From the star ledger today

Turning free highways into fee highways

To bring in revenue, state treasurer looks at establishing tolls on some roads

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

BY TOM FEENEY

Star-Ledger Staff

In its continuing search for new ways to raise money, the Corzine administration is considering converting free highways into private toll roads.

The administration — in the most preliminary way — has asked for proposals to study the conversion of Routes 78, 80 and 95, the Pulaski Skyway and the section of Route 440 in Middlesex County between the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway into toll roads. This idea grew out of previous discussions about selling or leasing the state’s toll roads.

During interviews yesterday, state Treasurer Bradley Abelow and Transportation Commissioner Kris Kolluri confirmed that they had advertised for an engineering consultant and a traffic and revenue consultant to help determine what those roads might be worth if they were sold or leased to a private company. They stressed that the move was part of a wide-ranging state effort to look at any possible way to raise revenue.

“I think it might have started when I asked Kris why we have tolls on some roads and not others,” Abelow said. “What would be the value of having tolls on other roads? It’s not necessarily something we want to do or intend to do, but at least let’s understand what it means.”

The state hired the financial services firm UBS in September to study its assets and suggest ways they might be “monetized” — that is, sold or leased to raise cash. The request for qualifications that led to the hiring of UBS made no mention of the non-toll roads.

The contract with UBS calls for the firm to report to Abelow in mid-October. That report has yet to be made public.

Abelow’s office issued separate requests for proposals for the two consulting positions Oct. 12. Interested firms had until Oct. 26 to respond. Abelow’s spokesman, Tom Vincz — who described the process as a study of “what’s possible rather than what’s probable” — said the responses are still being evaluated and no one has been hired.

Once they’re hired, the consultants will have 90 days to complete their work. Their studies will include the four non-toll roads as well as the Pulaski Skyway, the Turnpike, the Parkway and the Atlantic City Expressway. The last three already are toll roads.

The engineering consultant will study the condition of the roads, analyze how much it would cost to bring them into good repair, review the maintenance costs, offer an opinion on how long they might last and prepare a “transportation asset analysis,” according to the request for qualifications issued by Abelow’s office.

The traffic and revenue consultant will review and collect information on traffic volume, toll revenues and other data that might help the state determine the value of the roads, according to the second request for qualifications.

“It’s entirely premature to say what the value of any of these roads might be,” Kolluri said. “It’s entirely premature to say that there is a value attached to any of those roads. That’s going to take some time.”

One issue the consultants will study is how adding tolls on a free highway might affect traffic volume on nearby roads, according to the document Abelow’s office issued when it began its search for a consultant.

Federal transportation law allows states to set up tolls on interstate highways such as Routes 78, 80 and 95 with the approval of the Federal Highway Administration.

“It would be a bold undertaking to do this,” said C. Kenneth Orski, editor and publisher of Innovation Briefs, an industry newsletter. “It would be a precedent — and a bold precedent — to take away existing general purpose lanes and convert them into toll lanes.

“Technically, it could be done, but it would be politically hazardous.”

There are other models around the country of ways a private, for-profit concern might get involved in an existing non-toll highway, said Peter Samuel, publisher of Toll Roads Magazine, another trade publication.

For example, there are two interstate highways in Virginia where private companies have proposed building additional lanes in exchange for the right to charge tolls in those lanes. If those projects get built, the roads will have the same number of free lanes plus some toll lanes for drivers willing to pay a fee to escape congestion.

Those lanes, which have been done on public highways in Minnesota, Colorado, California and elsewhere, are usually known as H.O.T. lanes. Critics sometimes refer to them as “Lexus lanes” to suggest that they offer a remedy for congestion only for those with money.

Tom Feeney may be reached at tfeeney@starledger.com or (973) 392-1790.

This morning as I was driving on Easton Ave. headed toward 287 some smartass in his Mitsubishi Mirage decides to be speedracer and dodge in between cars. We passed the light on Franklin Blvd and started going up a hill where there are blind driveways and cars stop often to make a turn. One car stopped to make a turn and he swerved just to see another car slowing down, he tries to be a smart guy and go back to the left lane but lost control of his car, nearly flipped it over, hit another car then went spinning down the hill and hit the side of a school bus. This is why the speed limit is only 40mph and there are warning signs saying that there are cars turning and driveways in that area. He definitely got what he deserved.

Yesterday, while driving home, I’m sitting at a traffic light and some idiot kid in a Jeep slams into me. The good news is everyone, including my 31-week pregnant wife , was ok. It certainly could have been much worse if he was going faster or if someone was in front of us.

The only thing that the guy says to me is, “I tried to stop but couldn’t”. I mean seriously. It wasn’t like a whack-a-mole game where all of a sudden the light appeared out of nowhere with all the traffic in front of him. He had a giant jeep, covered in mud from off-roading and wasn’t paying attention.

The ass of my car is a mangled, twisted pile of metal, rubber, and broken taillights.

I’ll be sure to keep the comments updated with the insurance battles over the next few weeks (I hope not months). Let the fun begin.

