The South Bridge from Riverfront Park in Harrisburg
The proposal was all but dead, but now word is official—the South Bridge will not be tolled.
In a project update released on Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation affirmed that it has dropped a widely criticized plan to toll the bridge to help pay for its replacement.
“The bridge will not be tolled and is no longer included in the Major Bridge Public-Private Partnership (MBP3),” according to a PennDOT statement. “The project will be moving forward with non-tolling funding sources and to expedite this critical project, the department continues to seek federal discretionary funding so the project can be delivered earlier.”
PennDOT says that the 62-year-old bridge, which carries I-83 traffic over the Susquehanna River at Harrisburg, is near the end of its lifespan. Its replacement is estimated to cost $850 million to $1 billion.
The agency hopes to begin the project in 2025.
In the meantime, PennDOT said on Wednesday that it is resuming environmental studies for the project to address the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). An environmental analysis is a detailed study of how a project would affect the surrounding community’s quality of life, including health, safety, cultural resources, natural resources, etc.
In February 2021, PennDOT released a plan to toll the bridge, but that proposal was met with widespread opposition from many Harrisburg and area officials. Last year, the state lost a lawsuit filed by several western PA towns opposing the PA Major Bridge P3 Program, further denting PennDOT’s tolling plan.
On Wednesday, PennDOT said that it made the decision not to toll the bridge due to possible traffic impacts on surrounding communities, as some drivers would seek alternative routes to avoid paying the toll.
“Since the bridge will not be tolled, toll-driven diversion of traffic onto local roads will not occur,” PennDOT stated in its release. “Therefore, proposed improvements identified along the diversion routes will no longer be included in the project.”
Click here for PennDOT’s I-83 project website.
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