Port Authority Increasing Tolls At Bridges And Tunnels This Weekend
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It's going to cost a bit more to get over Port Authority crossings starting this weekend as the last of five recent toll hikes takes effect.
Sunday morning brings the final phase of a multi-year toll increase on Port Authority crossings with E-ZPass rates rising 75 cents and cash tolls rising $1.
Cash tolls will cost $15 at all hours. E-ZPass rates during peak hours will be $12.50, and $10.50 off-peak.
E-ZPass discount rates for Staten Island crossings will also rise by 25 cents a trip.
For the first time, tractor-trailers will pay more than $100 in the cash lane. That toll is rising by $10 to $105.
As CBS2's Christine Sloan reported, even those who don't cross the river will feel the effects of the increase.
"Whoever appointed them should be voted out of office," Sebastian Rollo said.
Truckers will also be rolling out more, a five-axle rig paying $105, and $126 for a six-axle.
"There's a lot of people up there using a lot of money for a lot of things that are not going back into the services they guaranteed us," Keith Rupinski said.
Some of the money will go toward PATH train repairs, the World Trade Center project and hiring more Port Authority cops, 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck reported.
Robert Sinclair Jr. of AAA Northeast said the agency is also using toll revenue for New Jersey road repairs, such as the Pulaski Skyway, as questions loom about the funding of major projects.
"They are saying that they need a new Port Authority bus terminal and New York and New Jersey are going to be responsible for half the cost of the $20 billion cost for the new trans-Hudson railroad tunnel," Sinclair told WCBS 880's Paul Murnane. "They are major projects that are looming for them that they have to get done that are part of their purview and as we see it they will not be able to have the money to pay for them."
The hikes come right in time for the holidays and motorists aren't pleased.
"The roads are still bad, it's not going for fixing the roads," said driver Richard James. "They say this is the last year a while though, but it'll probably still go up again."
"It's a whole snowball effect, everybody wants more money and everybody's gotta make more money," another driver said.
"It's crazy," another said.
With truckers who move all kinds of goods across our region, facing the highest toll hike, a business expert said the hike could trickle down to customers who don't even use the tunnels and bridges.
"These costs will be accumulated by the trucking companies or truckers who incur them and then they'll factor into their prices," Scott Rothbort, Seton Hall University, said.
The Port Authority declined a request by CBS2 for an on-camera interview. Public information showed the toll hike will fund projects like replacing suspender ropes on the George Washington Bridge, raising the Bayonne Bridge, and rehabilitating the Lincoln Tunnel.
"The Port Authority is engaged in a lot of new projects," Rothbort said, "Money has to come from somewhere and government doesn't have as much money as it used to have."
In a statement the Port Authority said it doesn't expect additional toll increases if inflation remains the same.
Rothbort said if the economy picks up, so will inflation.
New Jersey U.S. Senator Robert Menendez said a transportation bill waiting to be signed by the president could bring in more money for New Jersey, funding bridge and road projects.
