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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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Mar 16, 2010

POLICIES * USA - EDF Report Highlights Clean Freight Initiatives Congress Could Fund

One of the clean initiatives highlighted in the EDF report is Germany's Toll Collect program

Washington,DC,USA -Truckinginfo -16 March 2010: -- A new report by the Environmental Defense Fund highlights several clean freight initiatives Congress could fund as part of the upcoming transportation reauthorization bill. The report, titled "The Good Haul," details 28 case studies, and calls for Congress to direct freight improvement funding to encourage clean freight solutions... Recently, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman, Barbara Boxer (D-CA), vowed to take up a transportation reauthorization bill this year, and the EPW Committee has initiated a series of hearings on issues to be addressed in the bill... Many of the case studies highlighted in the report are geared toward the trucking industry... Incentive programs are another way to encourage clean truck emissions... The EPA estimates that by 2031, DERA-funded projects will have reduced 46,000 tons of nitrogen oxides and 2,200 tons of particulate matter, the report says... The report suggests that one way to reduce congestion and the emissions associated with it is through truck tolling programs, which can be used to alleviate congestion by encouraging off-peak travel times... This program encourages truck drivers to transport cargo at night, preventing heavy congestion for Los Angeles commuters... Another way to reduce diesel emissions is through in-use diesel regulations, such as those in California and Tokyo, the report says... (Photo courtesy of Toll Collect: Germany's Toll Collect program. Here, a sign points trucks to the toll booths)

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Jul 22, 2009

TOLL ROAD * Ireland - IRHA calls for cuts

"We are being forced to pay several times over for the same roads"

Dublin,Ireland -HGV -22 July 2009: -- The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) has renewed its call for a cut in road roads on the M50 motorway around Dublin, which was brought back into state ownership last August... IRHA president, Vincent Caulfield, said: "With the current difficulties in the transport industry there must be a reduction in the costs for commercial vehicles"... "Hauliers, have no option but to use these roads and pay these increased added costs. We are being forced to pay several times over for the same roads"... (Picture from uk-roads.org, gallery)

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Jul 9, 2009

TOLL CUTS * Ireland - IRHA calls for, on M50

The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) has called on the Government to reduce the cost to hauliers using the M50 motorway

Dublin,Ireland -HGV -8 July 2009: -- IRHA president Vincent Caulfield commented: ... "The increased costs involved are creating financial strain on many small haulage operators. Most operators are paying huge toll costs per month in addition to already paying increased road tax, fuel costs, income tax and insurance. We provide vital services to an economy which is dependent on road transport for the movement of over 95 per cent of freight and yet the Government refuses to recognise the pressure on our industry to meet these additional costs"... "Toll operators might make a greater return if they entered into commercial agreements with bodies such as the IRHA," he concluded... (Image from wikipedia: M50 motorway Ireland)

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Apr 28, 2009

Toll Roads * USA - Bills filed to stop ‘double dipping’ on private toll roads ones

U.S. senators have filed a pair of bills to stop private-sector toll operators from double dipping into the pockets of taxpayers

Washingtron,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine -April 27, 2009: -- Bills benefit highway users by eliminating subsidies for private toll roads... Senators: Bingaman, and Grassley, both members of the Senate Finance Committee, introduced bills to eliminate subsidies for privatized highways... The bill, S884, would stop states from receiving federal tax funding and private-sector money for the same toll road... The other bill, S885, would put a limit on the toll operator’s current ability to write off the cost of the asset over the long term. This would make it more difficult in the future for private investors to profit from subsidies, as happened with the privatization of the Chicago Skyway in Illinois. Private toll operator Cintra-Macquarie, a Spanish-Australian bank partnership, was allowed a 99-year tax write-off as part of the Skyway lease... The Bingaman-Grassley legislation urges Congress to tighten up the tax write-off criteria... (Photo: Chicago Skyway)

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Apr 10, 2009

TOLL ROADS * USA - Texas bills restrict, don’t eliminate, private toll roads

TX,USA -Land Line Magazine -April 8, 2009: -- The Texas Senate this week approved new guidelines for toll roads and extended the authority to start and lease the projects for another six years. OOIDA says privatization efforts would be more suitable for transit work... By a vote of 30-1, Senators advanced a bill to the House that would establish a process for building toll roads throughout the state. Local tolling authorities would have the first option to develop roadways. Also, all public avenues of financing would need to be exhausted before handing projects over to private groups...

