Delaweary

March 21, 2007

Checks can bounce back in a heartbeat; budgets cannot.

The Delaware DOT (DelDOT) has outlined the first steps of shoveling funding back into a $2.7 billion hole, but it may take awhile before all lanes leading to key construction projects are open again.

Checks can bounce back in a heartbeat; budgets cannot.

The Delaware DOT (DelDOT) has outlined the first steps of shoveling funding back into a $2.7 billion hole, but it may take awhile before all lanes leading to key construction projects are open again.

At the core of the shortfall is excess spending during a hiring freeze. The spending spillage was revealed in an audit in June. During former DelDOT Transportation Secretary Nathan Hayward III’s term, agency consulting fees rose 121%, from $38.9 million in 2001 to $85.9 million in 2005. In addition, design-consulting costs grew 99%, while nondesign services for planning, environmental assessments and construction inspections rose 139%. In contrast, spending on construction rose only 41% during the same time period.

“You had the effect of the hiring freeze at the same time they were trying to move a lot of work,” John DiRenzo, partner for audit-producer KPMG, told the state’s Joint Bond Bill Committee. “There were problems with the salaries not being competitive and a lot of competition for work at that time.”

According to the audit, DelDOT slipped much of the billing under the table, refusing to get authorization from state legislators to spend more money on a road project if costs exceeded what the General Assembly had originally authorized.

“If [Nathan Hayward III] were a member of an elite military unit, he’d be shot for what he’s done,” Rep. William A. Oberle Jr. told The News Journal.

Attempting to clot the financial mess was current Transportation Secretary Carolann Wicks, who presented the Bond Bill Committee a plan that uses a $60 million infusion of cash from the state’s general fund to balance a lighter budget that will be enacted this month. The money would augment the bankrupt transportation fund and be used to leverage borrowing to attract additional funding. The agency also would have access to an emergency repairs contingency fund.

As for the $2.7 billion needed for projects over the next six years, Wicks proposed cutting $209 million in future needs (half will be shifted to federal funds) and delaying indefinitely $68 million of work on I-95. An additional $26 million in projects that were authorized by legislature will be de-authorized because DelDOT simply does not have the money for the work. Moving forward on those would require committee approval.

The cutbacks on I-95 will affect work on a toll plaza and planning work on an east-west corridor to ease congestion in Sussex County. Hayward had visions of accelerating completion of a fifth lane in each direction and an interchange on I-95. An extra $99.8 million in federal money will be used for the work instead of pulling money from tolls, vehicle fees and fuel taxes, which formed the root of Hayward’s plan.

Calls placed into DelDOT’s public affairs office were not returned at press time.

Mineta resigns

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced on June 23 that he will step down from his position effective July 7.

In a letter to President Bush dated June 20, Mineta wrote, “After serving as your Secretary of Transportation for over five productive and memorable years, it is time for me to move on to other challenges.” Mineta did not give a reason for leaving.

When asked why Mineta resigned, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said: “Because he wanted to.”

“He was not being pushed out,” Snow said. “As a matter of fact, the president and the vice president and others were happy with him. He put in five and a half years—that’s enough time.”

Mineta, 74, had been plagued with back problems during his tenure as transportation secretary and spent months working from home and the hospital; however, he has since recovered, USA Today reported.

Mineta had done service in the U.S. Army, was elected to local positions in California and spent 20 years representing California in the U.S. House. Mineta also served tours in two cabinet positions—as commerce secretary under former President Clinton and now as transportation secretary under President Bush.

Snow credited Mineta with cutting regulations and red tape to liberalize the commercial aviation market, establishing the Transportation Security Administration, helping to shape the highway bill and injecting “sound economical principles” into the nation’s passenger rail system, USA Today reported.

Getting HOT in Colorado

Federal Highway Administrator J. Richard Capka and Colorado Gov. Bill Owens marked the opening of new high-occupancy toll (HOT) and express lanes on a seven-mile stretch of I-25 on June 1, giving more drivers a choice for congestion-free travel between downtown Denver and U.S. 36.

The U.S. Department of Transportation provided $2.8 million to jump-start the new system that may be used by buses, carpoolers and single-occupant vehicles whose drivers choose to pay a toll. The lanes are designed to remain congestion free by increasing the tolls for solo drivers as the level of traffic increases. Tolls will be charged electronically so single-occupant vehicles will not have to stop at tollbooths.

