Port Mann Bridge BC has RFP out for all-electronic highway speed toll system

Posted on Mon, 2009-11-09 23:27

California's old Title 21 electronic toll (ET) system spec written nearly 20 years ago by engineers at Hughes - long since departed ET - has life still. It is a requirement in the toll system RFP for the big new Port Mann toll bridge to carry Canada's Highway 1 over the Fraser River 24km (15 miles) east of Vancouver. Ten lanes wide - double the existing bridge - the new cable stayed structure is the centerpiece of some C$5b ($4.7b) of new roads called the Gateway Project on the growing southside of the Vancouver metro area (pop 2.25m).

The new bridge will be 2.2km (7220ft) long, with a main span of 850m (2790ft) with 42m (138ft) shipping clearance underneath. The bridge deck will be 50m (164ft) wide, sufficient for 10 lanes plus shoulders.

Initially the plan was to twin the existing 1964 arch bridge but the marginal cost of the wider new bridge is considered to be less than the additional maintenance and rehabilitation costs of maintaining the old arch span. It will be demolished after the new bridge opens.

A new RapidBus service in dedicated lanes is part of the Port Mann bridge Highway One (PMH1) project.

Mac dropped out

Macquarie was due to finance and operate the bridge under a longterm concession but as a deadline for financial close approached in February this year, they couldn't raise the money. Now the British Columbia provincial government is building it as a public toll enterprise under a public authority Transportation Investment Corporation (TIC). CH2M Hill is their project manager.

A Kiewit-Flatiron team who were the design-build part of the Macquarie bid will build the bridge span plus 37km (23 miles) of widening Highway 1 (mostly 4th laning west of the bridge, and 3rd and 4th laning east of it). The job also includes interchange improvements all along the corridor.

Their contract is to deliver the finished highway and bridge for C$2.46b ($2.22b).

RFP for toll system

TIC has issued an RFP for a toll system and says it must be interoperable with the Golden Ears Bridge that opened with a T21 system from Sirit earlier this year. Like the Golden Ears Bridge tolling on the Port Mann Bridge will be all-electronic, highway speed, with a combination of transponder and license plate reads.

T21 is in use in California where it is the state legislated electronic toll standard and on E470 and I-25HOTLs in Denver CO. Sirit is the main supplier of transponders but TransCore has won some sales also (Golden Gate Bridge).

Tolling on the Port Mann Bridge must support up to 350k transactions/day and 24k/hour, and must provide for dynamic pricing to be added. Vehicle classification is to be volumetric, not axle count, setting the system up for overhead laser or video profilers.

Only the bridge will be tolled.

Tolls are to be around C$3 for cars ($2.70) and will be indexed to inflation. The bridge carries around 125k vehicles/day, 8% heavy trucks, suggesting annual toll revenues of around C$140m to C$160m ($125m to $145m).

On the bridge itself local will be barrier separated from through traffic making for four roadways. There will be rapid bus/HOV lanes in the center.

The bridge is due to open by the end of 2012.

see http://www.gatewayprogram.bc.ca