The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of Los Angeles County has hired the WSP USA engineering firm to examine the feasibility of changing the Interstate 405 carpool lane into a toll lane through the Sepulveda Pass. The three-year, $27.5 million study will determine what to charge single-occupancy motorists for using the carpool lane, and how many toll lanes would be needed in each direction.
State Sen. Brendan Crighton, D-Lynn, has proposed that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation study the addition of toll roads throughout the state to generate more funding for infrastructure needs. "This isn't about tolling every road but to have MassDOT take a serious look at it both to increase revenue and create a fairer system," said Crighton.
The Florida Department of Transportation has scheduled a Dec. 19 open house in Lafayette County to discuss a proposed toll road through North Florida.
An infrastructure monitoring system that employs IBM's artificial intelligence-based Maximo software platform will be launched in Italy by the end of the year on a trial basis by Italian road operator Autostrade per l'Italia. The technology will produce a digital database with real-time information on approximately 4,300 structures in the ASPI highway network.
Developing an effective cost-benefit analysis system can assist states in improving project selection while developing support from elected officials and taxpayers, writes Baruch Feigenbaum, assistant director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. Feigenbaum commends Virginia and North Carolina for the objectivity in their selection processes.
Members of Maryland's congressional delegation told state Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn and State Highway Administrator Greg Slater that the state should provide more information related to cost, toll levels and the effect on neighborhoods of adding toll lanes to Interstate 270 and the Capital Beltway. "[B]efore the Board of Public Works meets again, I hope they'll provide answers to all these questions," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.
Boston needs support from the state in its push for congestion pricing on toll roads, writes Shirley Leung. "Now is the moment in our time where we have to be taking bold steps," says Chris Osgood, Boston's chief of streets.
The Escambia County Commission in Florida unanimously approved an all-electronic payment system for the Pensacola Beach toll road. Motorists will be able to use SunPass, E-Pass or toll-by-plate for payments.
A 12-foot snowman sits atop a red-and-white concrete lozenge as part of the annual Christmas village constructed at the Cement Masons, Plasterers & Shophands' union hall in New Brighton, Minn. Also included in the display are concrete sidewalks shaped and colored like peppermint sticks and several tiny concrete Christmas trees coated in plaster.
Scientists at the University of Connecticut have developed a method to measure pyrrhotite, which causes concrete walls to crack. In a report to the Capital Region Council of Governments Committee on Crumbling Foundations, the scientists also said they could test the concrete using a handheld device.