(Source: New York Times)

 

Lt. David Dipre, who coordinates Florida’s derelict vessel program, said the handful of owners he had managed to track down were guilty more of negligence than fraud. “They say, ‘I had a dream of sailing around the world, I just never got around to it.’ Then they have some bad times and they leave it to someone else to clean up the mess,” Lieutenant Dipre said.

Florida officials say they are moving more aggressively to track down owners and are also starting to unclog the local inlets, harbors, swamps and rivers. The state appropriated funds to remove 118 derelicts this summer, up from only a handful last year.

In South Carolina, four government investigators started canvassing the state’s waterways in January. They quickly identified 150 likely derelicts.

 

(Source: Financial Times)

Published with the support of The European Commission, United Nations, ERTICO and The OECD, The Intelligent Transport briefing was introduced by Eva Molnar Director for Transport UNECE, Antonio Tajani Vice President and Commissioner for Transport, European Commission, Denise Plumpton, The UK Highways Agency, German Minister for Transportation Wolfgang Tiefensee and French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau.

 The briefing was inserted into and distributed by The Financial Times in March 2009 throughout all European and Scandinavian territories. Government agencies within Europe will account for another 20,000 copiesThe Financial Times with its exceptional business coverage and focus continues to dominate the market for the delivery of c-level executives and decision makers at the highest level and as such provides the perfect home for this briefing. Building intelligence into our vehicles and infrastructures can make a positive long term contribution to resolving the problems society and business face in terms of congestion, reliability, safety security and the environment.  

In the European Union alone, 20 per cent of GDP is generated by the transport sector. This equates to 1,900 billion euros, 16 million jobs, or nine per cent of all EU employment. How do we improve safety and security, and how do we minimise the negative environmental impact of many transport systems? These are not easy questions, but all answers depend not least on putting greater intelligence into our infrastructures and transport systems, in turn helping users make more intelligent choices about their journeys.

Containing more than 30 case studies The 36 page briefing provides a comprehensive source of advice and guidance for board level executives, senior management and Government executives explaining  deployments in a variety of modes and with varying applications. It features real-life examples, case studies and frameworks that demonstrate the successful deployment of solutions and trials across Europe and carefully analyses capabilities, possibilities and particularly advantages.

Click here to read more or read/download the PDF file here.  (Image below is the ITS Briefing Supplement’s  cover)

(Source: TOLLROADSnews.com)

Japanese tollroads have put into effect discounted tolls under a huge subsidy program from the central government. The discounts came into effect on bridges March 22 and on most expressways March 28. The discounted tolls were a centerpiece of an economic ‘stimulus package’ prime minister Taro Aso announced last October.

The traffic stimulus measure is touted as helping revive highway travel which is down about 4%, and to revive associated spending on gasoline and diesel fuels, car service, hotels, new cars and electronics. However it is also obviously influenced by lobbying and PM Aso’s desire for public acclaim. 

The measure announced as lasting two years and Y500b ($5b) has been set aside in a supplementary Japanese Government budget, but the subsidy program may end up costing a whole lot more. Meanwhile airline and rail interests complain the measure will take customers away from them.

The most spectacular discounts come on the interurban ticket or trip-based toll system run by the three regional expressway companies. Here a maximum toll of Y1000 ($10) is now in effect weekends and holidays for vehicles equipped with a transponder. This greatly encourages long trips by car.

Shinkansen or ‘bullet train’ bookings are expected to drop away.

Tokyo to northern Honshu, for example, a distance of over 400 miles (700km) normally costs about Y14k ($140) for a car but will be tolled the new maximum Y1000 toll or $10 at weekends. There are also major savings on a popular interurban run between Tokyo and Nagoya of 325km (200 miles) on the Tomei Expressway. It usually costs Y7100 ($71) in tolls so there’s a saving of Y6100 ($61) or 86%.

On many urban expressways with a single barrier toll on entry the toll is being reduced from Y700 ($7) or Y800 ($8) to Y500 ($5). Under the crude toll-on-entry ramp the toll paid is already a flat rate regardless of distance traveled. 

