INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION & UTILITIES INTERVIEW
Connections Port authority committed to ‘connecting people to friends and family, to employment opportunities and to recreational venues’
John Hanson President & CEO – DRPA | PATCO How were DRPA and PATCO impacted by the pandemic? The pandemic has created a very unpredictable time and one of the things we are committed to is leading through our strategic plan. We have stewardship over important infrastructure assets in the South Jersey region. Our mission is connecting people to friends and family, to employment opportunities and to recreational venues. We recognize that it is our job to serve the region. Our mission requires a face-to-face connection and is based on people being together, so this has been a challenge during the pandemic. How will the Glassboro-Camden Line (GCL) impact South Jersey’s transportation offer? The GCL is a fantastic project that furthers our mission and provides people and businesses with the connectivity they need to access jobs, healthcare and workers. This will extend the Philadelphia-Camden metro region by opening it to a group of people who do not have access or who may lose access through affordability if we see gas prices continue to rise, as is expected this year. Consumers are always at the mercy of cyclical events and things like the GCL and the PATCO line ensure that people are able to travel and connect. It is also important in promoting alternative transportation methods that are not cars. Essentially, it will go toward providing an equitable situation for those who are priced out of car ownership or for those who do not want to own a car. We are at the beginning of the preliminary design stage right now and we’re targeting 2027 for trains to start rolling. What other capital projects are you working on? Our main domains of stewardship are financial, maintenance and human resources. We also recognize that we have an obligation to environmental stewardship. As part of our capital program, we have embarked on a very aggressive solar energy project,
which is being funded by our partners at Sun Power. We’ve covered several parking lots in solar panels and we expect that more than 50% of the total electricity consumption for DRPA and PATCO will come from this generation source. The largest capital investment project we’ve ever embarked on is the Ben Franklin Bridge suspension and rehabilitation project that is underway. At a project cost of $217 million, we are dehumidifying the main span of cables, we are doing paving and steel work and carrying out enhancements to the north side pedestrian walkway. On the south side, we’re replacing the decorative lighting. At the Walt Whitman Bridge, we have a $74 million project to rehabilitate approximately two miles of I-76 in South Philadelphia between the bridge’s toll plaza and Passyunk Avenue. www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com
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