Free Republic

The toll lanes for Florida’s I-4 Ultimate, a seven-year, $2.4 billion project, are now open, with 21 miles of rebuilt highway and new express lanes between Orange and Seminole counties. It is the largest road project in state history. Highlights of the project: Reconstruction of I-4 lanes and adding four new tolled I-4 Express lanes – two in each direction; Reconstruction of 15 major interchanges; Replacement of 74 bridges, widening of 13 bridges, and adding 53 new bridges. The I-4 Express lanes, the centerpiece of the project, are now open on the interstate’s center lanes and separated by concrete barriers....

Construction on Interstate 35W between North Tarrant Parkway and Eagle Parkway has officially crossed the half-way mark. The project, from public-private partnership North Tarrant Express Mobility Partners, is improving existing toll-free lanes and building two toll managed lanes in each direction. North Tarrant Infrastructure is the general contractor on the project. “This latest project on 35W is on track and will produce extra capacity and congestion relief north into Denton County by late 2023,” said Francisco Galdeano, COO of North Tarrant Express Mobility Partners Segment 3.

State officials plan to allow a private company to set toll rates and keep the revenue from the proposed I-285 express lanes — a move that will affect hundreds of thousands of metro Atlanta commuters. The firm would invest in the design, construction and maintenance of the new lanes, currently set for construction beginning in 2023, then recover its investment by collecting toll revenue for 50 years. Many details — including which company will operate the lanes, how much it will invest and any limits on its tolling authority — have not been determined. Georgia transportation officials say private investment...

After years of construction, with traffic-cone obstacle courses, tire-bursting potholes and white-knuckle steering along ever-shifting lanes, it might stand that the coming tolls for the rebuilt Interstate 4 would also bring the same level of dread. But drivers might be in for a pleasant surprise. “We actually don’t know yet how much the tolls are going to be,” said Jared Perdue, the state’s transportation secretary for Central Florida. “There are a lot of unknowns and a lot of assumptions.” But while final toll calculations are still underway, Perdue’s agency estimated recently that the I-4 toll lanes will now not be...

Long before she was tall enough to sit behind a steering wheel, Paula Nelson-Blattner was experiencing the best and the worst of the Howard Frankland Bridge. “As a kid, I was always nervously asking my parents, ‘Did you check your gas?’” said Nelson-Blattner, 52, who got the creeps crossing the concrete span, perched as it is atop golf-tee shaped pillars as far as 58 feet above the waters of Old Tampa Bay. “Of course, once you’re close enough to read the warnings, not a gas station is in sight and it’s far too late to turn back.” The “check your...

BOCA RATON, Fla. — Drivers on Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County will have an easier and faster way to get around. Express lanes are being built in the southern part of the county, but that means years of construction are ahead. The Florida Department of Transportation is investing $1 billion in building express lanes from Broward County to Delray Beach. The tolled lanes would connect with the current lanes already built in Miami. "Driving on 95 right now, it is a zoo," said Christopher Tapia when asked how he'd describe driving on I-95. The express lanes project started in...

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) recently released a list of some of the agency's most impactful road and bridge construction projects to drivers for 2021. UDOT will be working on 185 projects across the state in 2021, with a value of $3.45 billion over the life of the projects, many of which span multiple years. Planned improvements range from repaving rural highways and building freeway-style interchanges to widening and repaving interstates and demolishing and rebuilding bridges. The traffic delays from these projects range from overnight lane restrictions to full road closures with major detours. “These projects are an essential...

Maryland transportation officials announced Thursday that they have selected Australian toll road operator Transurban to develop high-occupancy toll lanes for the Capital Beltway and Interstate 270, potentially cementing the company’s dominance in the Washington region. If Transurban and its partner, Australian investment bank Macquarie Capital, ultimately reach a 50-year deal with the state to build and operate the lanes, Transurban eventually would control 102 miles of express toll lanes around the nation’s capital — 37 in Maryland and 65 in Northern Virginia. Connecting high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes in the two states would mark the beginnings of a regional network of...

FARMINGTON — In terms of the sheer magnitude of work that will be taking place, Northern Utah’s 2021 road construction season will be unlike any other. Sometime this spring, the Utah Department of Transportation will be working simultaneously on three highway projects in Weber and Davis counties, worth a combined $1.4 billion. Two of the projects — the $163 million Interstate 15 Express Lanes work and the $493 million U.S. 89 reconstruction — are being carried over from 2020. The third, and most expensive, is the $750 million West Davis Corridor. To put the 2021 dollar value in perspective, UDOT...

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The SH-288 toll lanes are open and you'll have to pay to use them starting today. Until now, the fees had been waived. Adjustable pricing is based on time of day and volume of traffic. In other words, if the lanes get too congested, toll prices will increase to control traffic. "I think you have to realize that the tolls will be managed based on time of day. If you're in the tolls during peak, it will cost a little more. If you're driving off peak, it will be less. And that's how they're designed," said...