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Apr 2, 2009

TOLLS * Canada - Truckers tolling the bell on

Charges tie ‘noose around the neck’ of struggling economy

Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada -The Chronicle Heraald, by TOM PETERS -Apr 1, 2009: -- The regional trucking industry has called for the elimination of all highway tolls in Atlantic Canada... Peter Nelson, executive director of the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association, said tolls are costing the trucking industry tens of millions of dollars annually, which affects the cost of consumer products... Mr. Nelson, who also called for toll elimination on the Saint John-to-Digby ferry and the Halifax Harbour bridges, reacted strongly to a recent suggestion by the New Brunswick Union of Public and Private Employees, which called for more toll highways... (Picture by MARY ELLEN MacINTYRE / Truro Bureau - The regional trucking industry has called for the elimination of all highway tolls in Atlantic Canada. Peter Nelson, executive director of the Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association, said tolls, like those paid at Cobequid Pass toll booth on Highway 104, are costing the trucking industry tens of millions of dollars annually)

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Dec 25, 2008

STUDY Truck Toll * USA - Virginia roads outweighs fees paid

Richmond,VA,USA -The Trucker -24 Dec 2008— A study concludes big trucks take a large bite out of Virginia's highway maintenance budget... Heavy loads hauled by trucks were responsible for $211.4 million in damage to state roads in 2007, while companies paid only $2.7 million in fees for permits to operate in excess of vehicle weight limits... Truck-related road damage represents nearly one-fourth of the state's annual highway maintenance bill... The findings were contained in a study by the Virginia Transportation Research Council at the University of Virginia... The Virginia Department of Transportation has proposed charging overweight trucks $100 for a single-trip permit and $250 for a yearlong, multi-trip permit. Raising the fee will require changing state law... (Photo The Associated Press: Truck-related road damage represents nearly one-fourth of the Virginia's annual highway maintenance bill, according a study by the Virginia Transportation Research Council at the University of Virginia)

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Dec 14, 2008

TOLL INCREASE * USA - Route 30 a bad trip for truckers

Not to mention the rest of us who would suffer if truckers try to avoid turnpike toll hikes

York,PA,USA -In York Daily Record/Sunday News -12 Dec 2008: -- Forget, for a moment, whether it's a good idea for truckers to abandon the Pennsylvania Turnpike in favor of Route 30 to save a few bucks in tolls... Just forget that the toll increase, 25 percent, sounds huge, but when you look at it, it doesn't amount to that much. A trip from Harrisburg to Philadelphia, for instance, will result in a $3.90 increase for the 103.9 mile trip under the proposed toll increase that will take effect Jan. 4... But, while we don't want truckers using Route 30 to save a few bucks, we can't help but jeer the toll increase on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. A 25 percent increase, set to begin Jan. 4, is too steep in these tough economic times. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is to be lauded for cutting positions in the wake of state budget woes. But we think it could still do much more to increase efficiency. If a private company could lease the turnpike for huge sums and still turn a profit, as has been asserted by Gov. Ed Rendell, surely the state can squeeze at least a little more efficiency out of the highway. Maybe officials could start with more use of automatic toll takers to do what must be a mind-numbingly boring job... The rate hike is intended to pay for additional road and bridge projects in the state -- something truckers have clamored for after consistently voting Pennsylvania highways among the worst in the country...

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Oct 12, 2008

Toll Hikes Coming * USA - Trucks Want Steeper Discounts

New Brunswick,NJ,USA -NJBIZ, by Scott Goldstein -10 Oct 2008: -- With the New Jersey Turnpike Authority scheduled this afternoon to vote on raising tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, one of the state’s truck associations is calling for high-volume discounts for trucking companies... Under the toll hike plan, a full-length trip on the New Jersey Turnpike, which currently costs $26.55 for trucks, will rise 40 percent this December to $37.15 and 53 percent in 2012 to $56.85. The toll hike plan would come with a 5 percent discount for trucks traveling during off-peak hours... The Motor Truck Association is calling for a steeper volume-discount program that would give 5 percent discounts to fleets that pay between $5,000 and $10,000 per month; a 10 percent discount for fleets that pay between $10,000 and $15,000 in tolls per month and a 15 percent discount for fleets that pay more than $15,000 per month... Without the discounts, many trucks would divert off the Turnpike, Gail E. Toth, executive director of the New Jersey Motor Truck Association said. “This would hurt both the Turnpike Authority and the trucking industry,” Toth wrote...

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Sep 13, 2008

TOLL ROADS DEBATE * USA - Responding Fed. Gov. Decision to Reject Application to Toll I-80

Statement by Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association's (PMTA) President

Camp Hill,PA,USA -MarketWatch (CAL,USA) -Sept 12, 2008: -- Jim Runk, president of Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association (PMTA), issued the following statement in response to this announcement:
"The Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association is encouraged that the federal government rejected Pennsylvania's application to toll I-80, one of the Commonwealth's central arteries and greatest assets. Throughout this process, we, along with many others in the highway community, have opposed the tolling of I-80 because of the burden it would place on our residents, businesses and commuters ... With the federal government planning to address national surface transportation infrastructure needs in 2009, we should be leery of speeding forward with a plan that does not take federal solutions into account. We all agree that Pennsylvania's infrastructure demands our attention now, but before we sell our greatest public asset to a for-profit, foreign entity, we should grant our legislators the time to consider the implications. Otherwise, we risk shirking our responsibility to keep Pennsylvania competitive for the future"...

