Hurricane Florence wrought extensive flooding, building damage and beach erosion to the Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, and leaders estimate it will cost nearly $3.6 billion to fix. A temporary patch of beach has been cleared to ease training complications, but a long-term solution will be needed before the area runs out of sand.
A report by the Transportation Research Board supports tolling, per-mile charges and an increase in the gas tax to improve interstate highways. The report "takes dead aim at the biggest obstacle to rebuilding our interstate highways: insufficient funding," says IBTTA Executive Director and CEO Pat Jones.
The Memorial Toll Bridge in Parkersburg, W.Va., will need to be replaced, but the city does not have the funds to replace the span, Mayor Tom Joyce said. The city is considering selling the bridge, potentially to the state, which was the structure's original owner.
A consortium between John Holland and CPB Contractors has been awarded a $2.8 billion contract to design and build an underground interchange and tunnel for the $12 billion WestConnex toll road in New South Wales, Australia. Construction is to begin in mid-2019 and wrap up by 2023.
Trumbull Corp. has been awarded a $116.2 million contract to complete 2.7 miles of the Southern Beltway, and the company recently held an information session on its plan for that work. The beltway, which will connect US 22 to Interstate 79, will be 13 miles long and is expected to cost $800 million.
Dec. 31 is the deadline to purchase an unlimited E-ZPass to drive on the West Virginia Turnpike for $8 a year over the next three years. The Bluefield Daily Telegraph editorial board writes that the unlimited plan is "the best solution for residents of the deep south counties who travel the turnpike on a regular basis."
Two more toll plazas on the New York State Thruway will transition to open-road tolling this month, and the conversion of the entire Thruway is set for completion by 2020. The work will save drivers an estimated 200 minutes apiece annually, officials said.
Elected officials have talked a great deal about reviving discussions on a federal infrastructure package, but determining how to pay for the work is the impediment, writes Aaron Klein of the Brookings Institution. Legislators have the options of raising revenue, borrowing the money or finding a "gimmick" way to mask the spending, Klein writes.
The California Highway Patrol is focusing on catching drivers who violate express lane rules on Interstate 680. Officers are looking at whether a vehicle has a transponder when watching for toll evaders, and they also report some drivers traveling with dolls in the passenger seat while using the carpool lanes.
A bill introduced in Virginia contains mechanisms that would partly offset a recently approved toll increase for the Dulles Toll Road. The measure would halt a fuel tax exemption for United Airlines and put $4 million toward a Washington, D.C., Metro extension that is being funded chiefly through tolls.