Tag: Infrastructure

Are State DOT Rockfall Projects Money Pits?: NMA E-Newsletter #630

Have you ever wondered how much it costs to mitigate rockfalls on state highways and interstates? The bigger question, perhaps, is the expense worth it? Late last year, NorthJersey.com posted an interesting article about rockfall project expenses in the state. Even though they did not come out and say it, it seems some rockfall projects […]

Alliance for Toll-Free Interstates Winter 2020/2021 Update

“We’ve gotten precious little help from the federal government,” Pennsylvania State Representative Tim Hennessey recently said as he touted his support for a new network of tolls on the commonwealth’s major bridges. States are pleading for more federal help as our nation continues to work on rebounding from the crippling economic effects of the COVID-19 […]

A State Should Never Lease Its Roads

Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared in October 2020 as an NMA E-Newsletter #614. If you would like to receive our one-topic weekly E-Newsletter, join the NMA today. Reason Foundation’s Transportation Guru Robert Poole released a study in August of how nine states could financially benefit if they were to lease their toll road systems to […]

Big Data in Connected Smart Cars: Myths & Reality

Today’s smart cars collect a wide variety of data, from the road’s width, information about potential hazards, a history of user behavior, and so much more. Connected cars are just a small piece of the IoT, which is helping to make our world more interconnected than ever before. Whether you are feeding information to your […]

Don’t Let Congestion Pricing Take Hold in the US

Before the pandemic, cities around the country were talking about implementing congestion pricing. Experts believe that charging a fee for parts of streets and highways used the most at the busiest times of day reduces demand. They believe that this tax incentivizes drivers to switch to other modes, other routes, or even travel at different […]

Are Tolls already a Done Deal when Officials ask for Public Comments?

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, funding new roads and bridges has been challenging. Inevitably, the idea of creating tolls to fund new builds or rebuilds comes up for discussion. Sometimes toll roads are ramrodded through with little public input as happened in Florida recently. Residents in San Clemente, California, have been organizing for years against […]

Tolls in America—a New Reality?

Private toll companies and state toll agencies have run up against a funding crisis just like the rest of the country. As mentioned in the last Tolling in America blog, if private toll companies are a part of a PPP or Public-Private Partnership, they might bail (as has been done before) if the money they […]

Is it Really Tough Times for Toll Roads Ahead?

By Shelia Dunn, NMA Communications Director The website Chief Investment Officer posted in June a lament for how tough it is for toll roads right now. Here’s a quote, “The typically stable asset class has been hit as traffic levels have dropped 40 percent to 85 percent globally, S&P analysts say.” So the website tells […]

Will Car Owners Be Forced To Breathe Into A Breathalyzer To Start Their Vehicles?

By guest writer Joe Cadillic, of the MassPrivatel Blog Editor’s Note: Even though the Moving Forward Act was passed on July 1, 2020, by the US House of Representatives, Senate leader Mitch McConnel has already stated the bill is dead on arrival. So much was thrown into the over 2,000 page bill, including many ‘safety’ […]