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Sep 12, 2008

TRUCKING INDUSTRY NEWS * USA - FHWA denies Pennsylvania’s application to toll I-80

Truckers, highway users and lawmakers supporting their cause are claiming victory today as the Federal Highway Administration has rejected a tolling proposal for I-80 in Pennsylvania

Washington,DC,USA -Land Line Magazine, by David Tanner -Sept. 11, 2008: -- ... U.S. Rep. John Peterson, R-PA, an outspoken opponent of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s application to toll 311 miles of Interstate 80 in the state, said Federal Highway Administration officials denied the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s application on Thursday, Sept. 11, on grounds that the application did not meet FHWA’s statutory or technical requirements... Recently confirmed FHWA Administrator Tom Madison issued a statement saying the Turnpike Commission’s application “did not meet the legal requirements for the correct use of toll revenue”... “Tolling interstates is a viable option for many states to fund highway improvements or to improve performance conditions,” Madison said. “Because we are legally bound to ensure applications for this program meet all congressionally mandated requirements, however, we are regrettably unable to approve this application”... Transportation funding remains a concern in the Keystone State. Madison stated that the FHWA would continue to assist Pennsylvania in finding ways to address transportation needs...

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Aug 23, 2008

DEBATES * USA - Fitch gives toll roads a ‘negative’ rating

A firm specializing in financial statistics and economic outlooks has given toll roads and airports a failing grade just a few months after listing them as stable investments

Grain Valley,MO,USA -Land Line Magazine -Aug. 22, 2008: -- ... Fitch Ratings downgraded toll roads and airports from stable to negative in a report released Wednesday, Aug. 20, titled “U.S. Transportation Assets: Facing a Temporary Decline or a Permanent Change?”... Citing months of volatile fuel prices and other economic factors, Fitch analysts said reductions in airport and toll road traffic were widespread but varied around the country... The analysts gave airports and toll roads a stable rating in March... Officials with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said the report shows that a case can be made against tolling as a philosophy to fund transportation...

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Aug 7, 2008

INFRASTRUCTURE'S TOLLS & FUNDS * USA - Road Money Needs Urgent

Among the options lawmakers in South Dakota are considering to make up for a highway funding shortfall is a vehicle miles tax similar to a scheme being tested in Oregon

Sioux Falls,SD,USA -The Sioux Falls Argus Leader, by Terry Woster -30 July 2008: -- Under the initiative, a tracking device installed in a vehicle to record travel is used to assess a per-mile tax that links the cost of roads to the cars driving on them the most. The measure is advocated by state Rep. Shantel Krebs (R-Sioux Falls), who notes that all states and the federal government are tackling similar funding issues... The model proposed by Krebs would make it "possible to set different prices for urban or rural areas, different income groups, time of day, residential or highway roads, road types, fuel efficiency or vehicle type (size for example)," according to research by Kyle Nakahara, an Oregon State University graduate student...


* New Toll Lanes make drivers pay to avoid congestion

McLean,VA,USA -USA TODAY, by Katharine Lackey -4 Aug 2008: -- Already facing $4 a gallon at the pump, drivers in a growing number of states are tempted to pay even more for a quicker ride home... Transportation agencies are increasingly looking to reduce congestion and make more use of sometimes under-utilized high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes... Some are developing plans to allow vehicles that don't have the required number of passengers to use the lanes if they are willing to pay... There are high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in Seattle, Denver, San Diego, Minneapolis and Salt Lake City. Construction in at least five states is slated to begin in the next year... (Photo by George Kochaniec Jr., (Denver) Rocky Mountain News - Surprising success: Denver?s toll lanes on Interstate 25 brought in $2.1 million, more than double the projections, in revenue during its first year)


* Some Toll Agencies Eye Automatic Increases

USA -Associated Press, by Geoff Mulvihill -3 Aug 2008: -- Inflation-based automatic toll hikes are being enacted by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the North Texas Turnpike Authority, a for-profit Chicago toll-road operator, and a California transit agency. The Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) wants to have automatic toll increases every two years, based on inflation, beginning in 2013... New toll technology is making inflation-associated hikes simpler to perform. As a growing number of motorists employ electronic transponders to pay their tolls, it is easier to raise tolls by certain amounts, rather than using the round figures that make cash payments simpler. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey intends to increase tolls on its bridges and tunnels annually after it installs a completely cashless toll system. The automatic hikes are directed at making the increases easier for drivers to bear financially, as well as making them less vulnerable to changing politics. The toll- and fare-indexing concept, however, is still pretty new, with just a few agencies having utilized it to increase tolls...

