Potential for Expansion, Upgrades, and Other Changes to Meet Surface Transportation Needs (Continued)
5. Reconstructing a Major Interstate Bridge to Survive Earthquakes
In January 2002, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) began reconstructing the 11,500-foot East Span of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge to make the 70-year-old bridge—damaged in a 1989 earthquake—seismically safe for users. A decision was made to replace the bridge with one specially engineered to withstand an earthquake on either the Hayward or San Andreas faults.
“It’s absolutely critical to the safety of Bay-area residents and for the health of the Bay-area economy that this bridge is in place as soon as possible,” said Will Kempton, Director of Caltrans.
In mid-2005, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders struck a bi-partisan agreement to finance the work on the bridge and other state projects. The agreement increases the toll on several bridges by $1 effective January 2007, and provides $630 million in state funds toward the multi-bridge and seismic retrofit program. Construction of the bridges will be overseen by Caltrans, the Bay Area Toll Authority and the California Transportation Commission. Caltrans manages and maintains the bridges, and the Bay Area Toll Authority is responsible for managing toll revenue.
Courtesy of the California Department of Transportation
Rendering of the Oakland Bay Bridge
The bridge has been designed with several features to enable it to survive an earthquake. The design of the single-tower on the self-anchored suspension span increases the likelihood the bridge will remain intact following a quake. The bridge’s suspension cable differs from that of a traditional suspension bridge, which would have two large cables anchored to the earth, with smaller cables to hold up the bridge deck. The self-anchored approach uses a single cable anchored to the bridge deck.
The bridge, which at $1.3 billion, came in under the engineer’s cost estimate of $1.45 billion, will use the world’s largest precast concrete segments for its skyway deck. Its builders are using some of the largest cranes and hydraulic hammers in the world.
6. Using a Design-Build Contract to Expand a National Highway System Suspension Bridge
An experience nearly every freshman civil engineering student shares is to watch the 1950 film of “Galloping Gertie,” a mile-long suspension bridge west of Tacoma, Washington. They see it twist and turn in a heavy wind and finally collapse, victim to a concept called “harmonics” and too much lateral wind resistance. That bridge was replaced 10 years later and has served that crossing at the Tacoma Narrows well for half-a-century. Its problem today is overcrowding. It is carrying twice the traffic it was designed for. By 2020, traffic is forecast to increase even further from 90,000 vehicles a day to over 120,000.
Washington State DOT secured voter support through a regional referendum, then contracted with Tacoma Narrows Constructors to build a new suspension bridge parallel to and south of the existing bridge.
Photo courtesy of Connie Rus, Washington Department of Transportation
Tacoma Narrows Bridge construction at SR 16 near I-5
Experts expect a near doubling of freight rail traffic in Chicago over 20 years.
The new bridge will have two general-purpose lanes, an HOV lane for eastbound traffic, and a separated path for pedestrians and bicyclists. The project includes upgrading and retrofitting the existing bridge which will carry three lanes of westbound traffic. The project is the first design-build contract of its kind in the state. To help recoup the cost for the entire project, estimated at $849 million, a toll will be added. The bridge is slated to open in 2007.
7. Solving Chicago’s Freight-Rail Congestion Through a Public–Private Partnership
The poet Carl Sandburg called Chicago “the Nation’s Freight Handler,” and that still is true decades later. It is the busiest rail gateway in the United States moving one-third of the nation’s freight traffic. Each day, more than 500 trains pass through. But demand has exceeded supply, leading to substantial freight-rail congestion. It takes about three days for containers from Los Angeles to get to Chicago on the rail systems serving the west, and often three more days just to get across Chicago to connect with the rail systems serving the East. Experts predict near-doubling of demand for freight-rail service in Chicago over the next 20 years.
To address this congestion and get ahead of future demand, a public–private plan, dubbed CREATE, is putting major funding to work on a priority list of rail infrastructure improvements and grade-crossing eliminations. Ultimately the work is projected to cost $1.5 billion. In September 2006, Federal, state, and local officials announced an agreement to supply $330 million of that sum over three years.
Photo courtesy of Michael Rosenthal, New Jersey Transit
Some 27,000 passengers commute daily on the New Jersey Transit, Hudson–Bergen Light Rail.
The agreement includes $100 million in SAFETEA-LU funds, $100 million from the railroads, $100 million from the State of Illinois and $30 million from the City of Chicago. Slated improvements include 25 new overpasses to separate motor vehicles from train tracks, six new overpasses to separate freight-rail trains from passenger-rail trains, and extensive upgrades to tracks, switches, and signals.
Said Illinois DOT Secretary Tim Martin, “We have a 21st Century economy running on a 19th Century rail system. If we are to maintain our competitiveness in a global economy where time is money, something must be done, and it must be done now.”
8. Spurring Economic Growth Through a Transit New Start
The Hudson–Bergen light rail line has provided a vital link among the growing cities of New Jersey’s Hudson River waterfront and has been a catalyst for economic growth. The project also was a pioneer in the areas of public–private finance and project delivery. The 21-mile/30-station light rail system has been opening in segments, with the initial 7.5-mile stretch between Bayonne and Jersey City opening in April 2000. Eight segments have opened over the past six years.
The Hudson–Bergen light rail line (named for the two counties it runs through) currently serves an average of 38,000 customers per day, and is expected to expand to 70,000 daily riders when the project is completed. The project was conceived 20 years ago, when New Jersey government officials concluded that a light rail system would do wonders for refurbishing the waterfront commercial district just across the Hudson River from Manhattan.
