All-electronic tolling operational at Golden Ears Bridge east of Vancouver BC (ADDITION)

Tolls are now being collected by the latest all-electronic toll system (AET) - at the Golden Ears Bridge over the Fraser River, metro-Vancouver, British Columbia. CS' American subsidiary InTranSGroup began testing their AET system when the bridge opened for traffic June 16. Actual toll collection began yesterday (July 16) with close to 20k  transponders in use by motorists. Transponders are brandnamed here Quickpass and are California Title 21 specification and supplied by Sirit.

The toll point consists of a pair of gantries immediately off the bridgeworks on the northside. The gantries span both directions of traffic and cover three travel lanes plus a shoulder lane each side with:

- RF antennas to read the transponders

- front and rear cameras, front infrared, rear visible light

- laser profilers to do vehicle detection, tracking and volumetric profiling for vehicle classification

Project manager for InTransSGroup Michael Conlon tells us the aim is to get about 75% of traffic using transponders, 25% video tolling.

Toll options

Motorists have three toll options:

(1)  a QUICKPASS transponder account about 30% off the regular toll

(2) pre-trip registration of the vehicle and establishment of a QUICKPASS account to be debited via license plate recognition camera, about 15% off the regular toll

(3) pay a bill that arrives in the mail via camera read of the license plate and reference to local motor vehicle registries, at the full toll

Conlon says they expect traffic to be mostly have BC and Alberta license plates but they have to manage toll collection from other provinces and nearby US states. Automatic optical character recognition is expected to extract about 90% of license plate passes, about 10% requiring operator review on a screen.

The  AET setup which cost about  $7.7m (C$8.5m), Conlon says, has many similarities to the CS-designed installation on the M50 in Dublin Ireland. Overall cost to the toller of the toll system plus back office/customer service for five years is $22.5m (C$25m).

Contract for supply and operation of the all-electronic toll system was awarded in June 2006 to V-Flow (Egis, Sanef, InTranS the US subsidiary of France-based CS. They call it a 'free-flow system' and like other AET systems it reads transponder, records images for license plate recognition, performs vehicle classification (4 classes) for calculation and assignment of tolls. The integrated back office maintains transponder and video toll accounts, invoicing motorists, manages transactions and payments, operating customer call-in telephone lines, a website, and two walk-in centers.

CS in a statement released today in France says the operation is regarded by the client TransLink as successful.

During the month of free travel the toll system was handling 37k vehicles per day and the first day of full operation with a few thousand fewer, went well.

BACKGROUND: The Golden Ears Bridge ends the isolation from one another of outer Vancouver metro area communities divided by the Fraser River - Langley and Surrey southside and Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows northside.

They were previously only able to cross after long waits for a ferry upstream or prohibitively circuitous routes east or west.

The bridge is north-south but associated connector and approach roads some 15km in length (9.3 miles) go between  two major east-west routes -  Trans-Canada Highway-1 on the southside and Highway 7 on the northside allowing traffic on those routes to switch from one to the other - handy in case of accidents or other causes of lane closures.

The cable stayed bridge is 958m (3143ft) long with three overwater spans of 242m (794ft) with relatively low main towers, just 80m (262ft) above normal water level.

The bridge deck which provides shipping channel clearance underneath of 40m (131ft) comprises 728 reinforced concrete panels mounted in a continuous steel grid on framing made of composites. As bridges go it is relatively light, a special advantage in a seismically active locality. The bridge rests on 48 piles (12 at each of four in-river piers) poured into bores 90m deep (295ft). Bridge design was by BC-based Buckland & Taylor Ltd.

Approach roads and the bridge itself are of divided surface arterial, not motorway/expressway, standard and most has a 60km/hr (37mph) speed limit. There is a mix of interchanges and intersections, some with fancy geometrics.  The bridge and approach roads provide improved access to a local Pitt Meadows Airport on the northside.

The arrnagement is not a concession, more a longterm availability contract. The project is a finance-design-build-maintain-rehabilitate 35.5 year-long contract with mainly French/German international roadbuilders and operators.

These companies are all working for for the BC-sponsored South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority which operates under the brand name TransLink. This state or province authority holds the risk-reward trade off between toll revenues and availability payment costs.

Construction by Golden Crossing Constructors Joint Venture (Bilfinger Berger, CH2MHill)  began April 2006 so substantial completion was achieved in 26 months. Remaining work includes ship protection walls for the main piers, final landscaping, environmental remediation and pedestrian/cycling trails.

NAMING: Golden Ears seems to be a corruption of the term 'golden aeries' for the nests of the golden eagles that are plentiful in the area. The usually snow-covered mountains that form a backdrop to the valley are known as Golden Ears peaks.

See http://www.goldenearsbridge.ca

TOLLROADSnews 2009-07-17

Gov toller to lose money for several years (ADDITION 2009-07-19 18:00)

Under a toll concession (design,build, finance, operate, toll) private investors take the business risk of losses and gain the reward of profits. But this is not a concession. BC state authority TransLink has the toll revenue/risk/reward. They say they expect to lose money at Golden Ears Bridge for several years. Monthly availability payments due to the 35.5 year design, build, finance, operate (DBFO) contractor Golden Crossing General Partners (GCGP), a fully owned single purpose subsidiary of Germany-based Bilfinger Berger are expected to exceed toll revenues until at least 2013, a spokesman said in recent days.

There is a separate longterm DBFO contract for operations & maintenance of $316k adjusted for inflation.

Under the contract availability payments began when the bridge opened for traffic at $500k/month June 16 and they go up progressively according to a negotiated schedule in the contract to $4m/month in 2011 and $4.8m in 2015 - after which they stay constant to the remainder of the DBFO. Monthly operations costs also payable to GCGP which has subcontracted operations work to a BC firm Capilano Highway Services.

Capital cost $670m

Capital cost was about $670m (C$746m) split about equally between the bridge itself and the approach roads on either side.

TransLink, the state outfit has full toll setting powers and rights to toll revenues and residual rights to the bridge at the end of the contract in 2041 in return for the responsibility to make availability and operations payments.

Population growth in BC, like most of Canada is higher than the US due to more liberal immigration policies and the Vancouver metro area is forecast to grow to 3.4m by 2031. A traffic and revenue forecast by UK-based Steer Davies Gleave forecasts daily traffic on startup in a band centered on 30k and C$30m/yr rising according to a nearby summary table and graphs.

Traffic & revenue

The T&R study found most of the bridge traffic would be the result of diversion of traffic from currently more roundabout routes. Little induced traffic or mode shift to cars is expected. The forecasters say they can't estimate the extent to which improved accessibility will enhance development close to the bridge and boost trips. As time goes by general demand for mobility in the region boosts GEB numbers.

See document library on GEB:

http://www.translink.ca/site-info/document-library-result.aspx?id={F7A323BF-0A81-4CBA-83AF-DFFDB4001638}|{32598C82-A05C-4F74-A92F-187720AD9053}&ref={7DE1C0D6-C867-48BA-88DF-F5F348E640AC}

TOLLROADSnews ADDITION 2009-07-19 18:00