a wider road despite its own data showing feared traffic increases are not materializing, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation seeks to rebuild an existing highway as an eight-lane double-decker route through a narrow channel between three cemeteries, despite objections from local officials and citizen groups.
 ... With limited resources dedicated to repair, The nation has over 600,000 bridges that engineers have deemed “structurally deficient,” according to the most recent (2013) National Bridge Inventory tabulated by the Federal Highway Administration... “Why should states prioritize spending on these highly questionable highway expansions while six-hundred-thousand bridges remain structurally deficient and other, more deserving projects languish without funds?” asked Phineas Baxandall, Senior Analyst at U.S. PIRG... 
 Washington,DC,USA -USPIRG Press Release -September 18, 2014


* Vermont: Will use 'slide-in' bridges on I-91 project
-- The Vermont Transportation Agency is using what it calls a "slide-in construction technique" to minimize disruption for travelers when it replaces two Interstate 91 bridges in White River Junction... When it comes time to install the new bridges, the old one will be quickly demolished and the new one slid into place... The highway will remain open during construction except for two weekends, probably in late August... 
(Image courtesy of PCL: Illustration of a bridge slide in progress) -- White River Junction,VT,USA - The Associated Press/The Trucker - 6 April 2015


* Georgia - Budget to fund range of construction projects
 -- The budget approved by Georgia lawmakers is expected to bring a wave of new construction to the state, which means big business for contractors, road-builders and companies that supply equipment to government and school facilities. The budget includes $1.1 billion in borrowing for construction and equipment purchases, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported... Lawmakers also approved a transportation funding bill that could inject another $900 million or so annually into road and bridge projects. That money is expected to provide big business for road contractors... 
(Photo: The Old Oxford Bridge Road bridge over I-20 is closed for repairs) --  Atlanta, GA, USA - The Trucker News Services - 6 April 2015

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Nov 24, 2014

INFRASTRUCTURES * USA: Former DOT Secretary LaHood:

* DC - "Some 70,000 roads, bridges need repair"

(Photo: Bridge in Minnesota) 
Washington,DC,USA -The Trucker News Services -24 Nov 2014: -- A fund that subsidizes transportation projects across the country is nearly broke, former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in an interview that aired Sunday evening... “Our infrastructure's on life supports right now. That's what we're on,” LaHood said... LaHood is co-chair of Building America’s Future, a bipartisan coalition of current and former elected officials who want increased spending on the nation’s infrastructure... Nearly 70,000 roads and bridges need to be repaired, he said, and the U.S. needs the Highway Trust Fund to do it... The fund is financed through the federal gas tax, which is about 18 cents per gallon. But it hasn’t been increased in two decades. Congress recently extended the fund through May, 2015, but LaHood said improving infrastructure hasn’t been a priority for lawmakers...

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Sep 14, 2013

* USA - INFRASTRUCTURES: Per-mile tolling seen as best way to go.

* California - Study argues electronic tolls could bridge massive Interstate funding gap

(Photo credit: Purdue University) 
Los Angeles,CAL,USA -Fleet Owner, by David Cullen -Sep. 13, 2013: -- A new research study contends that toll revenues could cover “almost entirely” the roughly $1 trillion it will cost to reconstruct most of the deteriorating Interstate highway system over the next 20 years... The study, conducted by the self-described libertarian and nonpartisan Reason Foundation, says that humongous construction cost would consist of nearly $600 billion in rebuilding roadways and another$400 billion to add capacity... 
The study lays out numerous reasons why “per-mile tolling is a better highway user fee than per-gallon taxes”: 

  ° Per-mile tolls can be tailored to the cost of each road and bridge, rather than being averaged across all types of roads, from neighborhood streets to massive Interstates; this ensures adequate funding for major highway projects like Interstate reconstruction and modernization.

  ° Per-mile tolling reflects greater fairness, since those who drive mostly on Interstates will pay higher rates than those who drive mostly on local streets. ° If per-mile tolling is implemented as a true user fee, it will be self-limiting, dedicated solely to the purpose for which it was implemented (and enforceable via bond covenants with those who buy toll revenue bonds).

  ° Per-mile tolling will guarantee proper ongoing maintenance of the tolled corridors, since bond-buyers and other investors legally require this as a condition of providing the funds.

  ° Per-mile tolling also provides a ready source of funding for future improvements to the tolled corridor.

  ° Toll financing means needed projects, such as reconstruction and widening, can be done when they are needed, and paid for over several decades as highway users enjoy the benefits of the improved facilities.

  ° A per-mile tolling system using AET can easily implement variable pricing on urban expressways to reduce and manage traffic congestion. 

 However, study author Robert Poole, the foundation’s director of transportation policy, admits there is a major obstacle to putting in place nationwide AET: “The one needed enabler is permission from Congress to begin this transition” ...

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