Memorial Bridge traffic decreases

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PARKERSBURG - With the completion of the U.S. 50 bridge, traffic flow across the city's toll bridge has decreased. While city officials expect the loss to be between $4,000-$5,000 a month - the equivalent of about one business day-the bridge saw a $10,000 decrease in revenue for the month of August.

Mayor Bob Newell said a report regarding traffic and bridge collections for July indicates the loss of about $4,500 a month in revenue. However, the month of August saw a $10,000 decrease in revenue.

Newell downplayed the dramatic decrease, citing an unusually high revenue month for the Memorial Bridge in 2007. He thinks rising gasoline prices, coupled with the opening of the Blennerhassett Island Bridge this year, contributed to the decline.

City Finance Director Randy Craig said Memorial Bridge toll collections for August 2007 were $119,000. Collections for that month usually average about $115,000, he said.

"It was unusually high," Craig said. "I don't know why we had such a surge last year.

"Last year, with the bridge was the highest collection we ever had. It may have been a fluke," he said.

Newell agreed, saying the $10,000 loss was more of an anomaly than the norm.

"We expected it to be down some and we hoped truck traffic would be down and it is as you can see from the numbers."

Newell said the bridge saw 4,558 fewer passenger cars in August 2008, compared to August 2007.

One week figures for the month of August (2008) show a dramatic decrease in the number of three-axle and tractor trailer traffic crossing the Memorial Bridge.

Newell said last year 234 three-axle trucks crossed the toll bridge during the one-week span. This year there were only 84. Last year, 323 tractor trailers paid the toll to cross the bridge, compared to 187 this year.

"That is significantly down." Newell said. "And we hoped it would be down."

Newell estimates the loss of traffic and tolls will amount to a decrease of between $4,000-$5,000 a month.

"We're just going to have to monitor this for five or six months to get a true reading," he said.

Newell said the projected $48,000 in lost annual income from the bridge, due to the decrease in traffic, will not affect the ability to maintain or operate the bridge.

"What it affects is less street work," he said. "It does not diminish the ability to operate and maintain the bridge."

Newell said the Memorial Bridge brings in about $1.3 million annually. Between $200,000 and $300,000 of that goes into city street repairs.

That won't be the case for 2008-09. Newell said the money is going back into the bridge to pay for an in-depth inspection, paint and maintenance.

"We have had as much as $300,000 and as little as $175,000 in bridge revenues for council to appropriate," Craig said. "The bridge has to be done first."

Member Comments

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derbeobachter
09-11-08 9:38 PM »Report Abuse	Talk about your bridge to NOWWHERE, I am surprised that PotHoleBob isn’t out there with a bucket himself.
wildbill
09-10-08 3:29 PM »Report Abuse	"Evidentally, MatthewBB has so much money that he does not have to worry about anything. For people commuting twice a day-that's .70. (Not a quarter)The money is not the main issue. Actually, if you buy a book of tickets, it is a quarter a trip.
yolarry
09-10-08 12:15 AM »Report Abuse	Duh can you see they love to stick their hand by our car window. They going 'OOOOOO MONEY MONEY!"
buffster1
09-09-08 10:01 PM »Report Abuse	As bad of shape the bridge is in, they should be paying me to drive on it!
vortex
09-09-08 9:30 PM »Report Abuse	If the bridge was resurfaced right Pothole Bob wouldn’t be living up to his name. Perhaps Parkersburg should do as New York, charge twice as much to get out of town as they do to get in.
elviscole
09-09-08 8:29 PM »Report Abuse	Maybe if they didn't have to pay over and over for bad re-surfacing jobs. I look for a toll increase before the end of the year.
ren26101
09-09-08 5:34 PM »Report Abuse	My girlfriend has to use the bridge 4 times a day for her job. It really adds up in a week or a months time. I think Watchman is probably right. It stinks but everything else has gone up...why not the toll?
rantnrave
09-09-08 4:24 PM »Report Abuse	Evidentally, MatthewBB has so much money that he does not have to worry about anything. For people commuting twice a day-that's .70. (Not a quarter)The money is not the main issue. The issue is an OLD bridge in dire need of repairs and being forced to pay for something, over and over, that was supposed to be paid off in "just a few years".I have no need to use either bridge, but I feel sorry for the ones that use the toll bridge daily.
MatthewBB
09-09-08 3:27 PM »Report Abuse	geesh people, its a quarter. if you dont like it just use the other bridge. You Parkersburgers are so cynical over everything!
belprewalker
09-09-08 2:33 PM »Report Abuse	boycott the toll bridge.....
TJF123
09-09-08 12:16 PM »Report Abuse	Pretty funny. I remember asking about the wisdom of the new bridge that routes traffic around town. Maybe my anology of Radiator Springs is coming true. As far as the bridge being paid for and still collecting tolls - that is my number one opposition to tolls, they seem to stick around once put in place. Even the turnpike still has tolls for some reason.
Watchman
09-09-08 11:07 AM »Report Abuse	Sounds to me like an excuse to up the toll.
canniballoe
09-09-08 9:41 AM »Report Abuse	Considering that it was paid for years ago,and the toll was was to be lifted then,what are they crying about? Lord knows they don't spend it on upkeep.

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