Tolls, tolls, tolls

by: Thurman Hart

Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 06:21:17 PM EDT

Drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike would face toll increases of 50 percent next year, 50 percent in 2012 and 11 percent in 2023, under a plan presented today to Gov. Jon Corzine.

The proposal by the Turnpike Authority also calls for similar increases on Garden State Parkway. Those tolls, which average 35 cents per passenger car, would rise by 15 cents next year, 25 cents in 2012 and eight cents in 2023.

Revenue generated from the increases would be used to widen the Turnpike and Parkway, invest $1.25 billion in a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River and repair and replace aging bridges.

I don't like to see this coming around again, but we need the money from somewhere.  I'm fortunate in that I don't have to take the Turnpike or Parkway.  Others, I know, are not so lucky.

Fifty cents on the Parkway next year and then another quarter in 2012?  That's steep.  Why not simply have the tolls adjust automatically every year for inflation?  It would be only a few cents per year, but it would be easier to swallow.

Of course, we're already behind the eight-ball.  So the go-slow approach isn't really going to work at this point.