Posted on 04/06/2022 7:48:07 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will negotiate with a nine-member group of contractors headed by an Australian firm to replace nine bridges proposed for tolling at an estimated cost of $2.5 billion.
The group — which calls itself Bridging Pennsylvania Partners — lists Macquarie Infrastructure Developments LLC of Sydney as the lead contractor and includes FCC Construccion, S.A., of Spain, as well as six Pennsylvania companies. They include Joseph B. Fay Co. and Shikun & Binui America Inc., of Pittsburgh.
The contract will require that 65% of the work be done by Pennsylvania firms.
State Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., R-Johnstown and chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, blasted the decision to negotiate with a team headed by a non-Pennsylvania firm and the idea of adding tolls during a time of record inflation. He vowed to “do everything I can” to stop the proposal from moving forward.
PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian said in a news release that selecting the team “brings us one step closer” to replacing the bridges, but no work is expected until late 2023 or early 2024. In addition to negotiating details of the deal with BPP, the state also has to complete federally required environmental assessments of the areas around the nine proposed bridges — including the Interstate 79 bridge near Bridgeville — and get approval to charge tolls.
The public comment period for the Bridgeville area isn’t scheduled to begin until May.
“The environmental work is still happening,” PennDOT spokeswoman Alexis Campbell said. “The bridges are all in different stages of the environmental process. We’re not ready to build anything.”
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
PING!
They need to have sources for a slush fund...
Headline next year: Scandal! MacQuarie Bank finances Pennsylvania State Police!
More jobs for PA! Tom Wolf needs to be rotting in prison, followed by burning in hell for murdering thousands of seniors. Throw Richard Levine there too.
I think this is the same group that owns/controls most toll roads around Dallas/Ft Worth TX
Pennsylvania can build it’s own bridges. Where do you think the towns of Bridgeville and Ambridge came from?
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