News Roundup

Harris Co. Tex., Selling $350 Million
Bond Buyer (07/22/08) Vol. 365, No. 32927, P. 1; Williamson, Richard

On July 22, Harris County, Texas, intends to issue $350 million of senior-line toll-road revenue bonds with maturities that could last for four decades. The agreement, which is headed by Goldman, Sachs & Co., occurs soon after a credit increase to Aa3 from A1 by Moody's Inventors Service and to AA-minus from A-plus by Fitch Ratings. The four-decade debt and the county's toll-road system's utilization of electronic toll tags are instances of how Harris County is attempting to make use of certain of the tools employed by private builders who are now permitted to compete for particular toll projects, notes county director of financial services Edwin Harrison. He states that private builders are able to use more leverage for their debt, while public groups such as the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) are mandated to operate within tighter parameters. In spite of a nationwide economic decline, HCTRA witnessed its toll revenues for the initial quarter rise by over 16 percent. Challenges the authority is facing include the possibility of rapidly-expanding debt for its new projects and the chance of a local or regional economic drop, according to Moody's analysts. While analysts at both Moody's and Standard & Poor's regard HCTRA's willingness to increase tolls to reach revenue goals as a good thing, they point out that tolls are steeper than the industry norm. Harris County currently has $5.4 billion of projects connected to toll roads in the planning stages.
(http://bondbuyer.com/article.html?id=20080721R8VB3598)

Contractors Lining Up to Get Piece of $1B Triangle Expressway
Triangle Business Journal (07/21/08) Baysden, Chris

The North Carolina Turnpike Authority (NCTA) is gearing up to award nearly a billion dollars in contracts for Raleigh's 16-mile Triangle Expressway, which will be North Carolina's first toll road. Three teams--one made up of W.C. English Inc. and lead designer The Louis Berger Group, another made up of United Contractors Inc. and The LPA Group of North Carolina P.A, and the third made up of S.T. Wooten/Barnhill J.V. and lead designer Rummel, Klepper & Kahl--are bidding on the contract for the first phase of the project, known as the Triangle Parkway. That section of the project, which will span 3.5 miles from I-40 at N.C. 147 south to N.C. 540, is scheduled to open in late 2010. S.T. Wooten/Barnhill J.V. and Rummel, Klepper & Kahl are also bidding on the contract for the second phase of the project, known as the Western Wake Freeway, along with the team of Blue Ridge Constructors and lead designer Earth Tech of N.C. and the team of Archer Western/Blythe J.V. and The LPA Group of North Carolina P.A. That section of the project, which is scheduled to open in 2011, would span 12.5 miles between N.C. 55 at Old Smithfield Road to N.C. 55 near Alston Avenue. The NCTA still needs to purchase roughly 70 percent of the right of way for the project, which it will do with the help of bonds and a loan from the Federal Highway Administration. Contractors are expected to begin work on the project by the end of this year.
(http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2008/07/21/story11.html)

Toll-Lanes Stipulation May Cost Taxpayers
Washington Post (07/20/08) P. C1; Weiss, Eric M.

Under a deal Virginia signed with the private firms constructing high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on Washington, D.C.'s Capital Beltway, the state could be responsible for millions of dollars annually if too many carpoolers, who will be excluded from tolls, ride in the lanes. The carpool subsidy is on top of the $409 million that taxpayers are spending on the $2-billion, 14-mile project, set to break ground soon. Under the 80-year agreement signed in December, Virginia officials stressed that carpools of three or more individuals and buses be permitted to utilize the lanes at no cost and offered to pay back 70 percent of the tolls carpoolers did not provide. At that time, transportation authorities predicted that the measure would cost Virginia $1 million annually. The carpool subsidy will continue for four decades or until the builders earn $100 million in profits, according to the deal between Virginia, Australia's Transurban, and Texas' Fluor Corp. The subsidy is initiated when carpools surpass 24 percent of the traffic in the lanes. The HOT lanes, two in both directions, will be constructed on Interstate 495 between Springfield and slightly north of the Dulles Toll Road. Tolls will fluctuate depending on the level of traffic, and non-carpool vehicles could pay around $1 per mile.
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/19/AR2008071901651.html?sub=AR)

Tennessee Transportation Official Meets With Residents Worried About Toll Road
Knoxville News-Sentinel (TN) (07/18/08) Stambaugh, J.J.

