Free Republic

Marylanders spend more time commuting to work than the residents of every other state, apart from New York. The time spent stuck in I-270 or Beltway traffic is maddeningly frustrating. Congestion results in less time spent with families and discourages workers from taking jobs involving longer commutes. Economists estimate that congestion costs run into the billions. The statewide cost of congestion based on auto delay, truck delay and wasted fuel and emissions was estimated at $2 billion in 2015. This is an increase of 22% from the $1.7 billion estimated cost for congestion in 2013. As serious a problem as...

This weekend on WHAS Radio, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said border wall funding would “probably” have to wait until after midterms. Sunday President Donald Trump’s tweet threatening a government shutdown if a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border was not funded. his weekend on WHAS Radio, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said border wall funding would “probably” have to wait until after midterms. Sunday President Donald Trump’s tweet threatening a government shutdown if a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border was not funded.

Securing funding for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall once again seems to be getting punted further down the road by congressional leadership. During a radio interview with WHAS on Friday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border will likely not make it into the next funding legislation, which must be passed by the end of September in order to avoid another government shutdown. When directly asked if the funding of the border wall would have to wait until after midterm elections, the Republican senator replied “probably,” noting that it is “something [Democrats and Republicans]...

PODGORICA (Reuters) - Perched atop massive cement pillars that tower above Montenegro’s picturesque Moraca river canyon, scores of Chinese workers are building a state-of-the-art highway through some of the roughest terrain in southern Europe. The government has described the 165 km (103 mile) highway, with its imposing bridges and deep-cut tunnels, as the construction of the century and a pathway to the modern world. It is designed to link the port of Bar on Montenegro’s Adriatic coast to landlocked neighbor Serbia. But once the first, challenging 41 km stretch through mountains north of the capital is completed, the government faces...

The spotlight on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is about to become brighter as Congress weighs the Trump administration’s request for a huge spending boost even as a growing number of Democrats want the agency abolished. The administration is pressing Congress for $8.3 billion in discretionary funding for ICE in fiscal 2019 — a $967 million increase over this year’s budget. Democrats are already balking at the figure out of early concern that Republicans will designate the money for bolstering enforcement efforts, including an acceleration of deportations. The Democratic resistance is significant because the Republicans will need support from...

Maryland’s $9 billion plan to expand the Beltway and Interstate 270 is among the nation’s biggest boondoggles, a public-interest advocacy group said Tuesday in a new report. The report — issued by U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group — highlights nine highway projects, including Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s plan to widen certain roadways using public-private partnerships and tolling to pay for them. The advocates say these projects are unwise for several reasons. They say expanding or building new highways always leads to more congestion over time through the wholly predictable phenomenon of “induced demand”: When new capacity opens up,...

Toll collection will continue and any exemption relating to toll taxed on national highways has been ruled out. Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that people should be willing to pay if they want good services. The minister said toll collection can "never go" if funds are to be raised for constructing roads under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. "The toll (collection) will never go. The toll will be there. If you want good services, you will have to pay for it," Gadkari said at a function of the PTI employees unions on Tuesday night. Expressing concern...

How did Americans develop their love affair with driving? Visit the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington and the transportation exhibit “America on the Move” will sell you on the commonly held theory that when Henry Ford made cars affordable, Americans loved them and demanded more and more highways. Of course, that exhibit is sponsored by General Motors, which donated millions to put its name on the collection. But University of Virginia history professor Peter Norton, author of “Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in American cities” contends that’s a myth. Just as outgoing President Dwight...

The U.S. has reportedly suspended aid to the Palestinian Authority amid ongoing Middle East peace talks. I24 News, which is based in Israel, reported Monday that the U.S. froze funding as part of the Taylor Force Act, which requires Palestinian officials to end payments to terrorist groups and take steps to stop those groups’ behavior. The news outlet, citing a White House official and a Senate aide, also reported that certain Palestinian programs have been put on hold because the West Bank and Gaza office of USAID have not received a budget for the coming year. USAID provides funding for...

WASHINGTON By Washington standards, it shouldn’t be that hard to get money for Interstate 73, a decades-in-the-making, $2 billion project to connect 75 miles of road from the North Carolina border to the tourist hub of South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach. But Rep. Tom Rice, R-S.C., the local congressman and the road’s key backer, is struggling to get the project going. He does have support from his state’s two U.S. senators. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., recently called the interstate the second most important economic priority for South Carolina behind dredging the Charleston Harbor. Al Simpson, a well-connected Washington lobbyist who was...

