The Ben Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia
HARRISURG PA – Pennsylvania’s auditor general says he thinks money being collected in bridge and other tolls by the Delaware River Port Authority should be used to upgrade and improve regional high-speed rail service, rather than pour it into economic development projects, The Pennsylvania Independent online news service reported Friday (Dec. 23, 2011).
AG Jack Wagner said he wants Gov. Tom Corbett to use political clout to stop the authority, which serves southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey, from carrying out plans to invest more than $20 million in projects to build a cancer center, a university dormitory, and a state prison, and to improve a rowing course. The money should instead be used to improve high-speed trains connecting Philadelphia and New Jersey.
The authority collects tolls for vehicles crossing the Benjamin Franklin, Walt Whitman, Commodore Barry and Betsy Ross bridges that connect Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
A Corbett spokesman, in reply, accused Wagner of “grandstanding.”
- Read a story by reporter Stacy Brown, titled “Auditor: Use toll money for rail, not economic development projects” and published Friday by The Independent, here.
Perhaps putting the funds into an escrow account for future bridge repairs and replacements? Totally agree that those funds need to stay in the transportation sector and not migrate to projects politicos want as funded payback for appointments within the authority.