People on radio talk shows, in letters to the editor and in taverns keep carping about how the Port Authority will waste $400 million to bore twin tunnels under the Allegheny River as part of extending the light-rail system to the North Shore.

"We don't need tunnels," they argue. "Use the Fort Wayne Bridge," they propose, referring to the old dual-level railroad bridge that Norfolk Southern Railway and Amtrak share at the northeast tip of the Golden Triangle.

They also believe if the T is extended, then modern trolleys should go to Oakland. Or Edgewood, Monroeville, Cranberry or Pittsburgh International Airport.

But it's a wonder the T is going anywhere.

In May 1996, the first Republican majority on the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners in 60 years ordered the Port Authority to scrap expansion plans to both the North Shore and Oakland (the so-called "Spine Line"). Commissioners Larry Dunn and Bob Cranmer said the $1.4 billion project was too expensive and unnecessary.

It took several years, but at the city's request, the authority revived what has become the North Shore Connector, which will link Downtown to the sports venues, parking and new buildings across the Allegheny, much as the T has tied Station Square to Downtown. The authority also agreed to extend the subway to the new convention center.

Furthermore, the Federal Transit Administration doesn't often give money or authorize projects for communities that do not pay a local transit tax and-or provide at least a 50 percent share of local matching funds.

Although we pay none of the former and only a meager 3 1/3 percent of the latter, the FTA has offered to pay 80 percent of the bill anyhow, thanks to the authority's political connections and its hard lobbying. PennDOT will put up a 16 2/3 percent match.

While federal and state money still come out of your pocket, it's money not going to St. Louis, San Diego or Provo, Utah.

More food for thought: The twin tunnels aren't $400 million tunnels. The entire project is $363 million. Boring the twin tunnels is estimated to cost from $55 million to $60 million, not including the tracks, power, signals and lights. The rest of the money will be used for those things and four stations, elevating the line across the North Shore and buying eight new light-rail vehicles.

As the Port Authority's sponsor and underwriter, Allegheny County's 3 1/3 percent share of the official $363 million project budget amounts to $12 million to leverage $351 million in federal and state funds to benefit the region.

The cost to the financially troubled city of Pittsburgh is $0, albeit city residents are also county taxpayers.

It would cost as much to repair and convert the bottom deck of the Fort Wayne RR Bridge for LRV use as it would to build the twin tunnels. Salt brine that cooled boxcars hauling produce to the Strip District in the past century leaked and continues to contribute to structural deterioration.

An all-new, double-track, light-rail bridge over the Allegheny River also would cost as much as using the Fort Wayne Bridge or boring the twin tunnels.

The $55 million to $60 million isn't just for the 800-foot-long twin tunnels under the Allegheny River but also covers excavation to points 800 feet north to General Robinson Street on the North Shore and 800 feet south to Penn Avenue on the Downtown side, where a new Gateway subway station will be built.

By building a new Gateway Station with inbound and outbound platforms, the authority can ease rush-hour backups on the rest of the system. Because Gateway has only one platform, it takes too long to unload and load riders and move on.

The T to the North Shore is not just for baseball and football fans. Have you seen the new hotel going up there? Or the new headquarters for Equitable Resources? Did you read recently about breaking ground for the new Del Monte Center, where 600 people will work?

OK, so you're worried about an underwater tunnel. More than 100 of them have been built, including two under the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. None leaks more than the Liberty Tunnel under Mount Washington, a mile-long, 80-year-old land tunnel used by 60,000 cars and trucks a day.

Some of you may react angrily and challenge what I've written about the twin tunnels, the route, cost estimates and just about everything else.

But the public hearings ended two years ago. The Port Authority is hopeful of soon signing a "full funding agreement" with the Federal Transit Administration. And the contract to bore the tunnels is to be awarded within five months.

Time to quit whining. Get on with it!

Real gold standard. The Port Authority goes by the "gold standard." I appreciate the glitter, but the real money is in Orange County, Calif., part of metropolitan Los Angeles.

Voters passed a ballot measure in 1990 that established a 0.5 percent sales tax to raise money for local transportation projects through 2011. Measure M, as it's called, has raised almost $4 billion.

Earlier this month, a citizens oversight committee charged with seeing that projects comply with the measure's intent endorsed spending $340 million for a nine-mile light-rail extension to John Wayne Airport.

If this metropolitan region were half as generous, the Port Authority could expand light rail east, west and north of Pittsburgh. There might be enough extra money to run them for a reasonable fare.

Believe it! As late as 1913, Alabama required each of its adult residents to work 10 days a year maintaining the state's highways. Wealthy folks could buy their way out of the requirement by paying a $5 tax.

Plate du jour. I recently spotted the Pennsylvania personalized license plate PRINCSS on a car parked at the Mon Wharf. Even "royalty" knows where to find the cheapest parking Downtown.