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Great, what a waste of new toll money -- I thought the point was to stop all this excessive driving in SUV's to and from McMansions -- not to build more roads for these long distance commuters.


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This sounds like a really good argument to raise the state income tax -- talk about being fair -- spread the hurt evenly!

Again what Corzine really needs to make happen is some major consolidation of the 566 municipalities and their redundant services.

Thanks ian - that's a well overdue project.

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Part of your wish is set to come true. The turnpike is being expanded from exit 8 to the Pennsylvania Pike.

I'd really like to see them widen the turnpike in exchange for this toll increase for exits 1-9. Don't know if that is in the plan. The weekend traffic during the summer makes me want to kill myself sometimes.

My initial reaction was pretty ticked b/c I know that there is so much waste in the government and Corzine is very tax happy. On the other hand, after seeing all of the comments about auxiliary roads getting more crowded I like the idea. Let all of the poor peoply get to work at 25mph, while all the BMW's and Audi's get to go 70-80 mph. That's fine with me and I'll pay extra for the privelege. It sucks if your poor though.

While mass transit has endured many fare increases, especially New Jersey Transit rail, toll roads have not face the same increase in tolls. The tolls collected have simply lost value through inflation since the last increases, while NJTransit raises rates faster than inflation. Part of the trouble is that our regional transit organizations all operate independently and don't share revenue. Increases in toll collection doesn't for instance, get redistributed to NJ Transit for improved services.

The trouble with traffic congestion, mass transit, and urban planning in this state is again, there is no regional authority. Municipalities are all allowed to create their own zoning rather than a regional or statewide zoning plan. The nearest this state got to regional planning was McGreevey's "Big Map" circa 2002. That plan called for creating three distinct zones: green, yellow and red. Green zones were where development would be encouraged, yellow discouraged, and red all but stopped. The state would encourage this through expediting state level approvals in green zones, and taking their time in other zones. After about three months, the Big Map was killed by local politicians, Republicans, and dual office holders.

There are lot of problems with creating regional planning. Local level politics often interferes. Ideally, high density development would be centered around mass transportation and low density development on open space would be limited. But building high density developments near existing mass transit stations often runs into as much local political opposition as low density developments in suburban areas (See threads on PAD, Sixth Street Embankment).

One last thing for GrovePATH. There is an important reason why the Turnpike authority would raise tolls rather than the state raising the gas tax. For one thing, relying on the gas tax to fund road repairs, like California and Oregon, leaves a bit of uncertainty because the higher the price of gas, the more efficient people are with fuel, like buying more efficient cars or driving less. Besides that, its politically unwise to raise a statewide gas tax. And finally, the most important reason, New Jersey doesn't allow for dedicated taxes. A gas tax, like all other collected revenues, goes into the general treasury. On the other hand, tolls go to the Turnpike Authority. Thus tolls are a sure source of road money, while the only thing certain about gas taxes is that it will be spent by the legislature.

Consolidation on the municipal level, cutting costs, freezing/capping spending is all on the Gov's agenda, per his State of the State speach last night. Those are all great things to do going forward. The State is burdened with allot of pre-existing debt in addition to closing a current budget shortfall.

I also Agree on the taxing of automobiles to encourage mass transit ridership, but the fact is, that mass transit doesnt really exist effeciently enough. If there were talks of more rail and bus lines, it would be a different story, but on the contrary, as the city is growing and prospering, they are cutting bus lines away and building garages for every major structure they build downtown. NJ needs to follow NYCs example of how to not be completely reliant on vehicles.

Well I agree that we should try to reduce all the car & truck traffic in NJ and push for more mass transit and rail use -- but why this way and not just tax gasoline a lot more -- picking a few roads to tax more is a very unfair way to go about it. If it is being done to try and get more from NON-NJ commuters and from commercial vehicles then why not allow those who live here with EZPass to not be charged as much as outsiders and commercial vehicles. These huge new toll raises are unfair to a minority of NJ residents, Corzine should be fair and just tax the hell out of Gasoline.

But again what he really needs to do is to force all 566 NJ municipalities to somewhat consolidate their crazy number of redundant services.

There are a lot of different things that could be done to reduce spending without actually cutting services. Municipal consolidation is one thing. Eliminating property tax rebates and municipal aid is another. Raising tolls however, is not just a positive gain in revenue; raising tolls can reduce traffic, encourage mass transit ridership, and reduce overall carbon footprints of residents. The true cost of the automobile has been subsidized by government for far too long.

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I agree too on consolidation of municipalities as *another* way to cut waste and improve our state budget but that is a political firestorm that most will not tackle and don't see this as an "either/or" scenario as far as consolidation/tolls, but instead a necessary step of many steps that need to be done to secure our future financial health.

Why does it have to be presented as "either/or" instead of each case on their own merits as well as all other propositions put forth as public policy?

