Parkway, Turnpike toll hikes approved
3% increase to hit drivers in January [2025]
By: Daniel Munoz
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... State transportation officials approve the fifth 3% toll increase since 2020 on the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike.
.....
That comes after a 2020 move by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority - which oversees both highways - that gave the agency the authority to automatically increase the tolls 3% each year through a process called :indexing."
..... The indexing process removed the need for public hearings ahead of any toll increases.
..... Starting January, [2025] the toll for a passenger vehicle on the garden State Parkway will go up by 4 cents, said Thomas Feeney, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Turnpike.
..... Those tolls are currently 80 cents.
.....
Meanwhile, the tolls to travel on the New Jersey Turnpike form the sports complex at Exit 16W to Newark Liberty International Airport at Exit 13A will increase 17 cents to %5.54, Feeney said.
..... Transportation officials said the toll hikes would finance the Turnpike Authority's $2.7 billion budget.
..... But now, Governor Phil Murphy is facing calls to veto the Turnpike authority's budget, which the agency's board approved and includes the toll increase. A veto would effectively cancel out the decision by the state Turnpike Authority.
..... Murphy took such a rout in 2023 less than two weeks before all 120 seats in the state Legislature were up for reelection.
..... "I am not satisfied with the justification provided for the toll increase reflected in the budget and need more information for why the board is taking this step," Murphy said on X.
..... But then in January, [2025] the state approved a carbon copy of the Turnpike authority's budget, which included the toll increases. Murphy's explanation for the initial veto never swayed political insiders, who who chalked up the decision to political theater before an election.