Quote:Tolls needed to fund Memphis bridge
TDOT: Usual financing would delay span decades
By Tom Charlier (Contact), Memphis Commercial Appeal
Monday, July 28, 2008

While motorists in the St. Louis area can use more than a half-dozen bridges to cross the Mississippi River, drivers in Memphis are limited to two -- only one of which was built after the first half of the 20th Century.

But if a badly needed third vehicle bridge is to built anytime soon, it'll have to be funded at least in part by tolls, state and local transportation officials say.

"Under normal financing, it could be decades away," said Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner Gerald F. Nicely.

This week, TDOT will solicit public comments at a local meeting conducted as part of a legislature-mandated study of possible toll projects. It's slated for 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Central Station depot at 545 S. Main.

Under legislation adopted last year by the General Assembly, TDOT in January is to recommend one bridge and one highway to be built as toll projects.

Lawmakers wanted to test the use of tolls because federal highway dollars are disappearing at a time when construction costs are soaring.

The bridge at Memphis, estimated to cost between $500 million and $700 million, is one of four spans statewide being considered for the toll project. The others are located on the Cumberland River north of Nashville and on the Tennessee River near Chattanooga and in West Tennessee.

Citing lukewarm support and less-urgent demand for the other spans, Nicely said the Memphis bridge stands a good chance of being the one recommended by TDOT.

"I would say that project would be a very strong candidate," Nicely said. "We seem to have a pretty good level of support."

The Memphis Metropolitan Planning Organization adopted a resolution favoring the initiative, and the Memphis Regional Chamber has been a strong supporter.

The combined average daily traffic count of the 35-year-old Hernando DeSoto Bridge and the 59-year-old Memphis & Arkansas Bridge has exceeded 100,000 vehicles in recent years.

Dexter Muller, senior vice president of community development for the chamber, said traffic is rising significantly because the bridges serve the third-busiest trucking corridor in the U.S. He said traffic snarls and other problems will only grow if a new bridge isn't built.

"We need another relief valve now, much less to think about what it's going to be like in the future," Muller said.

The span also is needed because only one of the existing bridges -- the Hernando DeSoto -- is being retrofitted to resist earthquakes, he said.

The bridge would cross the river along one of five broad corridors now under study.

Officials also are considering whether to make it multi-modal span, carrying trains as well as vehicles. No rail bridges have been built over the Mississippi at Memphis in more than 90 years.

No specific tolls have been discussed for the bridge. That and other issues would be assessed in further economic studies.

Nicely said it's difficult to project how well local motorists will accept a toll bridge, especially when free alternative spans are available.

But he said there's no other option that will get a bridge built any time soon.

"It would put this bridge on a track to being done," Nicely said.

-- Tom Charlier: 529-2572

Existing bridges over the Mississippi

There currently are four Mississippi River spans -- two for vehicles, two for trains -- serving the Memphis area.

--Hernando DeSoto Bridge (vehicles): opened to traffic in 1973 and is part of Interstate 40.
--Memphis & Arkansas Bridge (vehicles): opened to traffic in 1949 and is part of I-55.
--Frisco Bridge (rail): completed in 1892.
--Harahan Bridge (rail): completed in 1916.
Bridge talk

TDOT will solicit public comments about a possible toll bridge across the Mississippi River at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Central Station depot at 545 S. Main.

i say great - bring it on. only MAKE IT MULTI-MODAL. our country DESPERATELY needs a sesmic rated rail connection through memphis. we are a MAJOR rail hub with 5 of the 6 or 7 rail lines routing through town, losing the harahan and frisco bridges which are NOT sesmic would be catastrophic