[StBernard] "High-speed" ferries considered, but bridge tolls must float ...

[Westley Annis]

sooo, again we have big brother doing us all the favor of "allowing" big
brother to do a bipartisan survey or research to see if this is a viable
alternative. I would like to see them put in ferries that will do 30 miles
an hour for the 1 mile trip across the river. This is preposterous. Just
renew the fees and keep the ferries running as they are. Besides, isn't
there a speed limit on the river anyway? And just who makes up this
governmental research team??? The Bureau of Governmental Research???
 
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	"High-speed" ferries considered, but bridge tolls must float first
	    Reported by: Rob Masson, Reporter 
	Email: rmasson at fox8tv.net 
	Last Update: 1/25 6:40 pm
	
	            
	Council calls for revamp of ferry system
	
	High-speed ferries could replace old ferries on the Mississippi
River, but
	tolls would remain on the Crescent City Connection. (John Snell)
	A committee of the New Orleans City Council approved a resolution
Tuesday
	calling for an extension of tolls on the Crescent City Connection
set to
	expire next year. 
	
	The plan calls for a complete revamp of the ferry system to speed
travelers
	from, perhaps, as far as Kenner to Chalmette at up to 30 miles per
hour.
	
	If nothing is done by the end of next year, the three ferries that
operate
	in the New Orleans area could become the latest victims of the
rebuilding
	effort following Hurricane Katrina
	
	"It's like everything else, you don't miss it until it's gone," said
City
	Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell.
	
	The ferries, which cost $8 million a year to operate, are expected
to be
	discontinued if the legislature allows tolls on the Crescent City
Connection
	to expire at the end of 2012.
	
	"No one is even looking at alternatives," said Fay Ferren, with the
group
	Friends of the Ferry.
	
	Her group proposed purchasing two new high-speed ferries, capable of
speeds
	of up to 30 miles per hour. Similar ferries were recently built and
sent to
	Cozumel, Mexico, from Mid Ship Marine in Marrero. The current
ferries travel
	at about four miles per hour.
	
	Ferren says new ferries could connect passengers anywhere from
Chalmette to
	Rivertown in Kenner, and she believes the system can only happen if
tolls
	are extended.
	
	"Everyone in the region wants to make this happen. We've got
regional
	planning, and that's what's going to make this happen," Ferren said.
	
	The proposal got an early thumbs up from the city council's
transportation
	committee.
	
	"I do think we have to look at it. A viable option is not to lose
our
	ferries," said committee Chairwoman Kristen Gisleson Palmer.
	
	The proposal sounds good to some. Officials would sell off old
ferries and
	buy new ones to speed the cross river trip, but extending bridge
tolls is a
	thorny issue.
	
	Toll opponents, like state Representative Pat Connick, R-Harvey, say
they
	are against any extension of the tolls on the backs of West Bank
commuters.
	Connick adds the Crescent City Connection has mismanaged for years.
	
	The Friends of the Ferry would like to use the toll money to keep
one old
	ferry, and add two more.
	
	"If the tolls aren't extended, we have to start from square one,"
Ferren
	said. And that may just happen, because for now no one has stepped
up in the
	legislature to propose extending tolls in a tough economy. 
	
	Connick says the Bureau of Governmental Research has agreed to study
the
	toll extension issue and issue a report in time for the regular
session of
	the legislature, which begins in March.