Getting from point A to point B should, theoretically, be a relatively simple task. But in order to travel, the transportation infrastructure needs to be in place and up to par. Across the state, major projects are underway to repair and update that infrastructure so that New Yorkers can get where they need to go – whether that’s through the air, over land or over water. Though some may be on track to be completed while others wallow in planning, here are five major projects underway that should make it easier for New Yorkers to get around.Gov. Mario M. Cuomo...

After a series of crashes on Interstate 81 in the Carlisle area in April, the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners Thursday approved a resolution that asks PennDOT to prioritize and expedite plans to widen the highway to three lanes in each direction across the county. Commissioners said the current design of the ramps and two-lanes of traffic no longer supports the number of vehicles traveling the interstate. “Interstate 81, along with the Pennsylvania Turnpike, brings tremendous economic opportunity. But the interstate also poses safety concerns as traffic volume increases and congestion worsens,” the board said in a joint statement. “In...

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) — Lawmakers are searching for a solution to traffic and accidents on Interstate 81. One bill introduced by Senator Mark Obenshain proposes conducting a study of the effects of adding tolls for long haul trucks. The money from the tolls would go toward improving the interstate through Virginia. Senate Bill 971 passed the Virginia Senate unanimously, passed the House on a 95-3 vote with an amendment by Del. Tony Wilt, and then was agreed upon by both chambers. On April 4, Governor Ralph Northam signed the bill into law. The Virginia Department of Transportation has reported...

This is a social construct that the ubiquitous Soros Foundation programs and scattered funding has engendered. To the new (old) elitist mindset, it is acceptable methodology. As Solomon said, there is nothing new under the sun Fascinating how independent and mainstream media alike suffer under misconceptions put forth by and about the still enigmatic George Soros. A true chameleon, Soros has switched up his story over the decades since he first emerged from the shadows as the man who broke the Bank of England in 1992. For some of us in the media, Soros had already made international news back...

It takes a lot of courage for a president to target almost a quarter of the federal budget for reform in an election year. But this is exactly what President Trump is doing with his executive order, "Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility." We're now spending more than $700 billion per year on low-income assistance, which is more than we are spending on our national defense. And there are plenty of reasons to believe this spending is inefficient, wasteful and counterproductive. Over the last half-century, some $22 trillion has been spent on anti-poverty programs and yet...

The political tide has turned against toll roads in Texas, imperiling a Tomball interchange project and hamstringing frustrated local officials, while setting an ominous tone for projects to come. For years, state officials relied on tolls to tackle some of TexasÂ’ biggest traffic messes as a way to build without adding taxes. Since 2016, however, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have taken hard-line stances against the mixing of Texas Department of Transportation money and toll revenues. Most Popular More men accuse former Texas judge, Baptist leader of sexual misconduct Breaking down 2018 Texas A&M football: Quarterback With...

The Maryland Transportation Authority is exploring phasing out all cash toll booths across the state. Today, tolls are collected three ways: by cash, or electronically, by either an E-ZPass transponder or by video tolling — when the state uses a license-plate photo and mails drivers their bill. Transportation officials say that the transition to all-electronic, high-speed toll collection will: save drivers time on their commute, save the state money, reduce accidents at toll plazas, and reduce CO2 emissions as less fuel is being burned, according to a national study by the University of Central Florida. Drivers in Maryland could start...

The distinction between how rail and road projects can happen in Central Texas — state law requires Capital Metro to ask voters for permission to build or expand a rail line, while road builders can proceed, even on a tollway project, without an election — has always rankled transit supporters.The Legislature added that requirement for Capital Metro rail elections in 1997 when the agency was in turmoil and anti-rail lawmakers held sway. Since then, area voters have OK’d one rail project — the MetroRail commuter line in 2004 — and twice said no to light rail (that second rejection, however, was of...

The Texas Department of Transportation has a contractor lined up to add a lane to each side of Texas 130 through Pflugerville, a popular commuter route that often backs up during rush hour.But the $36.7 million contract with OHL Construction is now caught up in the freeze on toll road projects — even though the project would be an expansion of an existing toll road, funded with toll road revenue. It would not use money from the gas, sales and energy taxes that have been the target of grass-roots anti-toll groups.“The planning and (bidding) has been done. The contractor is ready...

Design-bid-build may still be the No. 1 project delivery method for U.S. construction, but other processes are rising that could challenge DBB’s stake in how some projects are carried out.One such arrangement, public-private partnerships (P3), is gaining steam with talks from Washington, D.C., about employing the method for President Donald Trump’s $1.3 trillion infrastructure spend. While more states and local entities are successfully turning to P3s to tackle major infrastructure overhauls and new projects, the method still runs up against a perception problem. Some elected officials are hesitant to employ P3s because they don’t want to let a private firm...