Category: Nwes || By Tbue City Alnamac

(April Fool's has passed, and we're the biggest fools at last.)

April 01, 2010

County Eyes Tolls on Mansfield Bridge

The ramps on the south end of the W.D. Mansfield Memorial Bridge are not the only thing affected by a state Public Utility Commission ruling.

A separate PUC order would allow Allegheny County to convert the busy Monongahela River crossing into a toll bridge --- and county officials are considering just that option.

While the proposal is still in the preliminary stages, tolls would likely run 50 cents for cars and $1 for trucks with three or more axles.

About 13,000 vehicles cross the Mansfield Bridge every day. At 50 cents per vehicle, Allegheny County could collect more than $2 million annually in tolls, which would be used to help fund the Pittsburgh area's ailing transit agency.

. . .

The 1,931-foot-long county-owned Mansfield Bridge, which opened in 1951, is one of 6,000 statewide considered "functionally obsolete" and has been scheduled for a complete reconstruction for several years.

According to published reports, the $37 million rehabilitation is now expected to begin in 2011 and continue through 2013.

Under the terms of a PUC ruling dating to the bridge's original construction, county officials want the city of McKeesport to contribute about $150,000 and Glassport to contribute another $120,000 towards replacement of the ramps at the south end.

But county officials have been unusually quiet about the other ruling, supposedly issued at the same time, which would enable them to "erect a schedule of tolls or fees for use of the Dravosburg High-Level Bridge."

A copy of that ruling --- all but forgotten for more than 60 years --- was recently obtained by The Almanac.

. . .

Sources have told The Almanac that Allegheny County officials could sell the bridge to the Port Authority of Allegheny County after the re-construction work is complete.

The transit agency could then convert the Mansfield Bridge into a toll crossing, with a plaza erected at the Dravosburg end.

Tolls collected could then be used to help cover the Port Authority's projected $25 million operating budget.

Although toll bridges are rare in the western part of Pennsylvania, they are common elsewhere, including in Philadelphia County.

. . .

Representatives of Port Authority and various county officials deny that any such discussions have taken place.

Yet if conversion of the Mansfield Bridge to a toll bridge was successful, one source told The Almanac, other county-owned bridges --- including the Homestead Grays and Rankin bridges --- could also be tolled.

That might allow the county to reduce or eliminate its 1 percent "poured drink" tax, which has long been a thorn in the side of restaurant and tavern owners.

Said one source, who asked not to be identified: "It might sound like a crazy idea, but it makes a lot more sense than re-opening the Wabash Tunnel, and it's sure not as dumb as maglev."

Additional supporting documents are also available online, the source said.

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