Free Republic

WESLEY CHAPEL — Over the last several years, the developers of the Cypress Creek Town Center have spent $25 million for road improvements in the fast growing State Road 56 corridor near the Interstate 75 interchange. Other nearby businesses have also paid their share. But for those who traverse the area regularly, the months-long delays in promised improvements at that interchange, the so-called diverging diamond, have meant ongoing congestion with no end in sight. Pasco County Commission Chairman Mike Moore knows this well, since he travels the road daily. Prompted by a letter from merchants frustrated with road work delays,...

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- The past two weeks have been restless for Raleigh resident Sandra Taylor, she says construction has been keeping both her and her husband up during the night. "For the past two weeks it's like a large jackhammer, like a massive jackhammer, sort of like blasting, in a way, but it's so extremely loud and it also kind of rattles the house a little bit as well, because it's so loud," Taylor said. She said it usually starts around midnight and can go until 4 am. "We work so to have to go to work the next day,...

Leaders who spoke during a Friday morning ribbon-cutting ceremony to open a new Interstate 15 interchange touted the $31 million project as a prime example of what can be accomplished when entities cooperate. The Northgate interchange opened to the public a few hours after the ceremony concluded, with Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad, Chubbuck Mayor Kevin England and members of the Bannock County Commission all driving their cars across the bridge as the official first users. The interchange is located north of both the Pocatello Creek Road exit and I-15’s “flying Y” with Interstate 86. The interchange was first added to...

BRISTOL TOWNSHIP >> The long-awaited interchange connecting Interstates 95 and 276 (the PA Turnpike) in Bucks County is officially open. Officials from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, the Pa. Department of Transportation (PennDOT), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and representatives from ground-transportation agencies in neighboring states gathered on Friday to commemorate completion of major, Stage 1 components of the Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project. “Motorists who travel in this area have been waiting a long time to realize the benefits this direct link will bring, namely reduced congestion on Bucks County roadways and improved traffic flow in the Philadelphia region and the...

One of the largest and most expensive road construction projects in Iowa is being delayed because of a big mistake. A flyover bridge is being built to serve as a new exit ramp to U.S. Highway 30 for motorists heading northbound on Interstate 35 at Ames. Iowa Department of Transportation engineer Scott Dockstader says the contractor, Minnesota-based Minnowa Construction, messed up. “The bridge is being built right now and we have piers in the middle. Our contractor that’s constructing the bridge made a few mistakes with the elevation of the piers and more importantly, the anchor bolts that go into...

Stoughton — Gov. Scott Walker Thursday promised savings on the massive Zoo Interchange project in Milwaukee and urged lawmakers to release $150 million in borrowing for road projects, saying together those two steps would be enough to keep at least five major highway projects from facing delays. In other remarks Thursday, Walker said that he could appoint a new justice to the Wisconsin Supreme Court by the end of this week and that he also favored clearer rules on which bathrooms can be used by transgender students in public schools. Walker's administration announced last week it was delaying the five...

In a state where four out of five traffic improvement projects bust their original deadlines, Florida transportation officials expect to beat the odds with one of the largest jobs ever undertaken in the Sarasota-Manatee region. Construction of the state’s first diverging diamond interchange at Interstate 75 and University Parkway, which began Aug. 3 and is set for two years, will end before the September 2017 World Rowing Championships draw tens of thousands of visitors to nearby Nathan Benderson Park, state officials promise. But the timeline leaves Prince Contracting, the Tampa-based company that won the $74.5 million contract, just one month...

Dick Durbin's Amendment stipulates new rules that will lead to lower fees for merchants when you swipe a debit card in their stores. Merchants currently pay around 1% of every debit card transaction to the credit card cartel. The lower fees to merchants, in theory, could lower prices in stores. We don't think consumers will benefit. The Australian government capped credit and debit interchange in 2003, which has resulted in some pretty pathetic credit card offers compared to what we have stateside. The average annual fee in Australia is $132, compared with $19 in the US. Rewards programs are also...

For a few days this week, supporters of the long-promised and long-delayed Interstate 73 had a victory worth rejoicing. The news that the state Transportation Commission had agreed to build the interchange with Interstate 95 and five miles of I-73 toward U.S. 501 seemed the first step in finally seeing asphalt on the ground in South Carolina after decades of promises and lobbying. But then came the EPA. As reported this week, the road would destroy an unusually large amount of wetlands - about 272 acres - as it cuts through the Pee Dee region of eastern South Carolina. That...

Both the Senate and the House have held hearings this year on what consumer advocates regard as greedy practices by credit-card firms. Historically, charging interest was a perilous business, especially at times when anti-Semitism was rampant. For instance, in 1290, all Jews were expelled from England, with "usury" cited as the official reason – charging interest was considered blasphemous. Almost all their property went to the Crown. Today, credit-card companies often charge interest rates to consumers that many would regard as usurious, that is, excessively high. Fortunately, the heads of these firms no longer risk banishment for what is a...

Merchants say higher fees are forcing them to hike prices. Congress may take up the issue. WASHINGTON — Credit card companies have always taken their cut when a customer uses plastic, part of the cost of doing business electronically. But a surge in the fees has sparked an intense dispute, with small merchants complaining that the higher charges are forcing them to raise prices and, in some cases, threatening to drive them out of business. With the two sides at loggerheads, Congress is preparing to step in on behalf of merchants and consumers.

Transportation issues forum on Wednesday Students for an Environmentally Active Campus and the Sierra Club are sponsoring a forum on the pressing transportation issues facing the Milwaukee community. "Taming Traffic: Transportation Solutions for the 21st Century" will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19, in Cudahy, 001 (Marquette University). The event will feature Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist, Brett Hulsey of the Sierra Club and Micabil Diaz-Martinez of the ACLU, who will speak on environmental justice. A catered reception will be held in the Cudahy atrium from 6 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.