 
The Latest Toll Road News!
"They
were only fixing a mistake"
More proof that governmental corruption
is destroying our infrastructure.
"Relax, defenders of the Constitution! They were only fixing
a mistake."
"Since
last August, we've been trying to figure out how Rep.
Don Young (R-AK) managed to change the language in a bill
after it cleared both houses of Congress. Now we've finally
got a little bit of clarity -- Young's staff has finally fessed
up to making the change. What remains unclear, however, is
whether Young told them to do it."
"It was no mystery that Young himself was responsible for
the earmark, which provided $10 million to build an I-75 interchange
at Coconut Road in Lee County, Florida. Local officials had
sought money for a more general project to widen the highway,
but real estate developer Daniel Aronoff knew the way to get
things done. He held a $40,000 fundraiser for Young in Florida."
Colorado
voters protest against I-70 Tolls and win.
One Colorado toll bill killed and one to go!
TCI
Accuses CSX of Violating Its Own Insider Trading Rules
Jacksonville Business Journal
Monday, April 7, 2008 - 1:35 PM EDT
"The
Children's Investment Fund Management LLP, a hedge fund
that has been critical of CSX
Corp.'s board and management, has accused the company of
misleading shareholders and violating its corporate insider
trading policy.
The allegations are part of a counterclaim that follows TCI's
defenses to a lawsuit filed against the hedge fund by CSX. "
NOT
NECESSARY TO TOLL, A&M EXPERT SAYS
Tuesday, December 05, 2006 Texas
Monthly blog
Few things are duller than a committee
meeting in the interim between legislative sessions. Witnesses
drone on about policy choices involving arcane issues. Some
of the committees exist only for a short duration and will vanish
once the legislative session begins in January. The media almost
never shows up for these meetings, which explains why the November
28 meeting of the Study Commission on Transportation Financing
received virtually no attention. But a few minutes into the
hearing, David Ellis, a co-author of a report by the Texas Transportation
Institute (TTI) at Texas A&M, dropped a bombshell on the commission.
He said that Texas could finance its highway needs without toll
roads. The headline for this post is based on Ellis’s testimony.
I have not come across any mainstream media reports of Ellis’s
remarks.
Toll Tax Dollars Fund Light Rail
– Not Roads!!!
The Feds have denied funding for
a Dulles rail project (see article “Feds Slam Dulles Rail”).
THANK YOU FTA!! However, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors
officials won’t give up. Now they are begging for funding and
will use TOLL REVENUES TO FUND THE
LIGHT RAIL. Once again this proves that toll roads
are a tax scam against the motorist and more reasons to oppose
toll roads. Please read on and take action now.
Letter
to Federal Transit Administrator James Simpson begging for federal
tax dollars and committing toll revenues for light rail project.
“We have a unique project that not
only provides increased transit capacity to the Dulles Corridor,
Tysons Corner, and Dulles International Airport by providing
about 100,000 transit trips daily, but
also provides for the most cutting edge of financing of any
transit project in the nation.
Our funding is comprised of a $400 million tax improvement district
on commercial and industrial properties petitioned by landowners
and almost $1 in billion
toll revenue from the Dulles Toll Road,
and business and professional licensing fees. For Phase I of
this project, the FTA funds of $900 million comprise about 36%
of total project cost and fall to 17% when Phase II is factored
in. No other project in the nation has these varied sources
of public and private funding, and tolling, and none has requested
such a low percentage of federal participation. This project
should be a model for the nation.
Feds
Slam Dulles Rail Project
"Federal Transit Administrator James
Simpson said this afternoon that his agency has serious questions
about whether the Washington airports authority can build the
rail line to Dulles and whether Metro can operate it."
The agency has a "real concern" about a gap of billions of dollars
between what Metro has in the pipeline and what it would cost
to maintain the Dulles line in a state of good repair.
"As of today," Simpson said, "the project does not meet requirements
necessary to advance it."
Today, it's unclear whether those concerns can be adequately
addressed, but it's real clear that this is a serious setback.
Contact Federal Transit Administrator James Simpson and oppose
the Dulles Rail Project and the Central Florida Rail project.
1) Rail is not a solution for some communities. 2) Toll revenues
should NEVER be used for mass transit. It is an unfair tax against
motorist along with all the other issues that toll roads create.
James Simpson, FTA Administrator
1200 New Jersey Ave. SE
4th & 5th Floors - East Building
Washington, DC 20590
Office of Communications and Congressional Affairs
(202) 366-4043
FTA
Web Site
Feds
may disrupt Orlando commuter-rail plan
They want to see how rerouting
trains would affect Polk County.
Jay Hamburg | Sentinel Staff Writer - February 15, 2008
“An unexpected environmental study could delay or disrupt plans
for Central Florida's commuter-rail system, some worried officials
warned Thursday.”
“The federal government has ordered a survey of how freight
trains, which are being moved from a downtown Orlando line to
Polk County, would affect residents in the surrounding areas,
including Lakeland.”