Dive Brief: In what Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is calling "a monumental and historic achievement," the three-member state Board of Public Works voted Wednesday to approve amendments to the public-private partnership (P3) that will deliver Hogan's $9 billion Traffic Relief Plan. The plan includes implementation of Maryland and Virginia's Capital Beltway Accord, which allows for a new American Legion Bridge between the two states near Washington, D.C., and the approval will allow the state to solicit bids. In order to win a majority vote for the plan, Hogan agreed to eliminate from the first phase of the project the widening...

Your commute could get worse before it gets better along a stretch of Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County. Later this month, crews will begin adding express lanes from Glades Road in Boca Raton to Linton Boulevard in Delray Beach. For realtor Ricky Hen, this is great news. "Traffic is awful to be honest with you," said Hen. The Florida Department of Transportation will add two tolled express lanes along that stretch of I-95 in southern Palm Beach County. "I think it's great idea," said Hen. "I think it will help a lot and add a lot and help a...

State transportation officials want to do something about traffic and safety on Interstate 94 between downtown Minneapolis and Interstate 694, as well as state Highway 252 between I-694 and Highway 610. Minnesota Department of Transportation is considering converting a stretch of highway into a freeway and putting MnPASS lanes on I-94 and 252. But some are raising concerns about what the proposed changes might mean for residents of north Minneapolis who live along the I-94 corridor. Alex Burns is chair of the Sierra Club North Star Chapter's land use and transportation team. He said that more traffic on I-94 will...

Maryland and Virginia will partner to rebuild and widen the American Legion Bridge in a ­billion-dollar project to relieve congestion at the Washington region’s worst traffic bottleneck, the states’ governors announced Tuesday. In an unusual example of interstate cooperation, Virginia has agreed to help pay for the project even though most of the bridge — like the Potomac River flowing beneath it — belongs to Maryland. The plan marks a breakthrough in a years-long impasse over widening the bridge on the northwestern stretch of the Capital Beltway. In the past, Maryland has said it didn’t have enough money for the...

As he travels the state with top administrators from the Maryland Department of Transportation, Secretary Pete K. Rahn hears a frequent plea from business leaders, environmentalists and the public — expand bus and rail options, so travelers don’t have to be so dependent on their cars. Rahn has a ready response for transit advocates: Under Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R), Maryland is spending more on transit than at any other time. “We’re at 42 percent of the state [transportation] trust fund going to transit already, with 3 percent of the revenues coming from transit,” Rahn told a reporter in...

MARYSVILLE, Wash. — We're taking a look at the worst of the worst traffic spots in western Washington – and some of the solutions to the problem. Marysville A problem spot in Marysville has city and state transportation officials working to come up with a fix. Interstate 5 traffic between Everett and Marysville gets congested during rush hour. According to the Washington State Department of Transportation, between 1980 and 2017, the population of Snohomish County increased 137%. It's expected to gain another 200,000 residents by 2035. This explosive growth increased the number of vehicles using I-5 between Everett and Marysville,...

Paying to bypass traffic already is happening on Interstate 95. Plans are in place for the pay-lane practice to creep into Boca Raton and Delray Beach. Commuting south on I-95 into Boca Raton during the afternoon rush hour was never a charm, but it’s worse than ever now, due in part to the creeping transformation of I-95 into a toll road. Like many bad ideas, this started small. The Florida Department of Transportation project called Express 95 adopted the slogan “Giving people the option to save time.” But it more honestly should have been branded, “Buying your way out of...

Collecting tolls in Hampton Roads is a $180-million-a-year business — nearly twice the size of the region’s fishing and farming sectors combined — and is set to grow. Much of that money goes to finance a private venture’s $1.5 billion expansion of the road and tunnel network connecting Norfolk and Portsmouth. A somewhat smaller amount goes to the public body that’s spending nearly $800 million to dig a parallel tunnel for the 55-year-old, 23-mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. A much smaller part goes to keep the Coleman Bridge over the York River in shape, and to pay off the cost...

No new or specific details about the I-285 toll lanes project were revealed at a May 15 Georgia Department of Transportation meeting held in Dunwoody, but the state agency did fulfill a requirement to officially close out the “Revive285” project that began in 2006. A future round of public meetings that will include detailed maps of what properties could be taken are expected to occur in early 2020. Dubbed by GDOT as a “conversation” meeting about the planned toll lanes along the top end of I-285, the one held Tuesday afternoon at St. Luke’s Presbyterian Church attracted about 60 people....

A summer getaway along Interstate 95 in Virginia could include extra backups the next few years now that construction is ramping up on a 10-mile extension of the HOV or toll 95 Express Lanes. Virginia and Transurban, the private builder and operator of the toll lanes, held a ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday at the Stafford Regional Airport for the 95 Express Lanes Fredericksburg extension, a project they believe could significantly alleviate some regular backups from Garrisonville Road to the Rappahannock River. Until the $565 million project is finished in about three years though, hundreds of workers on the project mean drivers...