The government’s aim in paying for the toll discounts is apparently to generate more travel when roads are relatively uncongested. 

The discounts range in size. Some Tokyo metro area tolls are only discounted at night 10pm to 6am, some Sundays and holidays.

On Sundays and holidays, the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway will charge Y500 ($5) on several Tokyo routes, down from the current Y700 ($7). The toll on its Kanagawa ‘lines’ will be cut to Y400 ($4) from Y600 ($6), while on the Saitama line will be reduced to Y300 ($3) from Y400 ($4).

Tolls on the Hanshin Expressway in the Osaka region will be discounted on full weekends and national holidays. Hanshin’s east lines will be Y500 ($5) from the current Y700 ($7), and the west and south lines will be Y350 ($3.50) from Y500 ($5).

In April there will be more discounts in the form of credits for tolls paid on other systems for long journeys through multiple toll companies roads. 

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source:  Howard Wial, The Brookings Institution)

(Source: USDOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics)

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 – Surface transportation trade between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was 27.2 percent lower in January 2009 than in January 2008, dropping to $47.5 billion, the biggest year-to-year percentage decline on record, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation (Table 1).  The $47.5 billion in U.S.-NAFTA trade in January 2009 was the lowest monthly amount since January 2004. 

 The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico fell 10.3 percent in January from December (Table 2).  Month-to-month changes can be affected by seasonal variations and other factors.

Surface transportation consists largely of freight movements by truck, rail and pipeline.  About 88 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moves on land.

The value of U.S. surface transportation trade with Canada and Mexico in January was up 3.9 percent in the five-year period compared to January 2004, and up 31.6 percent over the 10-year period compared to January 1999 (Table 3).  Imports in January were up 26.4 percent compared to January 1999, while exports were up 38.1 percent. 

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Canada

U.S.–Canada surface transportation trade totaled $29.0 billion in January, down 31.1 percent compared to January 2008 (Table 4).  The value of imports carried by truck was 31.3 percent lower in January 2009 compared to January 2008, while the value of exports carried by truck was 27.2 percent lower.

U.S. Surface Transportation Trade with Mexico

U.S.–Mexico surface transportation trade totaled $18.5 billion in January, down 20.0 percent compared to January 2008 (Table 6).  The value of imports carried by truck was 20.5 percent lower in January 2009 than January 2008 while the value of exports carried by truck was 10.7 percent lower.        

Click here to read the entire report in HTML or click here to download the report in PDF.  A read-only version of the PDF file is provided here:

(Source: Transportation for America)

Transportation for America’s first webinar in a series of them was held earlier this week, and it was a great success. Nearly 100 advocates and supporters signed up for a session on Transportation and Social Equity.

Our transportation system should provide everyone — regardless of age, income, race or disability — with viable transportation options. So there are significant issues with a system that doesn’t extend opportunity to everyone in the same manner.

Judith Bell, president of PolicyLink, led an informative discussion about ways in which transportation policies and programs affect low income, minority, and other often marginalized populations.

Nathaniel Smith, Director of Partnerships for Equitable Development at Emory University and Ron Achelpohl, Assistant Director of Transportation for the Mid-America Regional Council, spoke about local actions in Atlanta and Kansas City respectively to make equity considerations a fundamental part of the transportation planning process. Laura Barrett, National Policy Director for theTransportation Equity Network, discussed advocacy efforts at the national level — particularly around equitable stimulus spending.

Don’t miss the first in a series of policy briefs from Transportation for America available for download now, Transportation and Social Equity: Opportunity Follows Mobility, covers three basic ideas:

1. The current system is failing low income communities
2. Transportation is at the center of opportunity.
3. The nation’s transportation investments can be a powerful force for social and economic equity.

Download it now or view the PDF below and feel free to pass it along to friends and colleagues. And be sure to join Transportation for America to help us tell Congress that our transportation investments should extend opportunity to all Americans — regardless of race, class, or gender.

(Source: U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works)

On March 25, 2009, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing to examine transportation investment prior to authorizing the next highway, transit, and highway safety legislation that will replace the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users.  Witnesses’ testimonies and video of the hearing are now available online.  Committee hearings in two streaming video formats — RealPlayer and Flash.  Please click on one of the links below to start the live video stream.  Choose Your Format:  RealPlayer or Flash.

