SAVANNAH ― A frequently heard comment Monday night during the first public information session regarding a new Savannah River crossing to replace the Talmadge Bridge was “that’s a lot of money.”

Hours later, Georgia Ports Authority officials made it clear they don’t intend to be a funding source for either a new, higher bridge, projected to cost $1.17 billion, or a $2 billion beneath-the-river tunnel. In a Tuesday morning interview, CEO Griff Lynch and board Chairman Kent Fountain noted the ports paid $10 million for a feasibility study for the project but that construction of the new crossing and removal of the Talmadge Bridge was “outside their realm.”

Said Lynch, “I don’t think we have an appetite or an interest in going beyond” paying for the feasibility study.

The Ports Authority is behind the movement to replace the Talmadge Bridge. Lynch called for its removal in 2018, citing the span’s 185-foot height and the limitations posed to next-generation cargo ships needing to access port terminals upriver.

The Georgia Ports Authority is owned by the state but the agency manages and funds its own operations off the proceeds of the business. The authority operates the third-busiest port in the United States and currently has two cargo container terminals — with a third in the planning stages — on the upriver side of the span, meaning ships must pass beneath the bridge when arriving and departing the port. Atlanta Journal Constitution