Project Status Update

I-95/Scudder Falls Improvement Project Status Update

The I-95/Scudder Falls Bridge Improvement Project remained in the preliminary design/environmental documentation stage with the approach of fall in 2011.

Current Significant Project Considerations for 2011:

• Public Private Partnership (P3) Decisions
In response to a request by then-Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania and Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey that the Commission consider using a Public Private Partnership to carry out the I-95/Scudder Falls Bridge Improvement Project, the Commission in August 2011 provided a notice to proceed to KPMG/Nossaman LLP to provide financial/legal advisory services on whether to pursue a P3. Specifically, the consultants were tasked with providing the Commission with analysis, background and other information to assist Commissioners with making a "Go/No Go" decision on whether to move forward in delivering the project as a P3.

• Environmental Permitting
The Commission and project team are currently engaged in a series of follow-up steps connected with the environmental documentation process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This work includes various agency reviews of Commission responses to public comments submitted during the public comment period on the project's Environmental Assessment, which ended in February 2010. A multi-agency review was undertaken with respect to a draft of the EA Addendum the Commission compiled to reflect the decisions to include a bicycle/pedestrian facility on the replacement bridge and to include a cashless tolling facility as means to help finance the project.

Completions of the above-listed items are pre-requisites to a NEPA decision which may result in the issuance of a NEPA decision of Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the project. A FONSI would enable the Commission to move the project forward to final design and construction. A FONSI is issued when environmental analysis and interagency reviews find a project to have no significant impacts on the quality of the environment. The Commission is currently working with the outside agencies to identify the date for issuance of a NEPA decision by the FHWA.

• Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)
The Commission must establish a new Memorandum of Agreement with the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Departments of Transportation to address the final design and construction phases of the project. The Commission is currently reviewing a draft document to be forwarded to PennDOT and NJDOT at some future date.

• Archaeological Investigations
As identified in the Programmatic Agreement (see below) as mitigation measures to be undertaken by the Commission for the project, an archaeological dig was undertaken in the vicinity of the anticipated location of the Pennsylvania abutment for the replacement Scudder Falls Bridge. The field work began in March 2011, was completed in July 2011, and was conducted by an archaeological team from AECOM, the project's design management consultant. The remaining work effort consists of recording and documenting artifacts unearthed in late 2010 and early 2011 near the replacement bridge's New Jersey location and delivering them to the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton, and completing similar recording, documenting and repository work relative to artifacts uncovered at the Pennsylvania dig site for permanent storage at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, PA.

Recent Noteworthy Developments

Following is a brief summary of significant milestones since the release of the project's initial Environmental Assessment document on December 9, 2009:

Tolling - In December 2009, the Commission authorized tolling to be instituted on the Scudder Falls replacement bridge to help finance the project's substantial costs. The Commission will employ "cashless tolling" technology as a means of generating revenues without the need of a conventional barrier toll plaza that would compromise the project's congestion-reduction and safety-improvement objectives.

Federal TIGER/TIFIA Financing Applications - In 2009 and 2010, the Commission sought federal financial assistance to help carry out the project. The Commission filed an application for a grant from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program (economic stimulus package) and twice applied for a low-cost Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan. The Commission was unsuccessful in these efforts, further underscoring the necessity for establishing tolling at the replacement Scudder Falls Bridge.

Execution of the Project as a Single Contract - In April 2010, the Commission approved a "Statement of Intent" to move forward with the project under a single contract and to include the design and installation of a walkway to serve pedestrians and bicyclists.

Public/Private Partnership (P3) - In July 2010, the Governors of Pennsylvania and New Jersey requested the Commission to consider using a Public Private Partnership (P3) to carry out the project. KPMG/Nossaman, who are the Commission's financial/legal advisors for a P3 Go/No Go decision have completed a draft report.

Threatened and Endangered Species - The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), a project cooperating agency, issued a final Biological Opinion on June 11, 2010, wherein a "No Jeopardy" determination was made with regards to impacts on threatened and endangered species. NMFS has reviewed the Addendum to the Environmental Assessment (See below) and found no need to revise this No-Jeopardy opinion.

Programmatic Agreement - In 2010, the Commission entered into a Programmatic Agreement that identifies the mitigation measures it will undertake to address project impacts to the Delaware & Raritan Canal in New Jersey and archaeological sites within the project area in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The agreement was executed by signatory agencies - Federal Highway Administration and both the NJ and PA State Historic Preservation Offices - and three concurring agencies - the Commission and the NJ and PA Departments of Transportation.

Authority to Toll - At the end of January 2011, the Commission received a communication from the Federal Highway Administration affirming the Commission's legal authority to toll the replacement bridge and the need for the Commission and the FHWA to complete a tolling agreement for the facility.

Traffic Diversion Study - In September 2010, the Commission's traffic consultant, Jacobs Engineering, drafted a study and analysis of traffic diversions that might occur once tolling (southbound direction only) is implemented at the replacement Scudder Falls Bridge. The study is currently under review by signatory transportation agencies in tandem with the draft Addendum to the project's Environmental Assessment.

Addendum to the Environmental Assessment - On November 30, 2011 the Notification of Public Hearing on, and availability of public review of, the EA Addendum was published in area newspapers, and on the Commission's I-95/Scudder Falls Bridge Improvement Project web site. The 30-day public comment period will end on January 3, 2012, and will include a Public Hearing on December 15, 2011 in Langhorne, PA.