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Tom Warne has been invited to provide partnering facilitation services for the St. Croix River Crossing Early Foundations Project with MnDOT and Edward Kraemer and Sons and the St. Croix River Crossing Approaches Project with MnDOT and Ames/Lunda JV.
Vermont’s governor signed a transportation budget bill into law this week that will raise $630 million per year, with the included fuel tax rate increases. Gov. Peter Shumlin’s approval means the state’s 19-cent excise tax on gasoline will go up May 1, by 5.9 cents per gallon.
The measure will add a 2 percent sales tax to the cost of gas, and the cost per-gallon tax drops by about one cent. The change is designed to make up for declining gas sales that result in less funding for road work.
Vermont’s excise tax on diesel is currently 29 cents, and is scheduled to increase by 2 cents on July 1. The rates for diesel will rise by another penny in one year.
House and Senate lawmakers agreed to the H510 funding bill after previously disputing whether truckers should pay higher taxes. Without the bill, the state would have lost out on nearly $60 million for roads and bridges. The Tom Warne Report
Seattle Times – April 24, 2013
OLYMPIA – Oregon’s governor says the $3.4 billion proposed Columbia River Crossing bridge project will not be allowed to move forward if Washington state pulls light rail plans from the project. Gov. John Kitzhaber’s office released a statement Monday on the issue, as the Washington Legislature reaches the final days of its session, which concludes this Sunday.
“Governor Kitzhaber has been clear from the start: No light rail. No project. No kidding,” Tim Raphael, a spokesman for Kitzhaber, said the statement.
The I-5 bridge connecting Vancouver and Portland has been planned for years, and is largely dependent upon whether Washington state decides to front its $450 million share of the cost. Washington’s Democrats support the project, but the state Senate, controlled by GOP majority, will not approve any bridge proposal that contains light rail.
It is possible, but unlikely, that the Legislature will act on an $8.4 billion transportation tax package before the end of the session, according to House Transportation Chairwoman Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island. The package includes funding the Columbia River Crossing project. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood cautioned state lawmakers that they may lose $1.2 billion in federal support for the project if they do not commit several hundred million dollars toward the bridge.
Plans for the rail line would connect Vancouver commuters to Portland light rail service, and Gov. Kitzhaber’s office will not budge on the issue.
“Any analysis that claims there is a quick, easy or advisable way to remove light rail from the Interstate 5 bridge-replacement is fundamentally flawed,” Raphael said. “Light rail is not an add-on. It is a critical part of an integrated, multimodal, bi-state solution that improves safety, manages traffic, protects air quality and supports the region’s economy. We’d be starting over on federal funding and permitting. Without light rail, there is no project.” The Tom Warne Report
A new six-mile light rail line has opened in Utah, connecting to the Salt Lake International Airport. The Utah Transit Authority line extends the TRAX system from the downtown Salt Lake City station to the airport and provides a direct transfer to FrontRunner commuter rail on top of the newly renovated North Temple Viaduct. FrontRunner will eventually connect all commuters from Ogden to Provo.
The UTA offered a free preview day of the new line on Saturday, April 13 with carnival-style festivities at the five new stops along the North Temple line, and one station at the airport. The line opened to the public on April 14. Initially, the service will run at 15-minute intervals. The project cost approximately $250 million and estimates ridership at 14,000 passengers per day by 2030.
The Utah Transit Authority continues its long string of “wins” with the opening of this important line to the airport. If you’ve been the Salt Lake City lately you’ve no doubt been impressed with the transit network. I remember the first ground breaking on the North South Line soon after I arrive in Utah to be the Executive Director of UDOT. As I sat with other officials in front of the crowd you could hardly hear Mayor Corradini speak for all the noise of the protesters. Now, 15 years later, where are all those people that said light rail would be bad for our community? They’re gone and we have an exceptional system. TW
Two weeks ago we announced that Renae and I would be leaving on July 1, 2013 to serve a voluntary three-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Rancagua, Chile. At that time, I was unable to announce who would be taking over Tom Warne and Associates and The Tom Warne Report during our absence.
Today, I am pleased to announce that John Njord, former Executive Director of the Utah Department of Transportation will lead the combined companies and meet all of our client and project commitments going forward. John has served as the Executive Director of UDOT for almost 12 years and has been the longest serving CEO in the country. He has led UDOT through a period of intense and amazing innovation and project delivery. During his tenure, the department successfully delivered over 70 Design-build and CMGC projects including the most recently completed: the I-15 CORE and Mountain View Corridor freeway projects. These two projects, with a combined budget of $2.5 billion, were delivered ahead of schedule and $260 million under budget while minimally affecting travelers for less than three years.
Under John’s direction, the time needed to replace bridges has been reduced from months to hours. Since the first bridge replacement in 2006, UDOT has installed over 40 bridges, using Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) techniques. Under John’s leadership, Utahans have come to expect bridges to be literally replaced overnight. During his years as director, he championed innovative transportation solutions, building 25 single point interchanges, 4 diverging diamond interchanges, 10 continuous flow intersections, a peak hour reversible lane facility, and 124 miles of HOT lanes.
At the occasion of his retirement, the Utah State Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives signed a joint commendation for John and members of each house gave him a standing ovation.
John’s leadership style is a model for others to follow. He rightfully gives credit to the many men and women at UDOT who helped all this to happen—not the least of whom is Carlos Braceras, Deputy Director. Together, John and Carlos have made a great team.
In addition to John’s outstanding contributions in Utah, you know him well from his years of service across the country. He is a former president of AASHTO and chair of the Executive Committee at the Transportation Research Board. He has represented the transportation industry internationally as well as testified at Congress on our behalf.
In a few days we will post more information on John on our website at tomwarne.com. For now, you can reach him directly at jnjord@tomwarne.com or at 801-580-5695. I am very pleased to have John step in and take on our many exciting and important engagements. Our motto is “Solving problems. Hard problems.” John is here to help solve problems as well so give him a call.
Please join me in welcoming John aboard.
Best regards,
Tom