Hey at least we got to watch football from the hospital on our anniversary.

WASHINGTON (AP) — More and more commuters are leaving home earlier, traveling farther and driving alone, says an analysis of commuting trends reported Monday.

The “Commuting in America” study by the Transportation Research Board also found that more commuters are traveling from suburb to suburb — rather than the traditional commute from suburb to city.

“As more employers move out of cities to be closer to skilled suburban workers, the suburbs now account for the majority of job destinations,” the report noted.

The board, part of the National Academies, has analyzed commuting trends since 1986, largely using Census data.

According to the latest analysis, the number of new solo drivers grew by almost 13 million from 1990 to 2000. The number of workers with commutes lasting more than 60 minutes grew by almost 50 percent over that period. And, compared with the previous decade, more Americans are leaving for work between 5 a.m. and 6:30 a.m.

More than 4 million people now work from home, and a growing number of those over age 55 are doing so, the report said, a trend that is expected to continue.

why is it that the slowest moving people always drive in the fast lane in morning rush hour traffic??? It seems like I’m always the lucky one to get stuck behind one of them. This morning I was behind some jackass who did no more than 45mph and had about 2 car lengths of space between him and the car in front of him and kept slamming on his brakes. It always seems to be short men in little cars, chinese people, indians, and new yorkers who are the slowest pieces of shit on the road. If you are that afraid of other cars, take the damn backroads or better yet, ride the fucking train!

It was the first day back for the elementary school along the main road out of my neighborhood. While I was braced for the traffic, I’d forgotten the idiocy of some of these parents. Some of them are just popping into the middle of street with their kids, not even looking. And you wonder why the kids have such poor street-crossing skills. I mean, I know as a driver you’re supposed to be careful when it comes to pedestrians and especially school zones. But I think the pedestrians have a little responsibility themselves. Word of advice…look first, before you become a speed bump.

Must be commuter week with all the press. That’s because school starts next week and vacations end. It’s going to get ugly out there.

———————–

WASHINGTON (AP) — It might be hard for some drivers to believe, but average commuting times are getting shorter for U.S. workers.

The average daily commute to work has shrunk from 25.5 minutes in 2000 to 25.1 minutes last year, according to data released this week by the Census Bureau.

“We all should hold a celebration,” said Alan Pisarski, author of “Commuting in America.” “We’re saving 0.4 minutes!”

That’s 0.4 minutes each way, for a total of 48 seconds a day.

But not everyone’s buying it.

“Even with these numbers, we swear up and down that we are spending more time in our cars,” said John B. Townsend II, a spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic in Washington.

“We are spending at least an hour a day in our cars in the Washington area,” Townsend said. “We spend more time stuck in traffic and commuting (each year) than we spend on vacation.”

The numbers are surprising because many of the nation’s fastest-growing communities are in the outer suburbs, miles from central cities. The shorter commuting times could be a sign that jobs are following the workers, Pisarski said.

For example, the nation’s longest commute, at 39.6 minutes, is in the Vineland, New Jersey, metropolitan area, about 40 miles south of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Vineland, a community of 56,000 people in southern New Jersey, was part of the Philadelphia metropolitan area in 2000. It became its own metropolitan area, along with the New Jersey cities of Millville and Bridgeton, because fewer workers are commuting into Philadelphia.

The New York area had the second-longest commute, at 34.2 minutes, and the Washington area was third at 33.4 minutes. Commuters in both New York and Washington saw their commutes get slightly longer from 2000 to 2005.

The Los Angeles, California, area, which is notorious for its traffic, came in 16th, at 28.4 minutes. That’s shorter than the commute in Riverside, California, which has been siphoning residents from Los Angeles for years.

“Overall, congestion isn’t a problem for everyone,” said Mantill Williams, a spokesman for AAA’s national office. “But there are specific pockets of pain. There are specific areas where it has gotten worse.”

Among the findings from the Census Bureau:

?The share of people driving alone to work increased from 75.7 percent in 2000 to 77 percent last year.

?The share of people carpooling to work dropped from 12.2 percent in 2000 to 10.7 percent last year.

?The share of people using mass transit stayed the same at 4.7 percent.

?The share of people walking to work dropped from 2.9 percent in 2000 to 2.5 percent last year.

?The share of people working at home increased from 3.3 percent in 2000 to 3.6 percent last year.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

From NJ.com -

Getting sick of long rides on the train

Study: Commuting stress may worsen health woes

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

BY JUDY PEET

Star-Ledger Staff

For years, the prevailing New Jersey commuter philosophy has been: When the driving gets tough, the tough get a railpass.

But commuting by train is also stressful, according to a new study that found the longer the rail commute, the higher the strain. With every passing mile, there is an impact not only on physical and psychological well-being, but also on the ability to complete simple tasks, the study concluded.

“We’ve known for a long time that there is a correlation between stress of driving in congested commuter traffic and heart” attacks, said Richard Wener, a professor of environmental psychology at Polytechnic University and one of the study’s authors.

