[StBernard] Crescent City bridge audit calls for dumping toll-takers

[Westley Annis]

Crescent City bridge audit calls for dumping toll-takers
It also points to ferries as financial drain 
Thursday, December 04, 2008
By Paul Rioux
West Bank bureau 

The cash-strapped Crescent City Connection should streamline three ferry
routes that bleed more than $20,000 a day and consider requiring all bridge
travelers to have electronic toll tags, according to an audit of the
bridge's operations. 

The bridge could save an estimated $3 million a year by switching to a fully
automated toll system and eliminating toll collectors, according to the
44-page audit released late Tuesday. 

But those savings wouldn't necessarily balance the bridge authority's books,
thanks to huge losses on the ferry routes across the Mississippi River. 

The ferries consume more than $8 million of the bridge's $26 million annual
operating budget while generating a paltry $250,000 in passenger fees, the
audit said. 

That amounts to a loss of at least $21,000 a day for the ferries, which are
heavily subsidized by bridge tolls, with one of every three toll dollars
going to keep the boats afloat. 

In a written response to the audit, the state Department of Transportation
and Development, which oversees the bridge authority, said it is considering
shutting down the Canal Street-Algiers Ferry at 9 p.m., except on Fridays
and Saturdays when it would continue running until midnight. 

The department also said it is weighing cuts to the Gretna-Jackson Avenue
Ferry, but it said those savings could be at least partially offset by a
need for increased service on the Chalmette-Algiers Ferry during peak hours.


Transportation Department Secretary William Ankner called for the
performance audit in response to questions from state Rep. Patrick Connick,
R-Harvey, about why the bridge authority has not used toll money to finance
several West Bank road projects outlined in the state law that reauthorized
tolls in 1998. 

The audit, conducted by Infrastructure Management Group of Bethesda, Md.,
concluded that the anticipated surplus for the transportation projects never
materialized as toll collections have remained flat while the cost to
maintain the bridge and run the aging fleet of ferries has surged. 

The audit found that the bridge authority spends 28 cents for each motorist
crossing the bridge, compared with $4.50 for each ferry passenger. 

Connick, a vocal critic of the bridge authority, sponsored a bill in the
past legislative session that would have turned the ferries over to the
Transportation Department, but the legislation died in committee. 

Noting that the Crescent City Connection was the first bridge in the country
to use electronic toll tags, the audit suggests going to a fully automated
toll system to save money. Under the fully automated system, Ankner said one
manual toll lane would likely be left open for motorists unaware of the
toll-tag requirement. 

Currently, 52 percent of motorists crossing the bridge use toll tags,
receiving a sizable discount. 

The toll is 50 cents per axle for motorists paying cash but just 20 cents
per axle for those with electronic toll tags, a 60 percent savings that the
audit said is unprecedented among the nation's toll bridges and highways.
The tolls generate about $22 million a year. 

Ankner linked the bridge's financial woes to the steep toll-tag discount
Tuesday night when he attended a West Jefferson Civic Coalition meeting to
discuss the tolls and various transportation projects. 

The performance audit and two other audits on the bridge's police department
and accounting practices were made public at the meeting. 

Connick called the audits a "positive first step," but he said there's a
long way to go before he could support extending the tolls, which are set to
expire at the end of 2012. 

"There is no way we can continue to pay for something that does not benefit
us," he said, noting the audit's finding that more than $100 million in
planned West Bank road improvements have been postponed indefinitely. 

Ankner said Wednesday that without the tolls, the Crescent City Connection
would have to compete for money with projects throughout the state, which
has a $14 billion transportation backlog. 

"If you add the bridge to a transportation system that's already overloaded,
you will not see the same kind of attention and service as in the past," he
said. 

The police audit concluded bridge officers carry out their duties in an
"outstanding and efficient manner." It recommended maintaining the
30-plus-member department, saying it would be more expensive for other law
enforcement agencies to police the bridge. 

Ankner said he was "pleasantly surprised" by the recommendation. But Connick
criticized the audit's methodology, saying it was based largely on
interviews with people who have a stake in the matter: bridge administrators
who want to keep the police force and leaders from surrounding law
enforcement agencies who don't want responsibility for the bridge. 

Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot is conducting a separate performance audit
requested by a group of legislators led by Connick, who said that report is
expected to be completed next month. 

. . . . . . . 

Paul Rioux can be reached at prioux at timespicayune.com or at 504.826.3785.