Truck Tolls Will Increase to $4 Per Axle on Bridges Between Pennsylvania and N.J.

This story appears in the May 23 print edition of Transport Topics.

Truckers crossing the northern Delaware River between New Jersey and Pennsylvania on any of seven tolled bridges could pay as much as 75 cents more per axle as of July 1.

The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission voted May 2 to raise the rates for cars and trucks that use the seven tolled bridges the commission operates from Trenton, N.J., north to the New York state line.

The toll increases are a “done deal” that cannot be undone, said Gail Toth, executive director of the New Jersey Motor Truck Association.

“They don’t have the dollars. They’ve lost a lot of revenue, especially from trucks,” Toth said, echoing the commission’s statement that tolls had to be raised because the recession cut into traffic and, consequently, toll revenues.

Jim Runk, president of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association, said his group has not yet discussed what stance to take regarding the impending toll increases.

Two of the spans carry traffic for major federal highways — Interstates 78 and 80.

Currently, trucks with three or more axles pay $3.25 per axle to cross the river going west on any one of the seven tolled bridges — if the trucks are traveling during peak traffic hours and are using the E-ZPass toll system.

After July 1, those same trucks will pay $4 per axle to cross the bridges.

A five-axle truck, traveling during peak traffic without an E-ZPass, for example, currently pays a toll of $16.25 that will be $20 after July 1.

The commission, however, offers regular users discounts for using E-ZPass and for traveling during off-peak traffic hours.

Currently, a five-axle truck traveling off-peak with an E-ZPass pays a toll of $14.63. On July 1, the toll for that truck will increase to $18.

Tolls for cars and two-axle trucks also will increase under the new toll schedule. Car tolls will go from 75 cents to $1 for cash, although commuters can get discounts of as much as 40% depending on whether they have E-ZPass and how many trips they make a month.

A two-axle truck traveling at peak traffic without E-ZPass currently pays a toll of $5. With E-ZPass and traveling off-peak, the toll is $4.50. Under the new toll schedule, the same truck will pay $6.50 at peak traffic without an E-ZPass and $5.85 with E-ZPass traveling off-peak.

Five different authorities control the plethora of bridges that cross the Delaware, starting with the southernmost span — the Dela-ware Memorial Bridge — which connects Delaware and New Jersey, sending traffic northward to the New Jersey Turnpike.

A series of bridges just north of there connect New Jersey and heavily populated Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs.

From Trenton north, however, the Joint Toll Bridge Commission, created in 1934 by New Jersey and Pennsylvania, owns and operates 20 bridges. Two of those are pedestrian only, however, and only seven of the 20 are tolled.

The southernmost tolled bridge in the group carries Route 1 from the city of Trenton to Morrisville, Pa.

Upstream, the next tolled crossing is called the New Hope-Lambertville Toll Bridge but bypasses New Hope, Pa., and Lambertville, N.J., to carry U.S. Route 202 over the river between Solebury Township, Pa., and Delaware Township, N.J.

The Interstate 78 Bridge, traveled by trucks carrying cargo to and from the Port of New York and New Jersey, connects Northampton County, Pa., and Warren County, N.J.

Just a few miles north, the Easton-Phillipsburg Toll Bridge, the first one built by the commission and opened in 1938, carries U.S. Route 22 traffic between Easton, Pa., and Phillipsburg, N.J.

The Portland-Columbia Toll Bridge further north connects Pennsylvania Route 611 at Portland, Pa., to U.S. Route 46 at Columbia, N.J.

The Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge carries Interstate 80 traffic that can come from the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River, across New Jersey to Stroudsburg, Pa., and to the Ohio Turnpike.

The northern most tolled span in the commission’s 140-mile jurisdiction along the river is the Milford-Montague Toll Bridge that connects U.S. Route 206 in Montague Township, N.J., to U.S. Routes 6 and 209 at Milford, Pa.