“With this study, we are suggesting that the stress of long train commutes may pose a similar health problem,” added Wener, who commutes by train every day from his Maplewood home to his classes in Brooklyn. “Trains are not as stressful as cars at rush hour, but even a relatively minor stressor, several hours a day, every day of the year, can build to a health risk.”

New Jersey commuters were studied because rail commuting here is “worse than in most places,” Wener said. The expansion of suburbia here also means the average rail commute is getting longer and longer.

Sitting on the train last night, returning from a hard day in Manhattan, few commuters were surprised at the study results.

“Of course the ride is stressful; everybody is pretty much in a daze after they get off the train,” said accounting firm manager Mike D’Angelo, whose commute between Denville and Manhattan takes about 70 minutes. “If I could afford to move closer, like to Summit, of course I would.”

Food buyer Joseph Cammarta, who commutes to New York from Dover, complained that the seats are too tight and passengers are jammed between bags, but added that the real bother “is cell phones. That’s where the stress comes in.”

The researchers studied 208 commuters taking trains from New Jersey to Manhattan on the Midtown Direct line. The subjects, who ranged in age from 25 to 60, commuted at least three days a week and had been on the same route for at least 12 months.

The trips ranged from 59 minutes, door-to-door, to 104 minutes.

The participants were about evenly split between men and women, but of similar education and socio-economic backgrounds. Eighty percent were college graduates, and the median income approached $100,000.

Wener and Gary Evans, a professor of environmental analysis at Cornell University, used several methods to evaluate stress levels.

The commuters’ saliva was tested for the stress hormone cortisol at the end of the commute, and, for comparison, during a weekend at home. The commuters and their spouses also filled out questionnaires rating their stress levels, and the riders were asked to proofread a simple office memo at the end of a long commute.

The study found that average cortisol levels rose in direct proportion to the length of time on the train. People who had a 100-minute commute had, on average, more than three times the cortisol levels of people who had only a 60-minute commute.

The ability to pick up errors proofreading declined in a similar pattern, the researchers found. Self-reporting responses supported the increased frustration and irritability of the long commute.

“Ethnicity, profession and gender didn’t seem to matter, although mothers with children at home had the highest stress levels,” Wener said, adding that the study sponsored by NJ Transit did not take into account factors such as train conditions, seat locations or train changes.

Wener said the potential impact on work productivity following a long commute “should be of concern to employers and infrastructure planners.”

New Jerseyans are tough, however, and a number of passengers polled by The Star-Ledger simply shrugged and agreed with Larry Sobol, a financial adviser from Morristown, who said: “Deal with it.”

That does not mean they don’t have suggestions. The overwhelming favorite was to take out the middle seat. People would rather stand than sit there.

Other rider suggestions included more cars, more space, electric hookups and wireless Internet connections on the cars, better lighting, club cars and better notification of train delays at the stations.

NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said the agency is making several improvements that passengers have requested.

He noted 234 new cars are expected to go on line beginning later this year, with better amenities, better lighting and, best of all, no third seat.

Critics noted, however, there will not be enough new, amenity-filled trains, and most riders will still be forced to use the old, crowded cars. They said the pace of improvement is too slow and it will be up to commuters to manage their stress.

Staff writer Rohina Phadnis contributed to this report.

? 2006 The Star Ledger

? 2006 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.

It’s 1:50 AM on Friday and I just heard on the radio that the GWB leaving NJ has an 1hr 30 min delay and the announcer said that is the good news because the delay is down from 2 hrs. Seems the brain surgeons that run the Port Authority of NY & NJ closed the 6 lower level lanes. Then they decided to close 4 of the 6 upper level lanes. Guess they thought traffic would be lite so two lanes would be enough. Thankfully I am not on that road but only listened to it on the radio.

They got me last Thursday when it took me 1:10 to go 3 miles at 2:30 PM on the Cross Bronx Expressway toward the GWB from Cape Cod - and no one was stuck.

The biggest scam today has to be handicapped permits for parking. What do you have to do to get one of those? Break a fingernail? Every day I see people zoom into one of the reserved handicapped spaces at the train station, and with few exceptions, the drivers seem OK to me. So either they have a problem that is not related to walking, in which case they should leave the reserved parking to people who need a shorter walk, or more likely, the pass is for a non-commuter in the family. After I parked my car in “Oshkosh” this morning I watched a fancy car pull in to a handicapped spot and a husband and wife both practically leaped out of their car and made a dash to the station. So either they had a mental handicap or they got better and shouldn’t have the permit anymore. Just think about it: you can get to the station after all the other spaces are gone and just cruise right in to a nice cozy spot that you’re probably not entitled to. What a scam. And I don’t begrudge the people who really do need those spots (my mother included). But there should be some rules about what conditions give you a right to use those spaces. In some cases, it probably works to their health detriment: people who could probably use the exercise get to minimize it as much as possible.

Oh, yeah. After I saw the “handicapped” couple, I found a seat on the train, only to be told that a handicapped guy in a motorized cart needed that space. So I stood from Princeton J to Newark.