Pay As We Go
3% toll hike extends the unmet promise of the New Jersey Turnpike
By: David M Zimmer
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... State leaders had a pitch to sell the ew Jersey Turnpike in the late 1940s: Tolls were only temporary. once the construction debt was paid, the user fees would disappear and the road would become a free public highway.
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Not only did that tool-free vision never come to pass, but on January 1, [2026] drivers will sere another 3% year-over-year increase thanks to a change in policy form the Murphy administration. The price adjustment has been framed as a modest and predictable charge, but the increase is something few would have predicted 75 years earlier. Then, the idea for a toll-funded road between New York City and Philadelphia was quickly embraced as New Jersey was struggling under the weight of postwar traffic.
..... In an August 1948 editorial, The Record staff said it "devoutly hoped that the turnpike authority will be legislated into existence." The road would not only alleviate a crippling transpiration issue that politicians said was stifling the state's economy, but it would do so through "selective taxation." By creating the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to collect tolls, the road could be paid for by those who use it directly, rather than burdening all motorist through higher gasoline taxes.
..... The plan started as a narrowly defined financing strategy. Since then, it has evolved into one of the most powerful revenue engines in state government. The authority and the tolls it collects support not only highways bu major transit projects and operating subsidies far beyond the original mission. Today,[12/29/2025] the revenue from EZPass cameras is the lifeblood for a$1.6 billion commitment to the Gateway Tunnel project as well as a $470 million annual subsidy meant to keep NJ Transit from fiscal collapse. The bill creating the authority was approved in August 1948. Sponsored by Senator David Van Alstyn Jr., it promoted the authority as a practical solution to a problem that traditional highway funding had failed to solve. Rather than relying on annual appropriations through a strapped postwar treasury, the authority would issue revenue bonds backed entirely by tolls. Still, embedded in the legislation was a clear endpoint.
..... The law specifically dictated that the authority would dissolve when all bonds are "paid or a sufficient amount for the payment of all such bonds ... [is] set aside in trust." At the time, tolls were viewed as a necessary evil, but one that might just be worth the cost.
Reason for road tolls
..... Governor Alfred Driscoll was one of its strongest advocates. He argued that traffic congestion was stifling New jersey's economy, particularly in North Jersey, where travel to Newark form central bergen County had become a daily choke point. At the time, state planners estimated that as much as half of the traffic moving through New Jersey was out-of-state traffic, a product of the state's position between Philadelphia and New York City. A toll road, they argued, would allow New Jersey to shift much of the cost onto interstate travelers.
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Paul Troast, a Clifton resident and the first chairman of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, projected that the turnpike could cut commute times by as much as 40%. Once complete, it was estimated to save drivers as much as two hours on a $1.75 end-to-end trip,The Record reported.
..... The road itself was a feat of speed a scale. Built in22 months, the highway stretch 118 miles from near the George Washington Bridge to the Delaware Memorial bridge. It included 17 interchanges and 263 structures, among them 194 railroad and highway crossings. When the turnpike opened in sections beginning in late 1951, Life magazine called it a "superroad." Traffic volumes quickly exceed expectations.
..... That success led to a colossal shift in plans. The highway's financing had initially been rather straight-forward. Two bond issues brought in $255 million that would be paid down in revenue starting at about $10 million annually and rising to 422 million by 1975,Troast told the press as authority chief. The first bond issue of $220 million was scheduled to mature in 1985, with the second following in 1986. The Record reported in 1952.
Why are we still paying?
..... However, the debt has never been paid off.
..... As New Jersey's population grew and car ownership soared, congestion returned. The solution was expansion. through the 1960s and 1970s, the authority repeatedly returned to the bond market to finance widening projects, interchanges and eventually the roadway that separated cars and trucks along some of the busiest stretches.
..... Each expansion required new bonds, effective extending the life of tolls into the next generation.
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By the time the original 1985 bond maturity dater approached, the authority was carrying far more debt then it had at its creation. The sunset clause still existed on paper, but the financial conditions required to trigger it no longer did.
.....The authority's role expanded again in the early 1990s. In 1991 amid a state budget crisis, Governor Jim Florio required the Turnpike Authority to purchase a 4.4 -mile stretch of I-95 in Bergen County from the state
for 4400 million. the proceeds were sued to help close a budget gap and extend the authority;s run of borrowing. The deal shifted what had been a general state obligation onto toll-payers and proved the agency could function as a credit card for the state's government.
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A more sweeping change followed in 2003, when the New Jersey Highway Authority, which operated the Garden state Parkway, was merged into the Turnpike Authority under Governor Jim McGreevey. State officials described the move as an efficiency measure. Financially, it consolidated the debt and revenue steams of the state's two largest toll roads. Still, it also allowed the authority to issue larger bond packages backed by both systems.
..... Looking into 2026, the authority has capital improvement programs, such as the massive $10 billion Newark Bay-Hudson County Extension widening, as justification for an increase. It can also bond much more with strong bond ratings, including AA-grade from S&P Global. Firm officials said in the rating guide that the authority's financial strength is grounded in its demonstrated ability to raise tolls whenever needed.
..... Tolls meant to erase the debt now help sustain not only the authority but a permanent cycle of debt and construction that ensures the New Jersey Turnpike will never be finished. It is a reality hat has turned the 1948 prediction from The Record's editorial staff into a permanent blueprint. By using revenue bonds to by-pass the public, the authority established "a departure in state highway policy [that] may well become the pattern for future development."
..... Transportation reporter Colleen Wilson contributed to this article.