“Idling in traffic doesn’t have to be a fact of life,” said Capka. “For about the price of a cup of coffee, these lanes give Denver drivers a choice to get out of traffic to get to work, home, errands or their child’s ball game on time.”

The Bush administration’s recently announced plan to tackle traffic congestion, freight bottlenecks and airport delays promotes HOT lanes as one of the innovative measures to improve mobility for people and commerce, said Capka.

Each year, drivers lose 3.7 billion hours and 2.3 billion gallons of fuel sitting in traffic, according to Capka. “We are focused on reining in congestion because it is one of the single largest threats to our economic prosperity and way of life,” he said.

In addition to Colorado, only three other states—California, Texas and Minnesota—currently have HOT lanes.

Crossing bridges over Ohio River

The Ohio River Bridges project will be moving forward after $5.2 million in grants was recently announced by J. Richard Capka at an event to kick off a ramp relocation, part of the preliminary work necessary for the project to begin.

“Today marks a significant first step toward a project that will relieve big city congestion, improve freight and help the Louisville and southern Indiana economies,” Capka said. “The grants secured for the Ohio River Bridges project by Congresswoman Anne Northup and Congressman Mike Sodrel keep this nationally important project on track.”

The new grants can be used on any aspect of the project, including the environmental process, design and construction, according to Capka.

The off-ramp from the Gene Snyder Freeway, KY 841, will be moved west of its current location to run parallel with the existing on-ramp at U.S. 42. The ramp realignment will allow engineers to explore the design for a six-lane, 2,000-ft tunnel that will eventually carry traffic to and from the east end of the bridge of the Ohio River Bridges project.

“The Ohio River Bridges project will improve congestion, safety and mobility at a major mid-America crossroads of three interstates: I-65, I-64 and I-71. I-65 is a major north-south freight corridor between Mobile, Ala., and Chicago, currently carrying more than 140,000 vehicles per day.

Washington state to improve I-90

URS Corp. of Seattle has been selected by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) as its general engineer consultant for design improvements for I-90, the most important east-west corridor in the state, linking Puget Sound to eastern Washington and beyond.

Traffic on the interstate has been growing at a rapid rate and now exceeds the original design volume. In addition, the pavement has deteriorated and has extensive cracking; there are areas of reduced sight distance and sharp curves that limit safe vehicle operating speed; and rock slides and avalanches have made it necessary to close the interstate at times until safe conditions could be restored.

The project, which involves a 15-mile segment from Hyak to Easton, includes:

  • Realignment of the interstate where necessary to improve sight distance, design speed and traffic capacity;
  • Replacement, overlaying and construction of new pavement to upgrade from four lanes to six;
  • Mitigation measures for rock stability to minimize the risk of rock slides;
  • Avalanche studies, roadway alignment and mitigation measures to prevent road closures;
  • New bridge and wall structures necessary for safety improvements;
  • Construction of structures to make it safe for wildlife to cross the interstate;
  • Improvement of chain-up areas; and
  • Improvement of intelligent transportation systems used to inform the public of accidents, hazardous driving conditions and impending snow storms.

URS will work with WSDOT, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife and other agencies to prepare the final Environmental Impact Statement. The project is being supported by environmental groups as a result of the commitment to provide ecological connectivity locations for wildlife in the area.

Proposing trans across Texas

Companies with Texas, U.S. and international experience are competing to develop the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC), a part of I-69 and one of the state’s priority transportation projects.

Two private-sector groups submitted proposals and qualifications to compete for the development of the TTC, a multi-use transportation system stretching from northeast Texas to Mexico.

“Inviting the private sector to invest in our transportation system is one of our strategies to meet the growing transportation needs of Texas,” said Michael Behrens, TxDOT executive director. “We are focused on these five goals: reducing congestion, enhancing safety, expanding economic opportunity, improving air quality and increasing the value of transportation assets.”

One proposal was submitted by Bluebonnet Infrastructure Investors, led by Cintra. Team members include Citigroup, Earth Tech, Blanton and Associates, Maunsell, Othon and W.W. Webber.