Officials from the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) recently held a meeting with state residents to discuss several possible pilot toll road projects in the state. Among the possible toll road projects that TDOT is considering is the Knoxville Parkway, which includes the Orange Route that could eventually connect I-75 north of Knoxville to I-40 east of the city. A study that is looking at the possibility of funding the Knoxville Parkway as a toll road currently underway. That study was launched by TDOT after the Tennessee legislature gave it permission to look at possibly building toll roads. But when it allowed TDOT to look at the possibility of building toll roads, the Tennessee Legislature stipulated that there must be "strong public support" for a proposed toll road before the project could move forward. When asked by a resident at the recent meeting to define "strong public support," TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely said he could not say what the term meant. "That's one of the things we're doing here tonight," he said. "I don't think I can define 'strong public support' tonight." The residents in attendance at the meeting, most of who were opposed to tolls, snickered and groaned at Nicely's response. However, they applauded when he said that he believed that there is probably more opposition to making the Knoxville Parkway a toll road than there is support for the project. Nicely said the project would not move forward if the opposition holds up.
(http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jul/18/no-toll-road-if-public-opposed/)

Cash to Ease Road Congestion
Sunderland Echo (UK) (07/17/08)

Drivers in Wearside, Britain, will likely benefit from a 470,000 British pounds sterling government allotment to stop congestion levels from increasing. However, Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly stressed she would continue to study other options, including toll roads, as well as back councils that are thinking about congestion fees as a means to combat traffic. Kelly has earmarked 6 billion stg. to upgrade and optimize Britain's motorways and primary roads. The money will finance several methods that will get the most from the present road network, such as opening certain motorway hard shoulders to traffic. The 6 billion stg. package includes money to improve two-dozen miles of A1 dual carriageway to three-lane motorway protocols and offer the "missing link" between the M25 London orbital motorway and Tyne and Wear. New financing has been announced as well for the largest cities and towns after it was determined that 80 percent of the nation's congestion is in urban regions. "The majority of congestion is in our towns and cities, where the answer cannot be building new roads," Kelly noted. "That is why I will continue to support councils who want to investigate whether radical packages, which include public transport improvements combined with local congestion charging, would be the right solution for them."
(http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/Cash-to-ease-road-congestion.4295225.jp)

Spanish Construction Giant Eyes Iberdrola
Scotsman (UK) (07/18/08)

Spanish construction group ACS has held talks to sell a controlling stake in Union Fenosa and plans to use the profits to raise a holding in rival Spanish utility and ScottishPower-owner Iberdrola. Debt-laden ACS says it has talked to various European energy groups over selling its 45.3 per cent stake in Union Fenosa in order to raise its 12.5 per cent stake in Iberdrola. An ailing Spanish construction market and tightening global credit has put pressure on ACS to sell its corporate holdings, such as its 30 per cent in German builder Hochtief and 25.8 per cent in Spanish toll road operator Abertis. Earlier this year, EDF held talks with ACS about launching a joint bid for Iberdrola
(http://www.scotsman.com)

On Roads Without Tollbooths, a Few Bumps to be Addressed
Dallas Morning News (07/17/08) P. 1B; Blow, Steve

A number of drivers in Texas are dealing with some of the problems that have been created by the bugs that still need to be worked out of the state's electronic toll collection system. Among them is Marcia Cirillo, who unknowingly drove on a toll road several times last year. "I saw signs that talked about tolls, but since I never came to a tollbooth, I just figured the tolls weren't in effect yet," she said. Under the Texas' electronic toll collection system, drivers like Cirillo who drive on toll roads but do not have a TollTag on their car have their license plate photographed and receive a bill for the toll the following month and every subsequent month until it is paid. However, Cirillo said she never received a bill for the tolls. She noted that the first and only time she was told about the tolls was when a collection agency called her recently and told her that she owed $260 in tolls and penalties. The collection agency, or anyone from the State of Texas, could not explain to Cirillo why she did not receive more than a year of monthly bills for the tolls. But officials have offered to reduce her debt to $90 provided she agrees to purchase a TollTag. Although Cirillo said she believed such a deal was coercive, she said she would probably take it.
(http://www.dallasnews.com)

Tunnel Vision Win Transport Giants Back Multi-Billion-Dollar Roads Strategy
Herald Sun (AU) (07/17/08) P. 3; Mitchell, Geraldine

