As
state legislatures are wrapping up their sessions before
the summer break, numerous issues related to ongoing
transportation woes have been hot topics. Some states
have found the political willpower to move forward with
aggressive plans to address looming needs, while other
states saw their legislators return home with the issue
still hanging over their heads for the next session.
Below is a brief rundown from several different states.
Oklahoma
Lawmakers OK $300 million in bonds to pay for roads,
bridges
As part of
an overall $475 million bond package, Oklahoma roads
and bridges are set to get a boost in funding under
a measure recently signed into law by Gov. Brad Henry.
The new law
authorizes a $300 million bond issue to pay for repairs
to roads and bridges throughout the state. County roads
and bridges are tabbed to receive $25 million.
The debt service on the road bonds will be paid for
with a portion of the annual growth in motor vehicle
fees. The average annual growth in motor vehicle fees
is more than 3 percent.
The agreement
also removes a trigger in Oklahoma law that requires
state revenue to grow at least 3 percent before ODOT
receives an annual increase of up to $50 million. The
stipulation led to only $17.5 million being allotted
for transportation this fiscal year.
For more
information, please visit:
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2008/Jun08/060908/061008-07.htm
State
road funding plan falters in Missouri
A legislative
proposal to amend the Missouri Constitution will have
to wait until next year. It sought to increase funding
for highways without increasing tax rates.
Sponsored
by Sen. John Loudon, R-Chesterfield, the joint resolution
– SJR43 – failed to come up for consideration
on the Senate floor before the regular session ended
last month.
Loudon sought
the amendment because of concern about long-term funding
options in the state due to an expected hit in future
federal funding. To combat the problem, his measure
called for earmarking 10 percent of state revenue growth
each year for roads, bridges and other transportation
projects.
That money
now pays for services that include schools and mental
health services. Roads are funded with fuel, vehicle
and license tag fees.
Officials
with the Missouri Department of Transportation also
warn that transportation funding “falls off a
cliff” in 2010. At that time, funding is expected
to drop from $1.2 billion annually to about $570 million
because the state will start repaying bonds approved
by voters in 2004 that are being used for road and bridge
work.
The effort
can be renewed during the 2009 regular session. Pending
approval by the General Assembly and governor, the proposal
would go before voters.
For more
information, please visit:
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2008/Jun08/060908/061308-06.htm
Toll
lanes, congestion pricing coming to Capitol Beltway
More examples
of various public-private partnerships are springing
up around the country. A new one is coming directly
to the Washington DC area as the state of Virginia,
a private investment group and the federal government
have worked out an agreement to add lane capacity and
congestion pricing to the Capitol Beltway system in
the Washington, DC, area.
The expansion
of Interstate 495 by two lanes on each side of the Beltway
has already begun and is scheduled for completion in
2012. Highway users encountering congestion may choose
to pay a toll to travel in faster moving lanes. This
is known as congestion pricing. The toll amount varies
depending on time of day and amount of congestion.
U.S. Transportation
Secretary Mary Peters issued a statement Thursday, June
12, to say the project will save time for drivers who
would otherwise be stuck in traffic.
Financing
for the project is being arranged through a public-private
partnership. The U.S. DOT is issuing $589 million in
private activity bonds as well as a $589 million loan
to private investors Transurban of Australia and Fluor
of Irving, TX, to do the work and manage the toll lanes.
Toll revenue
will pay off the bonds as well as the loan through the
DOT’s Transportation Infrastructure Finance and
Innovation Act program, Peters stated in a press release.
The rest of the funding for the $1.9 billion project
will come from the state of Virginia.
Transurban-Fluor
will manage the toll lanes, known as high-occupancy
toll lanes or HOT lanes, for 75 years. Motorists who
have three or more people in their vehicles may access
the HOT lanes for free. Motorcycles, buses and emergency
vehicles will also have free access. Tolls will be collected
through the electronic E-ZPass system.
For more
information, please visit:
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2008/Jun08/060908/061308-07.htm
Alabama-Florida
toll road hitting roadblocks
Public opinion
is not always friendly to public-private partnerships.
Negative opinion had a impact on toll road plans in
Alabama and Florida as plans by a private investment
group to build a new toll road connecting southern Alabama
with Interstate 10 in the Florida Panhandle are encountering
challenges.