Another proposal was submitted by Texas-based Zachry American Infrastructure and ACS Infrastructure Development Inc. The team members include Steer Davies Gleave, UBS Securities, Dannenbaum Engineering, ACI Consulting, Sociedad Ibercia de Construcciones Electricas, Dragados and William Bros. Construction.

These proposals include statements detailing the groups’ experience in developing and financing transportation projects similar to the TTC. Also included are conceptual proposals describing how the team would finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the TTC.

The next step is for TxDOT is to complete an initial review of the proposals, which could be completed in July. Teams with experience, qualifications and innovative engineering will be placed on a short list of potential strategic partners for the TTC.

Once this review is completed, approval by the Texas Transportation Commission is needed to continue with the competitive selection process. If approved, TxDOT will request detailed proposals from the short list of potential strategic partners. The selection of a strategic partner could be made by the commission by late 2007.

With no funding set aside for construction, a public-private partnership would allow development of the entire 600-mile, multibillion dollar project from northeast Texas to Mexico to be accelerated. Even with the private-sector resources to fund the project, state transportation officials stress the TTC will remain a state-owned project.

Victory in wetlands

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 19 sided with the Association of General Contractors (AGC) in Rapanos v. U.S. and Carabell v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, confirming that the Clean Water Act (CWA) does not apply to all wetlands, ditches and the like, however remote and intermittent they may be.

AGC had urged the Court to clarify that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does not have jurisdiction over construction activities in or adjacent to remote wetlands and manmade drainages that have little or no nexus with “waters of the U.S.”

In a 5-to-4 decision, four members of the Court would limit the regulated “waters of the U.S. to those relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water ‘forming geographic features’ that are described in ordinary parlance as ‘streams, oceans, rivers [and] lakes.’”

Justice Kennedy—who provided the fifth and decisive vote, but wrote only for himself—agreed that “mere hydrologic connection should not suffice in all cases.” He added that the Corps cannot regulate remote wetlands connected to ordinarily dry channels without first establishing a “significant nexus” between the wetlands and navigable-in-fact waters.

AGC and several of the associations in the real-estate-development industry filed a single brief explaining that such waters have little capacity to filter or purify water running into truly navigable waters or to prevent the flooding or erosion of such waterways.

A majority of the justices agreed that regulators may have misinterpreted the CWA when they refused to allow two Michigan property owners to build a shopping mall and condos on wetlands they own. After attempting to clarify the relevant legal standards, they sent the two cases back to the lower courts for further consideration. Still, the justices failed to produce a majority opinion on the precise scope of the CWA.

CWA Section 404 requires contractors and landowners to obtain permits from the Corps before performing mechanized earthmoving activities, or placing fill material, in “waters of the U.S.,” including wetlands that are adjacent to “navigable” waters or their tributaries.

Storm water violations

The city of New Ulm, Minn., and MR Paving and Excavating of New Ulm have paid a $10,000 fine for causing a large storm water discharge into the Minnesota River, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency reported in late June.

The violations occurred in September 2005, when storm water from the Lakeside Village construction site entered open manholes, causing the sanitary sewer system to overflow. This resulted in nearly 97,000 gal of combined sediment-laden storm water and untreated sewage entering the river.

Besides the penalty, the city and company must develop a plan to prevent future overflows and must have staff attend erosion and sediment-control training sessions.

—edited by Stephanie Harris

Sponsored Recommendations

The Science Behind Sustainable Concrete Sealing Solutions

Extend the lifespan and durability of any concrete. PoreShield is a USDA BioPreferred product and is approved for residential, commercial, and industrial use. It works great above...

Powerful Concrete Protection For ANY Application

PoreShield protects concrete surfaces from water, deicing salts, oil and grease stains, and weather extremes. It's just as effective on major interstates as it is on backyard ...

Concrete Protection That’s Easy on the Environment and Tough to Beat

PoreShield's concrete penetration capabilities go just as deep as our American roots. PoreShield is a plant-based, eco-friendly alternative to solvent-based concrete sealers.

Proven Concrete Protection That’s Safe & Sustainable

Real-life DOT field tests and university researchers have found that PoreShieldTM lasts for 10+ years and extends the life of concrete.