PHIA News Digest – Vol. 59
Reckoning could be coming for PA’s toll deadbeats
E-ZPass is gradually replacing traditional toll booths. There are E-ZPass lanes with equipment that can scan an E-ZPass placard without the driver slowing down. The Pennsylvania Turnpike recently opened a new tolling point at the New Jersey border that is entirely electronic. Anyone without E-ZPass who goes through gets billed after their license plate is photographed. The ability to move people through tolling points more quickly and easily, though, comes with a price. It’s easier to blast through tolls without paying, and if a person is determined to avoid a toll in Pennsylvania, they probably can get away with it.
FHWA Notices Clear FAST Act Highway Funds for States in Fiscal 2016
The Federal Highway Administration issued the formal apportionment notice and other documents that let states begin using funds allocated to their highway programs under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act.
Although the FHWA had already issued estimates that told state departments of transportation how much to expect from the FAST Act, the agency’s Jan. 8 issuance of the formal documents clears the way for states to now begin tapping that money for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.
