Headlines

1. Private medicare plans’ cost questioned
2. Fitch downgrades North Texas tollway rating
3. FL: Tunnel gets a go-ahead
4. Pittsburgh: Would toll road unclog Parkway East?
5. NJ: Republican gets behind Corzine’s unpopular toll hike plan

News Summaries

1. Private medicare plans’ cost questioned
Private Medicare plans often cost beneficiaries more than the traditional government-run Medicare program, Congressional investigators say, according to The New York Times. Many private plans advertise extra benefits and low costs. But in a report to be issued Thursday, the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, says that many people in private plans face higher costs for home health care, nursing homes and some hospital stays.

2. Fitch downgrades North Texas tollway rating
Fitch Ratings has downgraded its rating on $1.3 billion in outstanding North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA) Dallas North Tollway System revenue bonds to ‘BBB+’ from ‘A-‘ and simultaneously withdraws them. All debt ratings for this issuer are also withdrawn at this time. Fitch will no longer provide rating coverage of the North Texas Tollway Authority, according to a report on YahooNews.

3. FL: Tunnel gets a go-ahead
The Florida Department of Transportation announced last week that it is moving forward with the state’s largest public-private partnership – the $1.2 billion Port of Miami tunnel project, according to The Bond Buyer (subscription). Although signing the final contract is about a year behind schedule due to the complexity if negotiations between the DOT and its funding partners – the city of Miami and Miami-Dade County – a consortium called Miami Access Tunnel LLC will design, build, finance, operate, and maintain the tunnel project through a concession contract that provides it with availability payments for 30 years after the tunnel opens to traffic. The Florida DOT is spearheading the project that involves boring two 3,900-foot tunnels about 100 feet below the water to create a bypass for buses carrying cruise ship passengers and freight trucks heading to the Port of Miami. Currently, thousands of those vehicles head in and out of the port every day, causing extreme congestion as they pass through the heart of downtown Miami. The Florida DOT will fund about half of the cost through its annual budget.

4. Pittsburgh: Would toll lanes unclog Parkway East?
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s plan to build elevated toll lanes over part of the Parkway East. "It’s an idea, that’s all," turnpike commission Chief Executive Officer Joe Brimmeier said. He got the idea from the Tampa-Hillsborough (Fla.) Expressway Authority whose 15 miles of toll road include six miles of elevated lanes opened two years ago. State Rep. Rick Geist, R-Blair, the ranking Republican on the House Transportation Committee, thinks the elevated lane or lanes over the Parkway East "make a lot of sense as a public-private partnership." Mr. Geist said elevated lanes would likely use "time-of-day pricing," meaning a charge of, perhaps, $5 during the busy morning and afternoon rush hours, but lower during nonpeak hours. Drivers would have the choice of paying to drive in a less-congested elevated lane or the usual bumper-to-bumper free lanes on the ground. The cash toll on the elevated section of the toll road in Florida is $1.75 for cars.

5. NJ: Republican gets behind Corzine’s unpopular toll hike plan
Gov. Jon Corzine’s unpopular plan to pay down state debt and fund transportation needs by sharply increasing tolls still may be the best way for the New Jersey government to escape its prodigious financial mess, former Republican U.S. representative Bob Franks told an audience at Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics last night, reports The Star-Ledger.

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