In This Issue

	RTD Chief names Governor’s Adviser for Key Role
	Open Tolling in N.H. Cuts Traffic Delays
	Public-Private Partnerships are Key to Rebuilding Economy, say Lt. Gov.
	DOT Proposes more Passenger Protections, may Ban Peanuts
	Raising Bayonne Bridge could Cost Millions, Port Authority’s Revenue Falls
	Women Sues Google for Bad Directions
	Americans Support More Road Rules
	Prince William Business Execs Urge Arlington to Drop HOT Lanes Suit

RTD Chief names Governor’s Adviser for Key Role

Colorado - A senior transportation adviser to Gov. Bill Ritter has been named as Colorado’s Regional Transportation District’s assistant manager of administration, RTD General Manager Phil Washington announced this week. Carla Perez has worked in the Ritter administration since 2007, and served with the governor’s special panel on finance.

Perez worked for the Colorado Department of Transportation for eight years and has more than 20 years experience in transportation policy, finance and development issues. Her responsibilities at the RTD beginning June 21 will include human resources, information technology, civil rights division functions and materials management.

Washington, who was appointed as RTD’s general manager in December, also announced CDOT veteran Del Walker as the agency’s deputy assistant general manager of capital programs, including the FasTracks transit expansion. In his 20 years at CDOT, Walker was the project manager for the $1.7 billion T-REX transportation project in Denver. He has worked for Parsons Transportation Group for the past two years.

Carla is well-known to the transportation industry around the country and brings a strong suite of skills to this position. She will be an asset to RTD. TW

Open Tolling in N.H. Cuts Traffic Delays

New England’s first electronic, open-road tolling facility debuted in New Hampshire over Memorial Day weekend on I-95 at the Hampton Tolls. The New Hampshire Department of Transportation hoped the trial would show whether the four lanes designated as high-speed toll lanes for E-ZPass users would reduce traffic backup at the plaza during one of the busiest weekends of the year.

Drivers and NHDOT officials alike were satisfied with the resulting traffic speeds, as the trial went well and the only delays were less than a minute, in the remaining cash lanes. Tolls increased by 50 cents last July to $2 to fund the project.

The $18.3 million Open Road Tolling (ORT) project will complete construction after eleven months and be permanently open June 15. The project converted six plaza lanes to four ORT lanes (two in each direction) while also adding one tollbooth in each direction. ORT lanes can process nearly five times as many vehicles as a conventional cash toll lane and 60 percent more traffic than a dedicated E-ZPass lane where motorists must slow down to pass through. In addition to the ORT lanes, there will be a total of 12 toll lanes in use for both cash paying and E-ZPass customers.

“This is a historic milestone for toll collection in New Hampshire and the northeast,” said NH DOT Commissioner George Campbell. “For the first time in 60 years, our electronic tolling customers will be able to travel through the Hampton Roads at highway speeds. The five-mile backups at certain times of the year at Hampton will be a thing of the past.”

Public-Private Partnerships are Key to Rebuilding Economy, say Lt. Gov.

Connecticut’s Lt. Governor and gubernatorial candidate released details this week of his plan to rebuild and strengthen the state’s economy through public-private partnerships, which he says will “successfully merge the best of the public and private sectors.” Lt. Governor Michael Fedele said that without a significant change in the state’s business plan, Connecticut will face a $4 billion budget shortfall in the 2012 fiscal year.

Fedele says government partnering with the private sector has traditionally shown 20 to 50 percent cost savings when the private sector is involved in providing services or infrastructure. He noted the state has already taken steps toward such opportunities by contracting with a private partner to upgrade 23 service plazas on Connecticut’s major interstates. The 35-year contract requires the vendor to pay the state a percentage of its profits, in addition to $500,000 a year, increasing to $2 million in 2015, with $500,000 increases every five years for the life of the contract. The vendor must also invest $178 million to upgrade the 23 plazas, including fully replacing three of them.

“This is not a one-time band-aid approach to plug a budget gap – it is a long-term solution for good government, good business, a lower tax burden and a better Connecticut,” said Fedele, adding that More than 20 states, including Florida, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware allow for such partnerships.

DOT Proposes more Passenger Protections, may Ban Peanuts

WASHINGTON, D.C. – New consumer protections for air travelers have been proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, including a peanut ban to protect travelers with peanut allergies. The new protections announced by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood build on the agency’s recent rule banning carriers from subjecting passengers to long tarmac delays and other deceptive practices.

In addition to a potential peanut ban, the proposed new rules would mandate timely notice of flight status changes, prohibit price increases after a ticket is purchased, require fair price advertising, require full and prominently displayed disclosure of baggage fees as well as refunds and expense reimbursements when bags are not delivered on time, increased compensation when for bumped passengers and allow passengers to make and cancel reservations within 24 hours without penalty.

