Increased Truck Tolls Imposed in 10 States
This story appears in the Jan. 9 print edition of Transport Topics.
Many truckers started the new year digging deeper into pockets as 10 states imposed higher tolls.
Carriers traveling the New Jersey Turnpike are facing some of the biggest increases, as drivers of five-axle trucks using E-ZPass during off-peak hours must now shell out $43.20 to travel the length of the highway. This is $15 more than what was paid in 2011.
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For those paying cash, the cost is $49.75, up from $32.50. Peak tolls for trucks are $45.45 with E-ZPass, up from $29.70, and $49.75 for cash, up from $32.50.
The increases don’t sit well with truckers in the state, some of whom warn New Jersey might lose businesses to neighboring states.
“It’s going to end up pushing people to Pennsylvania,” said Jason Dameo, general manager at Dameo Trucking Inc. in Bridgewater, N.J.
Dameo said many believe tolls only affect trucks rolling through New Jersey on their way to other states and that local businesses can avoid higher tolls.
“But us local guys are getting killed,” Dameo said. “It now costs us over $100 to go to Long Island.”
The reason trips between New Jersey and Long Island are so expensive now is that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey raised tolls at tunnels and bridges into New York City, partly to fund the rebuilding of the World Trade Center.
On Jan. 1, truckers using E-ZPass began paying $2 more per axle and they will pay an additional $2 per axle increase each year from 2012 to 2015, the Port Authority said.
The Maryland Transportation Authority imposed a $6 hike on five-axle trucks using Baltimore Harbor crossings. It now costs $18 to traverse the Fort McHenry Tunnel (Interstate 95, Interstate 395), Baltimore Harbor Tunnel (Interstate 895) and Francis Scott Key Bridge (Interstate 695).
The toll for five-axle trucks is now $36 to use the JFK Memorial Highway (I-95) and Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge (U.S. 40) in Maryland. The tolls were $30.
It now costs $24 for five-axle trucks at the Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge (U.S. 301) and William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bay Bridge (U.S. 50/301). The toll was $15.
“Sometimes, you don’t have a choice in Maryland. We do load in Baltimore so we can’t go around toll roads,” said Barbara Cober, who is secretary-treasurer at liquid bulk hauler Shipley Transport, Sykesville, Md.
On Jan. 1, the cost for five-axle trucks to travel the entire 241-mile length of the Ohio Turnpike became $35 with an E-ZPass and $44 without. This was an increase from $32 with E-ZPass and $40 without, said Lauren Hakos, spokeswoman for the Ohio Turnpike Commission.
On the Pennsylvania Turnpike, tolls for five-axle trucks without E-ZPass rose to $9.85 from $8.95. The increase applies to all vehicle classes on all Turnpike sections except the Southern Beltway (Turnpike 576) in Allegheny and Washington counties, where rates are unchanged, the agency’s website said.
One industry observer said state agencies are more inclined to impose toll hikes as truck and car drivers increase their use of electronic payment systems.
“Because people use transponders, these days you can do a lot of smaller increases that don’t have to be rounded to the dollar,” said Peter Samuel, editor of Toll Road News in Frederick, Md. “The problem now is these toll increases are being used as cash cows.”
Tolls also went up on Virginia’s Dulles Toll Road and E-470 in Denver on Jan. 1 and on South Carolina’s Southern Connector the next day.
As a result of New Jersey’s toll increases, a new bill was proposed in Congress that would give oversight of toll increases back to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The Commuter Protection Act, sponsored by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) would let DOT determine whether tolls are “just and reasonable.”
