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BY ADELE SAMMARCO
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Drivers will have to dig a bit deeper into their pockets if they want to take the Garden State Parkway or New Jersey Turnpike come the New Year.
Beginning January 1st, tolls will rise a whopping 53 percent on the turnpike and 50 percent on the parkway.
Transit officials say the hike is to help fund capital improvements as well as other bridge and road projects across the state.
It’s the second half of a two-phase toll increase adopted by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority under Governor Jon Corzine in October, 2008 where the first increase at the end of '08 raised turnpike tolls 40 percent and parkway tolls 43 percent.
The average passenger vehicle toll will rise from $2.20 to $3.30 on the NJ Turnpike and 70 cents to $1.05 on the Parkway. The average truck toll will increase from $7.95 to $12.15 on the Turnpike and $1.40 to $2.15 on the Parkway.
A passenger vehicle trip from Turnpike Exit 14 in Newark to Exit 9 in East Brunswick will jump from $2.85 to $4.35, according to NJ.com.
Motorists who take the turnpike during peak travel time from Exit 4 in Mount Laurel to Exit 14C, Holland Tunnel, will have to pay an extra $3.55 to $10.25, up from $6.70.
Driving north from Exit 4 to the George Washington Bridge will run another $3.90 to $11.25, up from $7.35 and going south to the Delaware Memorial Bridge will cost $2.90, up from $1.90, a buck increase, reports Phillyburbs.com.
The state Department of Transportation says it is financing the Turnpike Authority's $7 billion, 10-year capital improvement program as well as other projects that are underway.
Capital projects include widening the Garden State Parkway south of Toms River and replacing New Jersey State Police stations in Moorestown, Bloomfield, Galloway and Newark.
About $1.25 billion of the increased toll revenue was slated to be used for a transit tunnel beneath the Hudson River to Manhattan, but Governor Christie scrapped the project because of expected cost overruns.
The Turnpike Authority says it redirected those tunnel funds to the DOT to use on road and bridge projects.
Despite the announcement of the holiday toll hike, the National Motorists Association says many commuters who use the highways will still be surprised when they receive their first E-ZPass statement in 2012.
Steve Carrellas of the driver-rights' group says, "The big question is whether the increase will impact people enough to change their driving habits.”
Carrellas believes motorists will most likely be more forgiving of an increase that pays for actual improvements on the roads they regularly use.
But the director of the New Jersey Sierra Club disagrees, calling it unfair to divert toll funds to other road projects.
With $30k per year for unemployment what incentive is their to get a job on the books?
Really? More jobs? I will believe it when I see it.
I ride a bus now. TWO HOURS almost Each way at a cost of $375 Per Month, you do the math. If that is not enough Flex Spending for transit will drop in 2012 from the already too low amount of $230 to $115. Meamwhile parking will stay at $240 Per month. Reward the drivers and scew the m!ss transit commuters... Amazing.... Really amazing.
We are not even factoring in the impact / trickle down effect these hikes will have on the already staggering inflation we have all had to deal with.
These across the board results will increase crime, driver frustration/anger, credit card debt, to name only four.
At a time when payroll raises do not even remotely match inflation (if one is received at all) do we really think this is the right time?
Yet another reason to give the businesses and residents reason to leave.
It is 6:30am - Thank you for raising my blood pressure yet again. I am rubbing pennies together now because the nickels are too hard to spare....
Thank you.
Employing a few more toll collectors might give a few Americans jobs and thus help the economy a little aside from giving some dignity to people to be able to support themselves and or families without the aid of unemployment which is a drain on our economy...common sense I think...
As far as the road and bridge repairs go....this should have been an on going thing from day one...not leaving it go until it becomes dangerous and outrageous in cost to repair....the one good thing is that many will have jobs because of the neglect of many past administrations....
I will be looking for alternative routes for travel wherever I can...again to assume that this increase is a do-able thing for most people is wrong...many barely live from pay check to pay check if they even have one....