drpa

The press guy at the Delaware River Port Authority just sent a press release around with the headline "Commodore Barry Bridge cheers for the Union." Was this one in the eye for the Confederates we wondered?

A $128m redecking project on Philadelphia's Walt Whitman Bridge is getting under way. A new lightweight concrete deck will replace an old asphalt-on-steel deck on the old suspension bridge's seven traffic lanes. Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) the bistate (NJ-PA) toller that owns the bridge has the contractor committed to maintaining six of the seven lanes for most of the day weekdays during four years needed for the works.

John Matheussen, CEO of the Delaware River Port Authority which operates four major toll bridges linking the south Jersey suburbs and Philadelphia is confident they can implement highway speed electronic tolling at all four within the next several years. He says design is complete on the first toll plaza conversion at the Betsy Ross Bridge and bids for the construction and system work will be sought soon.

Who said old loss-maker transit cars don't have any value and should go to the scrap metal yard - sorry, recycling center. Here's one spotted on roads between south Jersey and upstate New York.

It is an old PATCO rail car. It seems to have been fitted out with good road wheels back and front and is being hauled by a regular truck tractor. It looks as though it makes a fine RV or bus. They'll need a set of steps for those doors.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett is moving very slowly to assert control at the Pennsylvania Turnpike, but acted decisively this week at the Delaware River toll bridge authority where he fired all six Democrat appointed commissioners and installed six of his own. Following a precedent set by his predecessor Ed Rendell, Corbett also put himself onto the board.

Delaware River Port Authority operator of the major toll bridges between downtown Philadelphia and the southern New Jersey suburbs across the Delaware River reports these plans for handling winter storms.

From spokesman Ed Kasuba:

A press release from Delaware River Port Authority quotes CEO John Matheussen: "the Authority developed a bad case of Phillies Fever last year and it took us all the way to the World Series.  We hope this year the Phillies do what they did in 2008 and that is become World Series Champions once again.”

They can't get a real port but they can get into the swing of local football frenzy. Or is it baseball mania.

Escalating his campaign against staff perks, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (Republican) has called on four more toll agencies to end free rides for employees. This is in addition to his tussle with the Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA). Three of the five are bistate or border agencies jointly operated with New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware, and some of the free rides are written into labor contracts, or go back decades.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (Repub) today racheted up pressure on the Delaware River Port Authority - a bistate toll bridge operator in Philadelphia with no port but a hemorrhaging suburban rail line PATCO and a variety of 'economic development' rackets - holding a press conference outside its head offices to announce more vetoes of its 'minutes' and to denounce its board of commissioners for fake reforms.

Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA) chairman John Estey says the bistate public toll authority will respond to changed rules demanded by New Jersey governor Christy and Pennsylvania governor Rendell, but that recent criticisms have been  "a lot of smoke, but not a lot of fire," the Philadelphia Inquirer's Paul Nussbaum reports this morning.