While a proposal
by an investment group was approved by a county commission
in Alabama, residents in a neighboring county in Florida
protested.
Fore more
information, please visit:
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2008/Jun08/060908/061308-05.htm
In
Connecticut a Special Legislative Session Fruitful,
to Some
Gas prices
also played a large role in a recent special legislative
session held in Connecticut as legislators repealed
a scheduled state gas tax increase.
While other
issues were decided in the special session, the greatest
pressure on legislators came from $4 a gallon gas prices.
Lawmakers in both parties voted overwhelmingly to delay
a scheduled July 1 increase in the state’s gross
receipts tax that would have bumped up the tax half
a percent, to 7.5 percent.
For more
information, please visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/22polct.html
Massachusetts
governor offers bridge repairs plan
While not
a comprehensive plan to address all of Massachusetts’
road funding problems, an effort to quickly repair the
most neglected bridges in the state has been put forth
by Governor Deval Patrick.
The governor’s
repair plan calls for borrowing $3 billion to fix “structurally
deficient” bridges during the next eight years.
State figures show there now are 543 structurally deficient
bridges. That number grows each year, The Boston Globe
reported.
Patrick said
in a written statement that his plan would reduce by
about 15 percent the number of structurally deficient
spans during the next eight years. Without the plan,
he said, the number of such bridges would increase by
30 percent during that time.
For more
information, please visit:
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2008/Jun08/061608/061608-04.htm
New
Hampshire bill to aid road funds moves to governor
Another state
facing road funding challenges is unable to address
the full scope of their problems, but has begun to move
in the right direction as New Hampshire lawmakers forwarded
a bill to Gov. John Lynch that would limit the amount
of money that can be transferred from the highway trust
fund for non-transportation uses.
Advocates
for protecting highway money point out that during the
2008 fiscal year, $82 million in fuel tax revenues were
rerouted from the Department of Transportation to several
state agencies. Another 12 percent of fuel tax money
was sent to municipalities.
During the
next five years, the bill – HB1618 – would
phase in caps on the transfer of highway trust funds.
For more
information, please visit:
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2008/Jun08/061608/061708-05.htm
Toyota
promises plug-in hybrid vehicle by 2010
Continuing
the new trend of flex fuel and hybrid vehicles, Toyota
is introducing a plug-in hybrid with next-generation
lithium-ion batteries in Japan, the U.S. and Europe
by 2010, under a widespread strategy to be green.
The ecological gas-electric vehicles, which can be recharged
from a home electrical outlet, will target leasing customers,
Toyota (TM) said. Such plug-in hybrids can run longer
as an electric vehicle than regular hybrids, and are
cleaner.
Lithium-ion
batteries, now common in laptops, produce more power
and are smaller than nickel-metal hydride batteries
used in hybrids now.
The joint venture that Toyota set up with Matsushita
Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic products,
will begin producing lithium-ion batteries in 2009 and
move into full-scale production in 2010, Toyota said.
Toyota also said it's setting up a battery research
department later this month to develop an innovative
battery that can outperform even that lithium-ion battery.
Japan's top automaker, which leads the industry in gas-electric
hybrids, has said it will rev up hybrid sales to 1 million
a year sometime after 2010.
Fore more
information, please visit:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/environment/2008-06-11-toyota-plug-in_N.htm
Honda
Rolls Out Zero Emission Car
Meanwhile,
one of Toyota’s biggest competitors is continuing
their efforts at shifting the nature of motor vehicles
in the US.
Honda's new
zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell car rolled off a Japanese
production line Monday and is headed to southern California.
The FCX Clarity,
which runs on hydrogen and electricity, emits only water
and none of the gases believed to induce global warming.
It is also two times more energy efficient than a gas-electric
hybrid and three times that of a standard gasoline-powered
car, the company says.
Honda expects
to lease out a "few dozen" units this year
and about 200 units within a year. In California, a
three-year lease will run $600 a month, which includes
maintenance and collision coverage.
Among the
first customers are actress Jamie Lee Curtis and filmmaker
husband Christopher Guest, actress Laura Harris, film
producer Ron Yerxa, as well as businessmen Jon Spallino
and Jim Salomon.
For
more information, please visit:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=5174440
|
Mayor
Bob Cashell