Melbourne, Australia's largest transport firms have supported the building of an A$9.5-billion road tunnel via the city's inner-north region. Toll-road operator ConnectEast, trucking conglomerate Linfox, the RACV, and the Transport Workers Union all stress that new roads must be constructed to handle the state of Victoria's population growth. ConnectEast, operator of the city's most recent toll road, EastLink, states it wants to construct the tunnel and that it can be done at no expense to the government. Drivers, however, would have to pay additional tolls. Global transport expert Sir Rod Eddington announced in April that Melbourne's roads would become too crowded unless there was substantial monetary investment. His A$18-billion plan includes an 18-kilometer road tunnel, connecting the Eastern Freeway to the Tullamarine Freeway, and a rail tunnel between Footscray and Caulfield. Eddington stated that 210,000 vehicles already use the inner north each day and 320,000 motorists cross the Maribyrnong River via road. His research also discovered that 13.5 million trips were made across Melbourne daily, 10 million by car.
(http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24032222-2862,00.html)

Road 6 Operator Mulls Road 431, Too
Globes (Israel) (07/16/08) Baron, Lior

In Israel, Derech Eretz Highways Ltd. is in talks with Danya Cebus Ltd. To oversee Road 431, which is scheduled to open in September. Derech Eretz is the franchisee of the Road 6 toll road, and Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. subsidiary Danya Cebus is constructing lateral Road 431 between Modi'in and Rishon LeZion. Danya Cebus has a two- to three-decade operating franchise for Road 431, via subsidiary Hayovel Lines Ltd. The operating and upkeep cost of Road 431 is thought to be NIS 15 million annually, meaning the overall cost for the franchise period could hit NIS 300 million. Derech Eretz has apparently signed an memorandum of understanding with Carmelton, the consortium constructing the Carmel tunnels in Haifa to run the tunnels and obtain the tolls when they open in late 2010. The operating expense of the tunnels during the three-decade franchise period is predicted to be NIS 600 million. Carmelton belongs to the Housing and Construction Holding Co. Ltd. and Ashtrom Properties Ltd.
(http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/DocView.asp?did=1000362253&fid=1725)

State Tries to Rescue Pike From Huge Debt
Boston Globe (07/16/08) Ross, Casey

Massachusetts Treasurer Timothy Cahill is criticizing Gov. Deval Patrick's large-scale financial rescue plan for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority that would enable the agency to refinance $800 million in debt by allowing it to use the state's higher credit rating to lower interest payments. Cahill says the plan exposes taxpayers to heavy risk without demanding financial reforms at the Turnpike Authority. The legislation, given initial approval by the Massachusetts House on July 15, authorizes the state to guarantee the Turnpike Authority's entire $2.4 billion debt load. Jay Gonzalez, undersecretary of administration and finance, says the debt provision is urgently needed to get a safety net in place before the Legislature recesses at the end of July. "What we're doing is making sure the Turnpike Authority is not in the position of having to make a lump-sum payment in the hundreds of millions of dollars that would have to be financed on the backs of toll payers," he states. The turnpike has indicated it may have trouble making higher payments that could come due in January under the terms of complex loans that were used to help pay for the Big Dig. While they have not sketched a plan to fix the agency's debt problem, turnpike officials have indicated that one of the primary options for fixing its finances is to increase tolls. The Turnpike Authority increased tolls on the roadway inside Route 128 and at the Boston Harbor tunnels in January. Gonzalez emphasizes that the turnpike will still be primarily responsible for repaying its debt and that he does not foresee deeper financial problems that would force the state to open its coffers.
(http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/07/
16/state_tries_to_rescue_pike_from_huge_debt/?s_campaign=8315)

State Considers Pay-as-You-Drive Auto Insurance
Los Angeles Times (07/15/08) Lifsher, Marc

As gas prices continue to soar, California Assemblyman Jared Huffman's (D-San Rafael) AB 2800 bill could cut gas costs and insurance premiums for consumers by allowing insurance carriers to offer pay-as-you-drive programs for insurance policies. The Brookings Institution says that these programs will not only reduce insurance premiums for drivers, but also create $52 billion in annual societal benefits such as reduced accidents, traffic congestion, and pollution. Opponents are concerned that these programs would violate the privacy of drivers because devices would be installed on vehicles to track mileage driven. Insurance trade groups support the bill, which does not endorse the use of GPS satellite technology to track mileage, which consumer advocates say would allow insurers to cherry-pick their policyholders. Rep. Huffman said that he plans to leave the particulars of the pay-as-you-drive program to the state Department of Insurance.
(http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-carinsure15-2008jul15,0,1541839.story)

