HARRISBURG PA – A proposal made Friday (July 30, 2010) to rebuild a bridge across the Delaware River between Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the cost of which would be financed by collecting tolls under a public-private partnership, may offer residents of the U.S. Route 422 Corridor a glimpse into how a similar collaboration – if ever approved – might work to pay for future improvements of the highway between King of Prussia and Reading PA.
Scudder Falls Bridge over the Delaware River, seen from a boat launch in Yardley PA.
From a Bucks County rest stop on Interstate 95 south of the Scudder Falls Bridge, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said he and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would urge the bridge’s owner, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (DRJTBC), to assemble a legal team and seek bids from a private contractor to rebuild the span at an estimated cost of about $310 million. A press release outlining the strategy was simultaneously released by both politicians.
The two states formed the commission in 1934. It now operates 20 bridges, and collects tolls on seven of them.
The Scudder Falls Bridge, designed in the late 1950s, is antiquated and needs substantial repairs. Bringing in a contractor to do the work and then having the commission collect new driver tolls to pay for it would make the project viable, Rendell said, adding that reconstruction could be fast-tracked for completion by late 2011 or early 2012.
The commission would retain bridge ownership, and negotiate with the contractor on the amount of tolls to be imposed. Tolls were projected to range from $1-$2 per car and $4 for trucks, and would be collected only from southbound vehicles, Rendell said. Currently, there are no tolls charged for crossing the bridge.
There currently are no tolls charged for drivers to travel U.S. Route 422 either.
Cover of the 422 Master Plan Summary Report.
As with the bridge, however, the phrase “public-private partnership” has often been used during discussions about the 422 Master Plan now being circulated for endorsement by neighboring municipalities. The Limerick (PA) Township Board of Supervisors approved it earlier this month; Lower Pottsgrove Township commissioners and Pottstown Borough Council members have yet to consider it.
The Master Plan itself does not call for tolling, Montgomery County Planning Commission Assistant Director Leo Bagley points out. It instead offers suggestions to control the corridor’s growth and better manage transportation within it. Inevitably, though, Bagley has noted, improving the highway to reduce congestion and adding other methods of transit, such as rail service, will be expensive. Tolls are mentioned as one way to cover the cost.
There are other similarities, too, between Friday’s bridge proposal and potential solutions to 422′s increasing congestion:
- The state has flatly said it can’t afford to pay for 422 improvements, just as both Pennsylvania and New Jersey have said they can’t afford to fix the bridge.
- There has been talk that, if implemented, a toll to drive the highway’s entire 25-mile length would be – like the bridge toll – only a dollar or two.
- The revenue dedicated to the repairs would be collected by a government entity: in the bridge’s case, the DRJTBC; in 422′s case, a yet-to-be-created organization jointly controlled by Montgomery, Chester and Berks counties, through all of which the road runs.
James Simpson, New Jersey’s Department of Transportation commissioner who accompanied Rendell during his announcement near the bridge, later said that “in these difficult fiscal times, it is critical that we find creative ways to make improvements and deliver services that are efficient and cost-effective for taxpayers. This public-private partnership will provide exactly that type of solution.”
If a study now being conducted determines that a similar partnership and tolls are the creative answers to 422′s traffic woes, Bagley said they – like the master plan – would need to be approved by the municipalities involved.
Related (to U.S. Route 422 Corridor planning):
- Peering Into The Future? Gov’s Bridge Proposal And 422
- Another Township Endorses 422 Master Plan
- Neighboring Limerick Supervisors Endorse 422 Master Plan
- Understand 422 Plan Endorsement, Lower Pottsgrove Advised
- Lower Pottsgrove Holds On 422 Plan Endorsement
- Engineers Claim PA Roads Worse Now Than In 2006
- Tuesday Session Tackles Funding For 422 And Elsewhere
- Tolls, Lower Pottsgrove Station Part Of 422 Plan
- Pending Decision May Affect Route 422 Projects
- Last Day For Your Say On Route 422 Plan
- Notebook Worthy (Aug. 24, 2009)
- Consultants Express Interest In Studying 422
- Don’t Like 422 Tolling? Website Wants Your Alternative
- Truckers Alerted On Highway Partnerships Bill
- In 422 Debate, Time A Hindrance And Help
- Notebook Worthy (June 29, 2009)
- Growth, Planners Say, Is 422’s Growing Problem
- Tech Used To Draw For 422 Meetings
- Route 422 Toll Meetings Next Week
- 422 Repairs, Delays Start Tuesday
- 422 Proposal, Like Traffic, Creeps Ahead
- Got A Route 422 Idea? Time To Air It
- Train Service On The Front Burner Once More
Photo by Ian Anderson
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