The U.S. Transportation Department is considering several options to accommodate passengers with peanut allergies. One option is to ban the serving of peanuts and peanut products on all U.S. and international carriers covered by the DOT’s disability rule. The second option would ban peanuts and peanut products on flights where a passenger with a peanut allergy is onboard and has requested a peanut-free flight in advance. The third option, which Delta has previously implemented, creates a peanut-free buffer zone several rows around the allergic passenger in which peanuts are not served. Other carriers such as U.S. Airways and Air Tran, have chosen to be peanut-free, while other airlines continue to serve peanuts freely.

The Air Transport Association, which represents the airlines, said it is analyzing the proposal. The U.S. DOT is accepting public comments within the next 60 days on the proposed rule at www.regulations.gov, docket DOT-OST-2010-0140.

Raising Bayonne Bridge could Cost Millions, Port Authority’s Revenue Falls

The Bayonne Bridge connecting New Jersey to Staten Island, New York is too low to accommodate massive container ships from Asia, expected to begin arriving at East Coast ports when the Panama Canal expansion is finished in 2015. The Port Authority, which owns the bridge, has contemplated potential solutions laid out by a report from the Army Corps: raise the bridge’s 151-foot clearance, or replace the entire span. Raising the bridge has emerged as the fastest option, and the least expensive, at a cost of $1.32 billion, but would take nine years to complete including planning and construction.

Port Authority’s toll revenues-- crucial to financing the Bayonne Bridge crisis--are declining, down 6.1 percent from projected 2010 levels. The agency has already been forced to slash its 10-year plan by 17 percent or $5 million. The Port Authority has sought private investors for another Staten Island crossing- $775 million project to replace the 82-year old Goethals Bridge. The Port Authority’s chief operating officer, Ernesto Butcher, said private financing is also an option for the Bayonne Bridge. Butcher said the Port Authority will complete a $10 million follow-up study in 2011, with a recommendation for one of the alternatives in the Army Corps report.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in both New York and New Jersey lawmakers are pressuring the agency to solve the Bayonne Bridge problem, as they realize not fixing the 77-year-old bridge could cost thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in commerce lost to competing ports like Norfolk, Va. or Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Women Sues Google for Bad Directions

A Los Angeles woman is suing Google in federal court, claiming it gave her walking directions that led her on a route where she was hit by a car in Park City, Utah. The suit claims the directions advised her to walk along Deer Valley Drive, a.k.a. State Route 224, “where vehicles travel at a high rate of speed and [is] devoid of pedestrian sidewalks.”

Plaintiff Lauren Rosenburg was subsequently hit by a car, “causing her to suffer severe physical, emotional, and mental injuries… and causing her to incur medical expenses in an amount exceeding $100,000,” according to the suit. Rosenburg is also suing the driver. The suit claims that Rosenburg used Google Maps via her Blackberry for walking directions from 96 Daly Ave to 1710 Prospector Ave in Park City. If the route is looked up on a PC, it warns of possible dangers. It is unclear whether these warnings show up on mobile devices.

Do you need Google to warn you that walking along a busy state highway might be dangerous? I once heard testimony at a hearing on whether or not annual state inspections should be done away with and the person testifying said that if it weren’t for the state inspection program they would have never known when to change the brake pads on their car. When a few people don’t know when to service their car is that reason enough for us to establish government programs that punish the rest of us? TW

Americans Support More Road Rules

Public policies to reduce highway fatalities are strongly supported by Americans, including regulations that have frequently been called too stringent by elected officials, a recent national survey finds. The Center for Excellence in Rural Safety at the University of Minnesota found that most Americans agree with speed enforcement using cameras and radar, and ignition interlocks for those convicted of drunk driving. Respondents also support laws enabling police to ticket drivers solely for not wearing a seat belt, mandatory motorcycle helmet laws, sobriety checkpoints, and gradual privileges for new drivers.

"We were surprised by the level of support for these strategies," says Lee Munnich, director of the center, created by the 2005 federal transportation act and sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration to study rural road safety. "In many states, it's been difficult to get legislators to pass some of the tougher restrictions."

Survey respondents said they support the six approaches help reduce road deaths. "We've been focusing on rural safety and how to reduce fatalities in rural areas, which are about twice the average in urban areas," Munnich says. "We wanted to look at how the public feels about these policies that have been proven statistically to make a difference."

Prince William Business Execs Urge Arlington to Drop HOT Lanes Suit

A group of nearly 20 business leaders sent a letter to Arlington County Board Chairman Jay Fisette, urging the county to drop its lawsuit preventing the High Occupancy Toll lanes project on I-95 and I-395 from moving forward. Signed by the heads of the Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax and Prince William County chambers of commerce, among others the Northern Virginia Transportation Coalition letter stated, "the primary obstacle to advancing this innovative, multi-modal improvement is the Arlington County Board's lawsuit that precludes the project from securing any private or public sector funding."

"No federal or state dollars to improve this facility are currently available or likely for the foresee-able future. Absent major improvements, the impact on the hundreds of thousands of travelers that depend upon this corridor daily as well as those who live in adjacent Arlington communities will be severe," the letter stated.