E-ZPass express lane on Betsy Ross Bridge approved

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

The lane, which will let drivers pay tolls without slowing down, is expected to be built on the left side of the toll plaza, with an electronic E-ZPass reader 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 agency's two busiest bridges, the Benjamin Franklin and the Walt Whitman, will be outfitted with an express E-ZPass lane.

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

The DRPA yesterday also announced two public meetings in Philadelphia this month on its proposals to bring light-rail service to the Philadelphia waterfront. The meetings will be the last ones before the agency 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 Line between South Jersey and Center City, has been studying how to extend service along the Philadelphia waterfront. In January 2008, the DRPA chose three options to examine, including two that would connect waterfront service to 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 envisioned, that trolley line would run along Market Street from the waterfront to City Hall, where it could connect with SEPTA's subway-surface 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 Tuesday at the Friends Meeting House, Fourth and Arch Streets, and Sept. 30 at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust St.

Yesterday, the DRPA also authorized its chief financial officer to spend millions from its general fund to pay off debt. At current rates, debt retirement would cost $36 million, financial officer John Hanson said.