DRPA approves express E-ZPass lane for Betsy Ross Bridge

An express E-ZPass lane on the Betsy Ross Bridge is expected to be operational by 2011, following approval today by the Delaware River Port Authority.

The express lane will allow drivers to pay tolls without slowing down. The lane, expected to be built on the left side of the toll plaza, will have an electronic E-ZPass reader mounted on an overhead gantry.

A similar express lane may be built on the Commodore Barry Bridge, DRPA officials said. Because of traffic patterns and bridge design, neither of the DRPA's two busiest bridges, the Benjamin Franklin and the Walt Whitman, will be outfitted with express E-ZPass lanes.

The DRPA board today approved a $350,476 contract to design the express lane on the Betsy Ross, the least-used of the agency's four bridges between Philadelphia and New Jersey. The contract, approved last month by a DRPA committee, was awarded to Stantec Consulting Services of Mount Laurel.

The DRPA also announced two public meetings in Philadelphia later this month about its proposals to bring light-rail service to the Philadelphia waterfront.

The meetings will be the last ones before the DRPA announces its choice of a transit route to connect the proposed waterfront trolley line to Center City.

For years, the port authority, which operates the PATCO High Speed rail line between South Jersey and Center City, has been studying how to extend service along the Philadelphia waterfront.

The DRPA has said it will announce its route selection in the next few months.

In January 2008, the DRPA chose three alternatives to examine, including two that would connect waterfront service to existing PATCO trains at the soon-to-reopen Franklin Square subway station at Seventh and Race Streets.

But PATCO officials have said a more likely scenario is a PATCO link at Eighth and Market Streets to a new Market Street trolley line from the waterfront. As currently envisioned, that trolley line would run along the surface of Market Street from the waterfront to City Hall, where it could connect with SEPTA's subway-surface trolley line.

The new service, which would require federal financial help, is probably at least $1 billion and eight to 10 years away, DRPA officials have said.

The public meetings, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., will be held Tuesday at the Friends Meeting House, Fourth and Arch Streets, and on Sept. 30 at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust St.

The DRPA also authorized its chief financial officer to spend millions from its general fund to pay off outstanding debt.

At current rates, the debt-retirement would cost $36 million, financial officer John Hanson said.

The DRPA is paying off the debt in a bond "swap option" deal because its bond insurer, Ambac Assurance, was downgraded below "A" level by the ratings agencies. That left DRPA with the choice of coming up with the cash or posting more collateral, under terms of its contract with its lender, UBS.