“The problem is that the study and any appeals could cause the
commuter-rail project to miss deadlines for major federal funding,
state officials said. At a minimum, that could cause long delays
in the project scheduled to open its first leg from DeLand to
Orlando in 2010.”
Taxpayer Alert…….
Check out the Orlando Sentinel Blog for this article and see
what the people of Central Florida think – they openly and loudly
oppose this rail boondoggle. Then you must contact your Federal
Officials and the U.S. DOT and Rail Administration and oppose
the waste of Federal tax dollars. This is a Congressman John
Mica Boondoggle to help make his CSX friends rich while our
traffic congestion gets worse!!
Working together we can make a difference!
Thank you,
Sally
U.S.
Representative introduce Free Highway Protection Act of 2007
On Monday, U.S. Reps. Phil English
and John Peterson introduced the Free Highway Protection Act
of 2007, which they claim would eliminate the state's economic
incentive to toll the highway. It would also establish a federal
excise tax -- equal to the amount of the I-80 tolls -- on new
tolls placed on federally financed interstate highways.
Contact
Representative Phil English
Contact
Representative John Peterson –
Say No to I-80 Tolls 2005
I-80
Tolling Study
"We are not going to stand idly
by and watch Harrisburg politicians pick the pockets of western
Pennsylvanians to prop up Philadelphia’s mass transit system.
Imposing tolls on I-80 will only burden our local communities,
while shifting the benefits elsewhere,” said English, a former
Executive Director of the State Senate Transportation Committee.
“We recognize that it is going to be a fight, but we are committed
to keeping a toll free I-80 even if we have to throw ourselves
under the state government’s steamroller." Read
More
Vote
for candidate who will stop tolls
Published: 1/25/2008 12:17 AM
Given all the problems you've exposed
in the toll collection system, a system you decry as "inequitable,
insensitive and inept," there is one solution that has been
ignored -- get rid of the tollways!
Look at the millions of dollars that would be saved on bureaucracy,
court costs, equipment, etc., not to mention the reduction in
stress for the unintentional violators and the motorists who
are made criminals for what? Not paying another unjust tax that
feeds the bloated, corrupt government?
How much of the total money collected, tolls and fines, goes
to fix the roads? Maybe one-third? Who pockets the rest? What
good does that money do for society?
NC
Tolls and it’s Impact
8/1/2007
Although several lawmakers tried,
this year's budget does not include language that forbids transfers
from the highway trust fund into the general fund. Legislators
transferred $170 million from the state's Highway Trust Fund
to the General Fund.
Indiana
- tollroads in the news for toll plaza gridlock and grand
plans
Posted Sun, 2008-02-02
 “The
promise of the expressway was that the journey from Delhi
to Gurgaon would be reduced to a reliable 20 minutes compared
to the 50 to 70 minutes drive over surface arterials.
“But news stories turned sour
within a day as the mainline toll plaza at Km24 couldn't cope
with the traffic and regularly developed backups described
as "several kilometers long". Just the trip through
the toll plaza in peak hours is said to be regularly 20 to
30 minutes. One reporter said stingingly it was the first
expressway to be slower than the regular road.”
Orlando
Orange County Expressway Authority – Four Board Member
resign - 
Posted Tue, 2007-11-13 19:47
Orlando
Orange County Expressway Authority Personnel
 Orlando
Evora, vice chair of the Orlando Orange County Expressway
Authority (OOCEA) has resigned. This means that four of the
five board members have gone in the last year since the authority
was embroiled in controversy over secret payments to an anti-toll
activist of over $100k, allegations of improper land dealings
and developer influence over road routing, a major fight with
the Authority's long established marketing and PR firm, all
leading to a county audit which found poor accounting and
mismanagement of consultants.
 However
criminal charges foreshadowed by a county prosecutor failed
to materialize.
Evora, a local lawyer said he was resigning
due to increased professional and family obligations. He was
not di rectly involved in any of the scandals or furores but,
according to the Orlando Sentinel he declared a conflict of
interest on 168 issues he voted on in five years, and this
made him the subject of criticism.
Evora had a year of his term left to
serve.
The state governor, Charlie Crist (Repub)
will appoint a replacement.
New
Jersey Taxpayers Oppose Toll Plan -
57/34 Public Opposition
To NJ Governor's Tollroads Plan - PublicMind Poll
Posted Tue, 2008-01-22 12:09
“Governor Jon Corzine is
not close to winning public support for his radical public
toll concession plan, according to a new opinion poll. The
poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind
opinion polling outfit was conducted by telephone from Jan
14 thru 21 using a random sample of 927 registered voters.
The poll has a sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points at
the 95% level of confidence.”
Virginia
Stops Toll Proposal –
VDOT issues death notice
on I-81 truck toll lanes concession proposal
Posted Wed, 2008-01-16 20:16
Virginia DOT has announced an
end to the botched procurement of a toll concession to fund
improvements to I-81. Since October 2006 it has been clear
that the project was going nowhere. Today VDOT used a letter
from Kellogg Brown and Root, a lead company in the STAR Solutions
consortium, as justification for issuing the official death
notice.
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