Delaware River bridge projects to cost millions
To pay for the work, the port authority may raise tolls, now pegged at $3 for autos, as much as $2.
The Delaware River Port Authority is set to spend nearly $25 million for inspections and a paint job on its bridges between Philadelphia and South Jersey.
Maintenance costs have been cited as a prime reason bridge tolls are expected to rise this year. Public meetings on possible toll hikes are likely to begin in March, officials said yesterday.
Tolls, now $3 for autos, could rise as much as $2. An alternative would be for the port authority to increase tolls by less than $2 and implement annual hikes tied to inflation.
A DRPA committee yesterday approved $19.7 million for the fifth and final phase of repainting the Ben Franklin Bridge, scheduled to begin in April or May and take at least a year. The painting contractor is Liberty Maintenance Inc., of Campbell, Ohio. The total price tag for the project, begun in 2000, is $88.6 million.
The committee also approved a $2.5 million contract for an engineering consulting firm, STV Inc., of Douglassville, Pa., to monitor the repainting.
The four DRPA bridges and the PATCO commuter rail line also are scheduled for their biennial inspections, at a cost of about $2.4 million (Walt Whitman, $715,000; Ben Franklin, $464,000; Betsy Ross, $390,000; Commodore Barry, $500,000, and PATCO, $298,000).
In addition, the DRPA is committed to spending nearly $1 billion during the next five years for repairs and upgrades on the bridges, the PATCO line and other DRPA facilities.
About $380 million of the agency's five-year capital budget is specifically for bridge improvements.
The budget also includes $57 million for a long-delayed tram across the Delaware River and $335 million for PATCO upgrades.
The latter includes $111 million to rebuild commuter railcars, many of which date to 1969, and $64 million to rebuild tracks on the Ben Franklin Bridge and replace electric-power poles and lines.
Officials of the bistate agency have said they will need a "new significant funding source" to pay those costs. That likely means higher tolls for motorists, who made 55 million trips over the bridges in 2006 and paid $195 million in tolls.
Before imposing increases, the DRPA will schedule public hearings throughout the region. Those meetings are likely to begin in March, chief executive officer John J. Matheussen said yesterday. The agency wants to conduct traffic studies on the bridges and PATCO before conducting the hearings, Matheussen said.
Some additional money may be collected from "alternative revenue sources," such as billboards and naming rights on DRPA facilities, but that amount is expected to "fall far short" of the agency's needs, Matheussen said.
The last toll increase on DRPA bridges was in January 2000, when fees were raised to $3 from $2. Tolls are paid only by westbound motorists, and E-ZPass users who make 18 or more trips per month get an $18 discount.
Also yesterday, the newest member of the DRPA took his seat on the 16-member board of commissioners.
Ricardo V. Taylor Jr., a Pennsauken Township committeeman and director of personnel for Pennsauken public schools, was appointed to the board by Gov. Corzine. Taylor fills a vacancy created by the departure of Clara Ruvolo.
The DRPA is administered by eight commissioners from each state.