Bridge Toll Hike Begins Friday
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Crossing the Delaware River in this area will put an even bigger dent in your wallet starting early Friday morning.
Starting at 2 a.m., tolls are going up on the Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman, Betsy Ross and Commodore Barry bridges, along with a 10-percent PATCO fare increase.
"Tolls will increase going from $4 per car to $5 and there'll be a 25-percent increase for all the other vehicles," said John Matheussen, CEO of the Delaware River Port Authority.
He says the cash is dedicated to massive infrastructure projects, which have already begun.
"The authority is spending a little bit more than a billion dollars over the next five to seven years to rebuild the bridges, to rebuild the PATCO infrastructure and the train cars themselves," he explains. "This stream of money is necessary to do that."
Other spans will also increase their tolls. The Delaware Memorial Bridge jumps from $3 to $4. The Morrisville and New Hope bridges, operated by the Delaware Valley Joint Toll Bridge Commission, will go up a quarter to a dollar each way. But the Tacony-Palmyra and Burlington-Bristol Bridges are staying pat at two bucks round trip, as they have for 11 years.
Reported by David Madden, KYW Newsradio