The problem in New Jersey is that it has an unbelievable number of small municipalities -- 566 in all -- most with their own fire, police and school systems. Rather than taxing people from NJ through increasing tolls, or rather than taking money from poorer inner-city school systems what Corzine should do is force a consolidation of these 566 municipalities into much larger entities that share their services. This would cut tremendous waste and create a fairer New Jersey.

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Good gracious, I absolutely agree with ianmac47 on this issue.

NJ needs to cut our debt beyond constrictures on needed programs (the republican cure-all: slash and burn)and toll hikes is one policy that would give driver's choices and allow the state to resolve our debt in a planned public policy instead of ad hoc focus-led political patches. This is the type of leadership that most politicians abhor and one of the reasons Corzine shows promise as a leader and not just a party aparatchik.

Quarters? Dollar Bills? I haven't used currency to pay tolls in almost a decade.


Meanwhile, despite the doomsday predictions, toll hikes are a responsible public policy that are far better than things like raising fares on mass transit.

Higher tolls to affect everyone

Wednesday, January 9, 2008
By MATT KATZ
Courier-Post Staff
http://www.courierpostonline.com

The governor's plan to make it more expensive to drive New Jersey's most heavily used roadways won't just make that car ride to the shore or New York City more expensive.

It could clog Interstate 295 and Route 130, and older, secondary roads such as the Black Horse Pike. And, it could ultimately increase the cost of all goods transported by truck, according to experts and consumers.

"The bottom line is whatever the commodity is, it's going to get a little more expensive," said Kevin Madden, the operations manager for East Coast Trucking in Paulsboro. "It's just simple economics."

For Melissa Fisher, the proposed toll hike -- which, in part, calls for increasing fares 50 percent in 2010 on the Atlantic City Expressway, New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway -- could mean rethinking her commute.

The National Park resident is a baby sitter for a Winslow family. Using the Atlantic City Expressway saves her 30 minutes on her commute both coming and going. The tolls cost 50 cents each way -- something that doesn't bother her.

But if the tolls are increased, she said, her outlook might change.

"Quarters, you lose interest in them, shove them in your pockets and you're done," she said. "But if you have to pull out a dollar bill . . . I don't know. I don't know if I'd be too interested in that."

And it's not just her.

The parents she sits for both work in Philadelphia. Their daily commutes on the expressway to Route 42 cost them a dollar each, plus an additional three dollars to cross the bridge.

"If you decide to go to work," Fisher said, "it can cost you your entire paycheck."

Higher tolls have the potential to ripple across the economy, affecting the price of consumer goods and the overall cost of doing business in the state, said Jack Worrall, chairman of the Economics Department at Rutgers-Camden.

"We're in a major Northeastern corridor -- some of the costs will be passed on to consumers in other states," Worrall said.

Shipping and commuting costs often enter into decision-making for businesses that are considering relocating to New Jersey -- or mulling plans to leave, he said.

Madden said that "word will spread pretty quickly in the trucking business that, "Man, those toll roads in Jersey are killers.' "

"It's just going to add another kind of inflationary component any time you do something like that," he said. "Invariably that gets passed along to the consumer."

Jim McCormick, a Haddonfield financial planner and member of Americans For Prosperity, a taxpayer advocacy group, called the plan, which is intended to drive down state debt, "reckless."

"He's going to retire debt with more debt," McCormick said. "It's going to place us in a worse position than we're in now."

Meanwhile, tourists aren't likely to gripe about the toll increases, said Christie Ostrander, who works in the visitor information center on the Garden State Parkway. New Jersey toll roads are a lot less expensive than other states, so they think they're scoring a bargain, she said.

"We never get complaints about the amount of tolls," Ostrander said. "We get complaints from people who don't understand how the tolls work on the parkway."

For retirees with time on their hand, like Brian and Bonnie Corcoran of Haddon Heights, alternative routes are a good option.

"We can take the local roads if we have to," Brian Corcoran said.

And using part of the toll money for much-needed repairs on roads and bridges, as the governor plans, is a positive thing, Bonnie Corcoran said.

But Joe Prato, a Realtor from Sea Isle City, has a problem with the scope of the proposed increase because it calls for increases every four years beginning in 2010.

"I did the math, it's ludicrous. That would stop me from using the toll roads," he said.

If tolls went up just 35 cents every four years, Prato said he could live with that.

While the toll increases alone won't keep business away, a combination of higher property taxes, transfer fees and other expenses could affect Jersey Shore business, said Randy Leiser, of Avalon Real Estate Agency.

"We have a tourism economy, and I'm concerned New Jersey is killing the golden goose and driving people away," he said, adding the state should curtail spending elsewhere and devote the savings to highways and bridges.

For the savvy consumer with time to spare, there are still ways to get to both Atlantic City without the Atlantic City Expressway, and New York without the New Jersey Turnpike.

For example, for another 18 minutes and five miles, a Moorestown resident can brave the stop lights and take the Black Horse Pike to the shore.

