NJ Turnpike, Parkway Toll Hikes Approved Amid Coronavirus Crisis

Eric Kiefer
Updated ·5 min read

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Officials unanimously approved a plan to hike tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway on Wednesday.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) gave the toll increases a green light despite the objections of several advocates and elected officials, who are alleging the plan was pushed through while the public’s attention is focused on the coronavirus crisis.

The toll increases will begin Sunday, Sept. 13.

According to the NJTA:

  • Turnpike tolls will go up by 36 percent, with the average trip increasing from $3.50 to $4.80 (see a full list here)

  • Parkway tolls will go up by 27 percent, with the average trip increasing from $1.11 to $1.41 (see a full list here)

Beginning in 2022, tolls can be adjusted every year by up to 3 percent to keep up with rising costs, the NJTA stated.

There will also be a toll added near the Meadowlands complex at Interchange 19W, near the American Dream project. The interchange has typically been open only on days of Giants/Jets games or other large events, but will be left open at all times under the new plan, helping to relieve traffic in the area, officials said.

Except for a change to the toll schedule to standardize bus discounts, other existing deals such as discount rates for senior citizens, drivers of low-emission vehicles and EZPass customers traveling at off-peak times will remain intact.

Even with the toll increases, the Parkway toll rate per-mile will be the 14th-lowest among 47 U.S. toll roads. The Turnpike rate will be the 27th-lowest, officials said.

Here’s what the extra cash will pay for, according to the NJTA:

“The capital program calls for widening the southern end of the Turnpike between Interchanges 1 and 4 and widening near Interchange 13; widening the Newark Bay/Hudson County Extension of the Turnpike; widening the Parkway for most of the distance between Wall Township (milepost 98) and Paramus (exit 163); replacing the Delaware River-Turnpike Bridge, which connects the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Turnpikes; replacing the Laderman Bridge on the Western Spur of the Turnpike; and adding the missing movements at 10 Parkway interchanges. It also includes projects to convert the Turnpike and Parkway to all-electronic tolling.”

See additional details about the 2020 capital improvement plan here.

Expansion on the Turnpike and Parkway isn’t new, officials noted. In terms of lane miles, each roadway has more than doubled in size since it was first built, growth made possible by tolls.

The NJTA doesn’t receive any state or federal tax revenue. Tolls represent about 92-percent of its revenue. The rest comes from the proceeds of contracts with the vendors who operate the service areas and the PNC Arts Center, rents and leases for cell tower sites and fiber optic lines, park and ride receipts, easements and other miscellaneous sources.

Gov. Phil Murphy has the power to veto the NJTA's minutes from their May 27 meeting, but hinted that he won't be doing so during a daily news briefing on Wednesday, saying that the decision was about "maximizing the hand that we've been dealt."

"We're a corridor state," Murphy said. "We're the densest state in the nation."

TOLL HIKES: ‘MORE HEADACHES FOR COMMUTERS’

The agency’s plan has seen its share of critics, including the New Jersey Sierra Club, which issued a scathing statement about Wednesday’s decision.

“Today, the NJ Turnpike Authority pushed through the biggest road widening project in more than a generation,” Director Jeff Tittel said. “They did it by hiding behind the pandemic without allowing the public to have any meaningful input.”

According to Tittel, the massive project will have a major impact on land use and pollution in the state.

“It will cause more flooding and more headaches for commuters,” Tittel argued. “It will also mean more traffic going through environmental justice communities like East Orange and Jersey City.”

“The ghost of Robert Moses is back, bulldozing through minority neighborhoods for suburban commuters,” Tittel said. “This is a wish list of every bad project that the highway lobby wants.”

The toll hikes also struck a sour chord among several Republican state lawmakers.

Senator Declan O’Scanlon, Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso, and Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger issued the following joint statement on Wednesday:

"It is completely astounding that the Turnpike Authority believed they should move forward with this toll hike process. We are in the midst of a pandemic. Loved ones have been lost. People have been confined to their homes for more than two months. Hundreds of thousands are currently worrying about whether their businesses will be able to reopen in time for their livelihood to be saved. It does not matter whether or not someone believes that a toll increase is necessary. Because the ultimate issue is that proceeding with a policy that requires public hearings during a pandemic is ridiculous and offensive. Currently, people are completely occupied worrying about their health, lives, and livelihoods. Over a million residents have applied for unemployment. To move forward with a proposed toll hike is truly unconscionable."

Other New Jersey residents have argued in favor of the toll hikes, however.

Public hearings about the plan held in March drew several comments of support from labor and transportation groups in the area. (Watch the videos below)

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This article originally appeared on the Montclair Patch