Part of Pa. Plan for I-80 Tolls, Roadwork Revealed
Forbes.com (07/14/08)

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission plans to spend approximately $250 million annually from Interstate 80 toll collections on construction, including repairing the highway's surface and rebuilding its bridges. The commission's plan is part of a revised application for permission to toll I-80 that will be submitted to federal regulators in August. The tolls would be in place in late summer 2010. The $250 million annual figure is roughly four times what the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation currently spends on capital improvements to the 311-mile highway. An assessment of the interstate showed that more than half its length has not been repaved since it was built some 40 years ago. Also, the assessment revealed that 16 bridges are structurally deficient and 69 are functionally obsolete. Project manager Barry Schoch says it will cost about $60 million to build a cashless "open road" tolling system in which a driver without E-ZPass will have his or her license plate photographed, generating a mailed-out bill for the vehicle owner. That technology is not currently used on any U.S. highway, he said. Drivers with E-ZPass, the electronic toll-payment system in use across the Northeast, will see tolls automatically deducted from their accounts. Planners have considered various scenarios of where to put as many as 10 tolling locations, and estimate that about a third of local automobile traffic will get on and off the interstate without having to pay a toll. The projections exclude trucks and through traffic. "This might be a prototype of the way interstates are tolled in the future," Schoch says.
(http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/07/14/ap5212741.html)

NBC4, 3rd Dimension to Offer Mobile Traffic Technology
Washington Business Journal (07/14/08)

NBC4 is teaming up with mobile marketing firm 3rd Dimension Inc. to send local users live traffic video and information to their mobile phones. The NBC Washington Traffic Cam is powered by 3rd Dimension's Mobileyes software, a video content delivery platform that supplies the traffic service to 10 U.S. areas with 10 more cities set to launch. "Washington area traffic is consistently ranked among the worst in the nation," says NBC4 President and General Manager Michael Jack. "We're pleased to provide this useful service to help our viewers save time and ease frustration while they're on the road." Traffic Cam users will be able to view more than 450 roadside traffic camera displays, and will be able to select the cameras they want to access by video or photo and store specific routes.
(http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2008/07/14/daily16.html)

PennDOT Revamps Bridge Inspections After Two Collapses
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (07/07/08) Ritchie, Jim

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is retraining bridge inspectors and rewriting criteria for spotting potential problems. The highway agency is overhauling the way bridges are checked across the state in response to the collapse of the Birmingham Bridge in February and a bridge over Interstate 70 in Washington County in 2005. Still, some bridge experts question whether PennDOT needs to do more. "The problem is, it's a change in technology and a change in paradigm," says Kent Harries, an engineering professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Better technology could be used, but PennDOT might not have enough money to develop the technology. Also, bridge inspectors are ultimately technicians, not engineers, and the highway agency might not have enough qualified employees to use more advanced equipment. "There's a lack of expertise available to implement the new technology," Harries adds. Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University are researching bridge inspection equipment, but it has not been determined whether better technology would have prevented the bridges from collapsing.
(http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_576260.html)

PA Gets Transportation Infrastructure Investment
GlobeSt.com (07/10/08) Harrison, Brianne

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell this week signed legislation allocating more than $350 million to improve his state's bridges, airports and rail system. The investment, which is part of Rendell's Rebuild Pennsylvania program, will come from a combination of federal and state funds. The lion's share will go towards repairing more than 400 bridges statewide that have been deemed structurally deficient. The investment enables the state's Department of Transportation to begin repairs this year. Rendell comments, "At a time when this region, the state and the nation are facing very tough economic conditions, Rebuild Pennsylvania will inject much needed stimulus into Pennsylvania's aging transportation infrastructure. This is a step in the right direction in repairing Pennsylvania?s structurally deficient bridges." As part of the legislation, the aviation grant program's budget has been doubled to $10 million. Its chief aim is to help smaller airports statewide upgrade their facilities. These upgrades include airfield safety improvements, the construction of new hangars and improvements to existing terminals.
(http://www.globest.com/news/1197_1197/philadelphia/172220-1.html)

