Prince Albert city council consider bridge toll

Should Prince Albert’s Diefenbaker Bridge be tolled?

It’s a subject the city’s politicians are set to discuss now that a report on the costs and potential revenues has been released.

Setting up the digital vehicle identification infrastructure would cost $1.3 million, and another $300,000 a year to maintain. There would also be a fee for the toll operator of around nine per cent of revenue.

The report suggests revenues could be as high was $4.5 million each year if “a highly aggressive toll pricing structure” were to be used for all 24,000 vehicles that use the bridge each day. There are a total of nine million crossings each year.

Talk about the potential of a toll system has been underway for much of this decade, in light of the bridge’s limited lifespan, possibilities of increased heavy traffic in future and the limitations of the city having just one crossing, especially in an emergency situation. A toll fee for motorists could substantially boost the city’s coffers for future maintenance and for the construction of a second bridge.

However, a number of steps would need to be taken before tolling could happen, including approval from the province, public consultations and dealing with privacy issues around recording and storing vehicle information.

The report said while annual revenue could be anywhere between $500,000 and $4.5 million, depending on who and what vehicles would pay the toll, it also pointed to potential pitfalls.

Those include a possible reduction in the amount of people coming to P.A. to use local businesses or city facilities and added costs for families bringing their kids to schools, for example.

The report does not suggest any specific scale of toll fees based on vehicle types, but motorbikes, bicycles and foot traffic would be exempt.