In This Issue

	OCTA Encourages Private Sector over Caltrans
	Apartment Seekers Pay More near Light Rail
	TxDOT Completes Financing for Largest Greenfield P3 Deal
	ADOT to Reopen Nine Closed Rest Areas
	Calif. Lawmakers work to Close Tolling, Red Light Camera Loophole
	NJ Bill would bring Ads, Sponsors to Toll Plazas
	California Bullet-Train may Begin Bidding Next Year
	DART Delays Dallas/Ft. Worth Rail Route, Blames Funding

OCTA Encourages Private Sector over Caltrans

The Orange County Transportation Authority said this week that it has adopted a policy to contract 100% of its billions of dollars in transit work to the private sector, rather than Caltrans staff. The policy covers services for design, construction management, engineering, project study reports, right-of-way acquisition, environmental issues and others.

The proposal came from Orange Mayor Carolyn Cavecche, an OCTA board member who hopes to help private industry during difficult economic times. “At present,” Cavecche said after the meeting, “there is no policy by the board of how much work the private sector should do and how much Caltrans should do. I don’t see it as changing how we do things, I just see it as putting a policy in place.”

Cavecche said Caltrans workers report to agency officials in Sacramento, but private contractors would be directly accountable to OCTA. She said the move will help the OCTA directly manage how money is spent and ensure that proper construction techniques and materials are used. The OCTA is scheduled to handle 14 freeway projects over the next seven years, costing more than $3.4 billion.

Apartment Seekers Pay More near Light Rail

Apartments within a quarter mile of a light rail stop are renting for 4 percent more per month, and that’s pushing down vacancy rates in those areas and increasing the cost of land near transit, according to a recent analysis of the apartment market by Grubb & Ellis.

“We do have a really young, educated work force that will pay a premium to be near light rail,” said Tom Wanberg, senior vice president of investment services at Grubb and Ellis. The analysis found that unimproved apartment land sales in the Denver region between 2006 and 2010 show developers pay 25 percent more on average for properties within a quarter-mile of an existing or planned transit stop.

“Five years ago, when you put a property on the market, I don’t remember anyone asking if it was close to transit,” said Steve Rahe, senior vice president of Grubb & Ellis multifamily investment group. In surveying 30 apartment communities along the southeast and southwest light rail lines, 19 were built after the system began operations. Transit proximity came in at a close second to geographic location as a driver in resident leasing decisions, the survey concluded.

TxDOT Completes Financing for Largest Greenfield P3 Deal

AUSTIN, TX – Funding for I-635 LBJ Express Project has been reached ahead of schedule, to the relief of commuters routinely stuck on the congested interstate, which will soon get a $2.7 billion makeover. The U.S. Department of Transportation has agreed to loan $850 million to the public-private-partnership, which will add up to six express, managed toll lanes to 13 miles in the busy Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The LBJ Infrastructure Group – a Cintra-led consortium – has contracted with the Texas Department of Transportation to build, finance, maintain and operate the full 17-mile corridor of I-635 from I-35 to Central Expressway. Construction is scheduled to start in early 2011, with completion scheduled for 2016.

The $2.7 billion project is funded primarily with private capital, with Nossaman LLP national law firm advising TxDOT, which has joined Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), Dallas County and the city of Dallas as The Regional Transportation Council which is contributing $496 million. LBJ Infrastructure Group will contribute $664 million in private equity, including 6.6 percent from Dallas Police and Fire Pension System. The USDOT’s loan, along with other government loans and private bonds, will be repaid through tolls on the express lanes of the planned, multi-level highway system.

ADOT to Reopen Nine Closed Rest Areas

PHOENIX – To aid summer travel, the Arizona Department of Transportation has announced plans to reopen five of the state’s rest areas by the end of July. The department will also begin repairs on four additional rest areas in an effort to open in the fall. When the nine closed rest areas reopen, the state will have a total of 14 rest stops open to more than 50,000 drivers and passengers daily.

When ADOT announced in the temporary closure of some rest areas in October 2009, the agency pledged to reevaluate its financial situation before the July 1 start of the 2011 fiscal year. The closures were the result of the state’s budget crisis, declines in transportation revenue and a need to focus on critical wintertime safety. Some rest areas can be reopened now because of a stabilizing – but not yet improving – financial situation, and through careful and budgeting by ADOT.