FasTrak Toll Hacked, Exposing Privacy Dangers
Dark Reading (07/09/08) Higgins, Kelly Jackson

RFID-based FasTrak toll tags that some drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area use to pay for highway tolls ahead of time are vulnerable to sniffing, cloning, and furtive tracking of a driver's whereabouts, according to Nate Lawson, a Black Hat researcher who recently dismantled a transponder. "The thing that motivated me to take the transponder apart was that they [California transportation officials] added onto the system an information line to get information about Bay Area traffic," he said. "It provides really accurate drive times to the airport, etc. They added readers for the transponders all over light poles on the highways. So, in real-time, they are tracking all cars going past." Drivers' toll balances and various financial and personal data are kept on back-end servers, but Lawson is unsure how those servers are secured. Lawson said the transponders' interiors are not encrypted. "It amazes me there has not already been widespread fraud, cloning, and selling of 'free transponders' that were hacked and reprogrammed," he said. "There's nothing there technically to prevent it." Next, Lawson will look into whether the responders are susceptible to malware attacks. Lawson has developed an open-source technology to protect the transponder from sniffing or from sending out private data. "I designed a daughter-board that you add to the pass," he said. "You press a button on it so when you near the toll plaza, it activates RFID, and then immediately cuts the power to the whole circuit when it's done."
(http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=158554&f_src=darkreading_section_296)

Green Megalopolis
Popular Science (07/08) Vol. 273, No. 1, P. 49

By year's end, more than half of the world's population will reside in cities. By 2030, the urban population is expected to increase to 5 billion from the current 3.3 billion. The rise of the megalopolis coincides with growing degradation of the environment, and the foundations for tomorrow's urban landscape are being laid today. Playing a vital role in that landscape are innovative "green" transportation solutions like the two-seater City Car inspired by researchers at MIT that commuters could pull from a stack, much like shopping carts are, near a major hub like a subway entrance, drive, and then park at a depot nearest the destination. The pods would fold up during storage, eliminating parking congestion, and would be powered through rooftop solar panels, pumping excess energy into the electric grid while parked. Picking up the commuters from the City Car depot and taking them to their desired destinations would be driverless buses powered by a mix of biodiesels and electricity that would be guided by a central computer along magnets embedded in dedicated lanes to pick up and drop off passengers. The future could also include highways lined with wind turbines which would generate power for the electric grid as cars drive past. California start-up Unimodal, meanwhile, has already designed an on-demand maglev railways system, called Skytran, that could carry as many as 14,400 commuters an hour, giving it the same capacity as a three-lane highway. The system utilizes individual two-seater pods that move along a single high-speed guideway at speeds of up to 150 miles per hour. The system envisioned by Unimodal would cost $10 million a mile to build, just 10 percent of what it costs to build a light-rail equivalent.
(http://www.popsci.com)

A New System for Preventing Bridge Collapses
Issues in Science and Technology (06/08) P. 31; Lee, George C.; Sternberg, Ernest

The United States needs to implement a new system to prevent bridge collapses such as the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis last summer, according to George C. Lee, a professor of engineering at the University at Buffalo of the State University of New York, and Ernest Sternberg, a professor of urban and regional planning at the university. An important part of making sure tragedies such as the Interstate 35W bridge collapse do not happen again is ensuring that engineers have reliable information on what makes bridges safer. To help engineers get access to this information, the federal government should create a infrastructure incident reporting system through a National Bridge Health Monitoring System, Lee and Sternberg wrote. Such a system would be overseen by the Federal Highway Administration in cooperation with disaster preparedness agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its state counterparts, along with state highway departments and universities. In addition to collecting data on the structural damage of bridges, the system would also allow researchers to develop damage models so they could predict failure processes for different kinds of bridges under different types of extreme events. Lee and Sternberg also wrote that such a system should allow researchers to develop predictive analytic models that integrate observations from destructive testing, forensic studies, reconnaissance studies, and bridge-health monitoring. According to Lee and Sternberg, these improvements would allow bridge decision makers to more accurately account for the different hazards that bridges are prone to, which would in turn help infrastructure investments to be more cost-effective on a risk-adjusted basis.
(http://www.issues.org/24.3/p_lee.html)