The state’s plan to toll nine bridges on interstate highways, including the North Fork bridge in Jefferson County and the Canoe Creek bridges in Clarion County, met with criticism on Wednesday night in Brookville.
“It is absolutely critical that the bridges be maintained and replaced,” Jefferson County Commissioner Scott North said during a public meeting on the project. “However, how it is funded is pretty important to the area.
“I am completely against tolling it. If they are going to force tolling upon us, they should exempt the Zip codes of Jefferson County and the surrounding area.”
A visibly angry North, however, said that proposal from PennDOT “is not extensive enough.”
He said the people who are going to be most impacted are those who travel to work daily. “They will be using this road and they will be subject to this toll every day.”
Jefferson County Commissioner Herb Bullers said what concerns him and the other commissioners is the influx of traffic through Brookville.
“PennDOT has an algorithm that says that it will only be 40 cars per day using the diversion route, but an algorithm is only as good as the numbers you are feeding it,” he said. “We are a bit confused about those numbers. It is going to affect traffic for the schools and cause a lot of grief.”
A diversion route differs from a detour. A diversion is a route a driver chooses to take, but a detour is mandatory.
According to Jennifer Walsh, of consulting firm HDR, once the toll is in place about 4% of daily traffic is expected to divert from the interstate.
“The a.m. peak hour is about 40 vehicles and about another 90 vehicles during the evening peak hour,” she said. PennDOT previously said more than 30,000 vehicles a day pass over the North Fork Bridges.
Most of the vehicles using the diversion route are expected to be tractor-trailers, because they will pay a much higher toll than passenger vehicles. Toll rates will be determined by the cost of construction.
To address the problem, PennDOT said it launched the Pathways program, an “initiative that aims to identify reliable, future-focused funding solutions for Pennsylvania’s transportation system.”
In November 2020, PennDOT received approval to implement bridge tolling throughout the state via the Major Bridge Public-Private Partnership (P-3) Initiative.
The original PennDOT plan had been to toll traffic in both directions. The plan has since been altered, and now traffic would be tolled eastbound at Canoe Creek in Clarion County and westbound at North Fork in Jefferson County.
That would reduce the number of tolls that drivers would have to pay on I-80, as well as overall diversions and the need for additional tolling infrastructure.
According to PennDOT, the North Fork diversion route adds just under a mile to the trip; in normal traffic conditions, the diversion route adds about seven minutes of travel time.
PennDOT announced, based on feedback received during outreach sessions, numerous improvements were added. The following improvements were proposed to the diversion route:
The diversion route is through Brookville on Route 322 (Main Street). The plan includes retiming the traffic signal management system and the installation of traffic cameras at the Main and Pickering streets intersection; the intersection at Main and Taylor streets, and the intersection of Route 322; Route 28 (Allegheny Boulevard); the westbound and eastbound ramps on I-80.
A left-turn lane will be installed from Allegheny Boulevard to Progress Street. On Jenks Avenue, the sidewalks will be upgraded and rapid, rectangular, flashing beacons will be installed at uncontrolled walkways.
The sidewalks will be ungraded on Madison Avenue; on I-80 westbound, warning signs will be posted to warn truck traffic of steep grades. At the I-80 westbound off-ramp, a left-turn lane will be added.
Brookville Borough must approve the improvements.