Virginia closed their rest areas as did ADOT. Now both DOTs have reopened most of them: public demand is too great to keep them closed. In reality, the budget problems in the states are so far beyond the small amount of money saved by closing rest areas that it turns out to be more symbolic than anything else. The financial problems in the states are so structural in nature (e.g. they need to raise substantial money and not try to fill the gap with small savings) that these actions can't resolve the underlying problems. TW

Calif. Lawmakers work to Close Tolling, Red Light Camera Loophole

Desperate for revenue to lower a multi-billion deficit, the California lawmakers are looking to close a loophole which exempts 1.5 million government workers and their families from paying certain tickets and fines. The state Assembly voted unanimously to progress a bill to collect millions from police officers and other state workers who can avoid paying toll violations, traffic and parking tickets or red light camera fines because their home addresses are not displayed in the Department of Motor Vehicles public-access records.

Existing California law allows police officers and other state workers to obtain confidential license plates to protect officials from criminals. Through the years, the list included jobs has expanded and now ranges from county supervisors, museum guards to park rangers.

“It is outrageous that there are more than 1.5 million government workers in over 1,500 state agencies who can get out of paying their traffic violations,” Assemblyman Jeff Miller, R-Corona, said in a statement. “While there are certain protections in place for valid reasons, no one should be above the law.” The bill would require confidential plate holders to submit a current employment address where tickets could be mailed. The bill is awaiting consideration in the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee.

NJ Bill would bring Ads, Sponsors to Toll Plazas

New Jersey – Business may soon be putting their advertisements at toll plazas under a New Jersey bill unanimously approved by a legislative transportation committee. A2407 would help replenish the state’s Transportation Trust Fund, which is so depleted that most of the $900 million in tax revenues next year will be needed to repay its debts.

“New Jersey is home to the nation’s first- and third-busiest toll roads,” said Craig Couglin, D-Middlesex, who is co-sponsoring the bill with Pamela Lampitt, D-Camden. “Companies will jump at the chance to pay for advertising access to the toll plazas and taxpayers will reap the benefits.” The bill is currently awaiting clearance to the full Assembly for consideration.

Meanwhile, the New Jersey Department of Transportation is also considering creative ways to boost road funding, including the possibility of selling naming rights to road service plazas.

California Bullet-Train may Begin Bidding Next Year

As the top funding recipient for the Obama administration’s high-speed rail program, California expects to request bids for the bullet-train line connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco by late 2011. Bids are anticipated from about 10 companies, and construction could begin by mid-2012, according to Quentin Kopp, a California High Speed Rail Authority Board member.

The train will carry passengers 432 miles between the two cities in under 2 hours 40 minutes, according to the state’s high-speed rail website. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the main supporter of the project, which was awarded $8 billion for high-speed rail projects from the Obama Administration in January, causing several high speed rail companies in Japan and China to boost sales efforts.

“A high-speed line between Los Angeles and San Francisco makes sense given their large populations and the distance between them,” said Yuuki Sakurai, chief executive officer of Fukoku Capital Management Inc., which manages about $8.3 billion. “There might be some companies trying to sell their technologies even if they don’t make a profit, so they can make a name for themselves.”

The state is planning for the fully complete rail network to cover 800-miles running from San Francisco to San Diego, near the U.S.-Mexican border, at a total cost of $40 billion.

Here is an example of a story where the numbers aren’t even close. California got $2.344 billion from the administration from the original High Speed Rail funds not the $8 billion stated in this article. Also, published reports about the total cost of their project put it as low as $40 billion; with some reporting it to be $60 billion and others $80 billion. I never thought I would say $40 billion was a low number. At any rate, I am not sure what they are going to build with what money but we included this story as an example of how messaging can be confusing to those not familiar with what is really going on. By the way, in case no one noticed, California is broke and the Highway Trust Fund isn’t exactly awash in extra cash. $80 billion is a lot of money when there is no money to be had. TW

DART Delays Dallas/Ft. Worth Rail Route, Blames Funding

DALLAS – Plans to link the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport with the rest of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit line are now on hold indefinitely, the agency announced this week. Funding is not currently available to finish the 4.7-mile Orange Line, which was scheduled to open December 2013.

“This is the culmination of no growth in tax revenue in the DART service area,” said DART spokesman Morgan Lyons. The Greater Irving-Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce had hoped the connection would attract more company headquarters to Irving, as well as boost business at stores and restaurants along the line.

“We feel like it’s the most important section of the entire DART system,” said Shawn Callaway, a spokesman for the business group. The Orange Line will still be built to Belt Line Road in Irving, however, work on a Blue Line extension south to the University of North Texas at Dallas campus and a second downtown Dallas rail alignment have also been shelved.

Lyons said DART will continue planning on the suspended projects as the agency prepares itself to compete for future federally-funded grants.