Today, the light rail has proven to be a catalyst for both residential and commercial development along the route. The line running along Essex Street in downtown Jersey City has spawned 3,000 residential units in five years. An 86-acre tract of land bordering Liberty State Park is being redeveloped into a transit-oriented development known as Liberty Harbor North, which will add 6,000 residential units and millions of square feet of commercial space.
The Hudson–Bergen light rail project was also designed to maximize private sector participation. The design-build-operate-maintain (DBOM) approach, which New Jersey Transit officials adopted, helped assure quality construction by making the builder be the operator of the system as well. The private sector has shared the risks and has helped accelerate the construction and financing phases of the project.
The Hudson–Bergen light rail project has put an accent on the linkage between transit investments and economic development. The billions of dollars being invested along the alignment by private developers is helping reshape the future of New Jersey’s Hudson River waterfront.
9. Pricing to Relieve Truck Congestion at the Nation’s Largest Port Complex
PierPASS is a program created by marine terminal operators at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports to reduce truck traffic during peak daytime hours, alleviate overall port congestion, and lessen the industry’s environmental impacts on neighborhoods and air quality. By imposing charges during peak daytime hours through an electronic toll system, trucks have been encouraged to operate at night and on Saturdays.
In July 2006, PierPASS announced that 2.5 million truck trips have been diverted from peak daytime traffic during the first full year since the “offpeak” program was launched in 2005. Offpeak is taking up to 60,000 truck trips per week out of daytime freeway traffic patterns, producing a notable reduction in daytime congestion on roads near the ports.
Since the start of the program, between 30 and 35 percent of container cargo at the ports has moved during the new offpeak shifts on a typical day. Importers, exporters, terminals, and truck drivers have all made significant changes in the way they operate and the results have been impressive. All 12 international marine terminals at the two ports have offered night and weekend gate openings. A traffic mitigation fee has been imposed electronically on most peak daytime traffic. This provides the incentive to use the offpeak gates at night. Geraldine Knatz, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles reports that PierPASS has had several benefits, “But the foremost has been the expansion of our capacity to handle more cargo.”
The number of containers handled at the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex is forecast to increase by 10.2 percent in 2006. The combined ports ranked as the fifth largest in the world in 2005, handling more than 40 percent of all containerized goods imported into the United States.
Another successful example of pricing is the eight-mile Interstate 15 High Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lane project in San Diego, California. This project has proven so successful, that the San Diego Association of Governments has plans to expand it to build and finance a 100-mile variably-priced network of new HOT lanes elsewhere in the County.
Ports are using techniques such as peak pricing to move growing freight loads.
What has not generated interest to date is the option to toll or “price” existing free lanes on the Interstate. This option has been available for the past three six-year reauthorization cycles, but not one state has taken advantage of it. It has generally been the perception that it would be highly unpopular politically to attempt to impose tolls on existing lanes which the public perceives have already been paid for. The exception to this has been when it has proven necessary to impose tolls to pay for expensive bridges which could otherwise not be replaced.
10. Enhancing Tourism Through the National Scenic Byways Program
States have leveraged Federal resources to preserve scenic highways, expand their visitor appeal, and generate travel and tourism dollars for local economies. Program innovations in resource protection, marketing, and interpretation—from the simplest approaches to the most sophisticated—offer a roadmap for the future.
For example, Kansas DOT invested a modest $123,000 in a Traveler Information Radio System (TIRS) to tell the story of the Flint Hills Scenic National Byway and provide visitor information. The information system uses three low-watt radio systems—information technology normally used at airports and large-scale tourist attractions. The communities along the Flint Hills Byway are using this information system to enhance the visitor experience with information about the byway and events in communities along the way. The system, which is operated by the local chambers of commerce, is integral to sustaining tourism economic development in the rural communities served by the Byway.
In Colorado, a modest investment of $37,000 including $6,800 from the National Scenic Byways Program provided for the development of a comprehensive historic preservation plan. The plan led to the implementation of a multi-million dollar project—using private funds—to preserve 13 highly visible historic sites and to protect thousands of acres of historic landscapes along the 236-mile San Juan Skyway. Preservation of historic structures along the Skyway, which is recognized as one of the most scenic drives in America, has resulted in a substantial increase in tourism and has generated additional revenue generation opportunities for the surrounding communities.
Photo courtesy of Ken Francis, leader of the San Juan Skyway Byway
Redburn Ranch, a Conservation Easement
Conclusion
Simply put, AASHTO believes the mission of the U.S. Surface Transportation Program is to keep the U.S. competitive in the global economy and meet America’s 21st Century mobility needs. Part of what it will take to sustain our prosperity in the context of the global economy is a modern, efficient transportation system which enables the U.S. to increase productivity growth, create jobs, and compete head-to-head with all comers.
As was outlined in AASHTO’s Call for Action, we believe the time has come to increase investment in our Surface Transportation System to the levels needed. This will require marshalling the political will necessary at the federal, state and local levels to generate the additional revenues required to make this quantum increase in investment possible. It will also require a strategy which goes well beyond just “more of the same.”
Meeting America’s surface transportation needs for the future will require a multi-modal approach, which preserves what has been built to date, improves system performance, and adds substantial capacity in highways, transit, freight rail, and intercity passenger rail, and better connections to ports, airports and border crossings. It will also require solutions which go beyond transportation improvements and include policies addressing land use, energy, global climate change, the environment, and community quality of life.