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Jun 6, 2008

Toll Road Proposal * Canada - Has Supporters and Detractors

Saint John,NB,CAN -Ellsworth American (Ellsworth,ME,USA), by Tom Walsh -June 05, 2008: -- The proposal to build a privately owned, $1 billion toll road through Maine has its supporters and its critics on both sides of the Canadian border... Ivan Court, who last week was sworn in as the new mayor of Saint John, is clearly an advocate of construction of a 220-mile, east-west toll road through the wilderness of north-central Maine... Court said, "...We’re not at the end of the trail; we’re in the heart of probably the seventh largest trade corridor in the world.” ... Among the project’s most vocal Canadian critics is Ron Oldfield, president of the Saint John District Labor Council. That group’s 6,000 members include long-haul truck drivers who belong to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters... “Fast-tracking trucks through the border is all about benefiting big business at the cost of deteriorating the roads on this side of the border,” Oldfield said... (Preliminary Permitting, Engineering, Budgeting August 2008 - August 2010)

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Feb 22, 2008

TOLL ROADS DEBATE * USA - Poll shows opposition to Corzine plan

NJ,USA -The Associated Press/Land Line Magazine -February 21, 2008: -- New Jersey voters are unhappy with Gov. Jon Corzine and his plan to increase highway tolls... A new poll issued by Quinnipiac University on Wednesday found that 73 percent of those questioned oppose Corzine’s plan for massive increases in tolls. Even those who don’t drive on the toll roads don’t want toll hikes, reported... The poll also found that 52-percent of the registered voters surveyed disapprove of Corzine’s overall job performance. That’s about a 9-point drop from early December, a month before Corzine unveiled his toll proposal... Results could alter projects planned for I-75 and I-285...

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Feb 6, 2008

TOLL ROADS DEBATE * USA - Corzine wants to increase tolls 50 percent in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022

Gov. Corzine unveils draft legislation for toll plan

Trenton,NJ,USA -The Trucker News Services, by TOM HESTER Jr -5 Feb 2008: -- Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Monday released draft legislation for his proposal to increase tolls on some of the nation’s busiest highways for decades to come to raise money to pay state debt and fund transportation... The legislation calls for creation of a new state agency to issue bonds to pay at least half of $32 billion in state debt and fund transportation projects... To support the plan, Corzine wants to increase tolls 50 percent in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022. Those increases would include inflation adjustments, and after 2022 tolls would increase every four years until 2085 to reflect inflation. The Atlantic City Expressway, Garden Parkway, New Jersey Turnpike and Route 440 would be affected...

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Feb 5, 2008

Toll Hikes * USA - Would hit truckers, consumers hard

Gov. Corzine wants to "monetize" toll roads, and sell them to a nonprofit organization to raise billions of dollars

Asbury Park,NJ,USA -The Asbury Park Press, by JOHN BENDEL -February 5, 2008: -- New Jersey is in trouble. The state needs to confront its once and future state pensioners and/or raise general taxes. Instead, Gov. Corzine wants to "monetize" our toll roads, in effect sell them to a nonprofit organization to raise billions of dollars. The nonprofit then will raise tolls by at least 50 percent every four years beginning in 2010... Make no mistake: Tolls are taxes, only unfairly and disproportionally applied. Corzine's scheme is an unjust, small-minded, disheartening demonstration of political cowardice, worse than the fiscal irresponsibility that got New Jersey to this desperate point... Clearly, Corzine won't be deterred. It's up to the Legislature to stop this piratical scheme...

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Jan 17, 2008

Toll Study * USA - Raises questions about safety of alternate routes

Increasing tolls and privatization of public roads will lead to more traffic and dangerous conditions on alternate routes

Grain Valley,MO,USA -Land Line Magazine -January 16, 2008: -- ... The authors of an academic study stated in a report released Tuesday, Jan. 15... The study strengthens the position of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association against the U.S. Department of Transportation’s move in recent years to promote tolling and public-private partnerships... Study authors Peter Swan of the University of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, PA, and Michael Belzer of Wayne State University in Detroit used traffic data and toll information from the Ohio Turnpike to illustrate that excessive tolling forces truckers and motorists onto alternative routes... “Additionally, non-interstate roads are inherently more dangerous than interstate roads, so diversions from interstate roads would likely result in greater property damage and greater loss of life,” according to the report...

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