NOTE: To view streaming video, you will need to have RealPlayer or Flash installed on your computer. To download the free RealPlayer or Flash applications, click on the buttons below.

Majority Statements

Barbara Boxer

 Minority Statements

James M. Inhofe

Witnesses

 Opening Remarks

 Panel 1

The Honorable Ray LaHood

Secretary

U.S. Department of Transportation

 Panel 2

The Honorable Edward G. Rendell

Governor of Pennsylvania

The Honorable Kathleen M. Novak

President, National League of Cities

Mayor of Northglenn, Colorado

REDMOND, Washington — Should a bridge that would connect two campuses at Microsoft’s headquarters be funded with $11 million from the federal stimulus package?

Supporters argue the bridge is an ideal public-private partnership that will benefit an entire community while fulfilling the stimulus package’s goal of getting people back to work.

An artist's rendering shows how the proposed bridge would be constructed over a busy highway.

“It’s going create just under 400 jobs for 18 months constructing the bridge,” says Redmond Mayor John Marchione. “It’s also connecting our technical sector with our retail and commercial sectors so people can cross the freeway to shop and help traffic flow.”

Marchione applied for federal stimulus money after costs jumped on the project from $25 million to $36 million. Marchione says the increase in costs were due to a rise in construction prices and because the bridge will be built on a diagonal in order to connect Microsoft’s original East campus with a newer West campus that are split by a public highway.

Microsoft is hardly getting the bridge for free. The company is contributing $17.5 million or a little less than half the tab of the $36 million bridge, which would be open for public use.

And even though the bridge goes from a parking lot behind Microsoft’s West campus across a highway to an entrance of Microsoft’s East campus, Marchione says, people other than Microsoft employees would use the overpass.

“We’re not a one-company town,” Marchione says. “Our traffic studies show that Microsoft traffic would be about 42 percent of the bridge, yet Microsoft is paying for about 50 percent of the bridge, so we think we are getting fair value.

“The United States taxpayer is leveraging their dollars, and I think everyone is getting a fair deal.”  But a watchdog group monitoring how stimulus money is being spent says the taxpayer in this case is getting ripped off.  Click here to read the entire CNN article.

Another article on Softpedia.com offers the view point from Microsoft’s General counsel, Brad Smith, and Washington’s Governor Chris Gregoire. 

“In recent days, some have questioned whether this project should have been a recipient of federal stimulus funding. We think this is a very positive example of a public-private partnership, and we are pleased to be contributing roughly 50 percent of the funding to help build this public project that will benefit the entire community. The federal stimulus dollars combine with additional state, local and existing federal dollars to fund the remainder,” revealed Brad Smith, Microsoft general counsel. 

Smith underlined that not only was Microsoft participating in the project with half the funding, but that the company had already spent in excess of $50 million to help local authorities build infrastructure projects. At the same time, the overpass will not benefit Microsoft exclusively. Employees from Honeywell, Siemens, Nintendo and Sears will also get to use the bridge and will contribute to reducing the congestion affecting 148th Avenue NE and 156th Avenue NE. 

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire explained that the overpass was not about Microsoft but “about multiple employers. It’s about thousands of employees and residents. It’s about taking people off the congestion we have in that interchange on [State Route] 520 now, where we literally have a problem in that people have to go 2 miles rather than two-tenths of a mile which that bridge would produce…. Almost 50 percent of that project is privately funded. That’s leveraging dollars. That’s what we’re trying to do, is to use private sector dollars with stimulus dollars and get a bigger bang for the buck.”  Here is a video of Gov. Gregoire discussing the issue (courtesy of Softpedia.com)

 (Source: New York Times – Wheels)

(Source: Guardian, UK)

Ahead of G20 summit, council told to switch off illegal £15m CCTV network.  While they are primarily for traffic enforcement, according to the council the cameras are “an essential additional tool” to tackle crime and disorder, and have been fixed to strategic locations across the capital ahead of the summit.