Headlines

1. New Ga. DOT chief may scrap all toll road projects.
2. Put caution sign before privately funded toll roads.
3. New Jersey’s Corzine Takes Toll-Plan Sales Pitch on the Road.
4. Electronic tolling months away for Indiana Toll Road.
5. 6 reasons why Doyle Drive toll must be stopped.
6. WA gov unveils toll plans for new floating bridge.
7. Privatizing county services is just a path toward lower-paid jobs.
8. Randalls Fields Plan Foul: Foes.
9. The Burlington Free Press reports that a state senate committee will take testimony Wednesday morning on privatizing Vermont’s lottery.

1. New Ga. DOT chief may scrap all toll road projects. The Georgia Department of Transportation’s staff lacks the experience to lead multi-billion dollar negotiations with contractors on toll road projects, DOT’s new commissioner said Thursday, and she might scrap the whole list of projects and start over, according to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

2. Put caution sign before privately funded toll roads. Jay Bookman has a column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the new DOT Commissioner’s warning that Georgia may have gotten ahead of itself in embracing privately built toll roads. "Amen, amen, amen," writes Bookman.

3. New Jersey’s Corzine Takes Toll-Plan Sales Pitch on the Road. Bloomberg.com reports that NJ Governor Jon Corzine said he expects a tough sell and skeptics as he tries to convince residents to accept highway toll increases as the price for slashing the state’s $30 billion debt.

4. Electronic tolling months away for Indiana Toll Road. The private operator of the Indiana Toll Road anticipates an electronic tolling system will be ready for the full highway in April, nearly a year after it first expected it to be in place but months before its deadline with the state, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune. The startup of electronic tolling on a section of the road resulted in lines of a mile or more at some toll booths as motorists struggled with unclear signs and some system malfunctions.

5. 6 reasons why Doyle Drive toll must be stopped. Columnist Dick Spotswood writes in the Marin Independent Journal that "last month I decried the possibility that California would allow San Francisco to charge a toll, probably $2, on Marin motorists for the privilege of using the Doyle Drive approach to the Golden Gate Bridge during peak hours. The march to enact this double toll on North Bay commuters is rapidly moving forward." He lists six reasons why "Marinites should take to the barricades and demand our representatives stop Sacramento and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission from forcing this harebrained scheme down our throats."

6. WA gov unveils toll plans for new floating bridge. Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire last Thursday proposed that motorists pay about half of the $4 billion cost of replacing the aging Evergreen Point Floating Bridge across Lake Washington with tolls beginning next year, according to a piece in the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

7. Privatizing county services is just a path toward lower-paid jobs. Gerry Broderick, a Milwaukee county supervisor, has an opinion piece in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel taking issue with the county executive who urged people to keep an open mind when considering possible privatization of county services.

8. Randalls Fields Plan Foul: Foes. The New York Post has an article about a plan to let 20 private schools construct 63 ball fields on Manhattan’s Randalls Island. Opponents told a judge yesterday that the plan amounts to privatizing one of the city’s biggest parks. The 20-year plan, which would give the schools control of about 75 percent of the fields during after-school hours, was approved by the city Franchise Concession and Review Committee.

9. The Burlington Free Press reports that a state senate committee will take testimony Wednesday morning on privatizing Vermont’s lottery.