But what if a lot of people do this? And more importantly -- what if truckers do this?

"You'll start seeing more and more truck traffic on state roads," said Madden of East Coast Trucking in Paulsboro.

Still, some local officials doubt that the tolls will have significant effect on traffic patterns.

"If you look at the price of gas, has that limited our ability or willingness to travel?" Burlington Township Administrator Kevin J. McLernon asked.

McLernon questioned whether drivers would really avoid toll roads given the delays that come with local traffic.

"Time is money," he said.

Staff writers Sarah Greenblatt, Leo Strupczewski and William H. Sokolic contributed to this report. Reach Matt Katz at (856) 486-2456 or mkatz@courierpostonline.com

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New York Times
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Corzine Proposes Steep Rise in Tolls

Gov. Jon S. Corzine unveiled a proposal on Tuesday to raise tolls 50 percent every four years.

New York Times
By DAVID W. CHEN and KEN BELSON
Published: January 9, 2008

TRENTON ? Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Tuesday proposed the biggest financial maneuver in New Jersey?s history, arguing that drastically increasing highway tolls over the next 15 years could generate as much as $38 billion to help the state pay off half of its debt and finance transportation improvements.

Drivers would face a 50 percent increase in tolls on the state?s three toll roads ? the New Jersey Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway and the Atlantic City Expressway ? every four years, beginning in 2010, and include adjustments for inflation. In addition, a portion of a fourth highway ? Route 440 leading from the intersection of the Turnpike and the Parkway in Woodbridge to the Outerbridge Crossing ? would become a toll road.

?It?s not something I want to do,? Mr. Corzine said in his State of the State address before the new Legislature, whose members were sworn in earlier Tuesday. ?It?s something we have to do. This proposal is a solution ? a solution to restore the state?s financial integrity, health and capacity.?

To make good on his proposal, Mr. Corzine, who made his fortune cobbling together complex financial deals on Wall Street, would need the blessing of the markets to embrace a bond issue that would dwarf the largest bond deal ever undertaken by the state, an $8.6 billion issue in 2003 for school construction.

While a number of states, including Pennsylvania and California, are struggling to come up with the money to repair their roads and bridges, fiscal experts say Mr. Corzine?s plan to repair its transportation infrastructure and erase $32 billion in debt is the most unusual and complicated among states that have considered leveraging their toll roads to generate more money, fiscal experts say.

But unlike Indiana or Chicago, which have leased some roads to private companies, New Jersey would continue to own its toll roads. To minimize political interference, Mr. Corzine said the state would establish two nonprofit corporations, one to operate and maintain the roads, and the other to provide oversight.

Anticipation over the plan has been building since Mr. Corzine first suggested the need to draw money from New Jersey?s assets in his State of the State message a year ago. But Mr. Corzine has been delayed in rolling out his plan, first by a serious car accident in April, then by his own propensity to take his time making decisions.

With polls consistently showing that most New Jerseyans opposed the idea of refinancing the toll roads, Mr. Corzine has encountered stiff resistance from Democrats and Republicans alike.

But now Mr. Corzine, a former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs who was elected in 2005 after campaigning largely on his financial acumen, has vowed to stake his political future on his plan. To sell it, he plans to hold public meetings in all 21 counties, with the first to take place on Saturday in Livingston, an affluent and educated suburb that Democrats say might be more receptive to Mr. Corzine?s ideas.

And with the state grappling with debt that has climbed from $13 billion to $32 billion in less than a decade and with the highest property taxes in the country, Mr. Corzine said that New Jersey could wait no longer.

?The public must be put back in charge of the state?s credit card,? he said. ?Unfortunately, the ability to borrow is a privilege that?s been abused to the point that the public has pretty much told us they no longer trust our judgment.?

To win this battle, he plans to spend part of his vast wealth on public service announcements for television and radio promoting his plan. And he challenged legislators ? a third of whom were sworn in Tuesday ? to adopt his proposal before the July 1 budget deadline.

If the state fails to enact his plan, Mr. Corzine warned, the alternatives include raising the gas tax by at least 12 cents a gallon, the income tax by 20 percent or the sales tax by 30 percent.

?Do the numbers,? he implored. ?I have.?

As he put it, ?Pigs will fly over the State House before there is a realistic level of new taxes or spending cuts that can fix this mess.?

Under the plan, a public benefit corporation, which would operate and maintain the roads, would be created to issue up to $38 billion in bonds to generate a quick cash infusion. The bonds, which would be issued in stages within a year of legislative approval, would be backed by the toll revenues.

In addition, a public interest corporation would be created to monitor and approve the directors of the other corporation.

In an effort to assuage fears that politicians and lobbyists may view his plan as creating a giant piggy bank, Mr. Corzine said that all the proceeds would be used for two purposes only: reducing the state?s debt, which could save as much as $960 million a year in annual debt payments, and replenishing the Transportation Trust Fund for capital and repair projects, which is scheduled to be depleted by 2011.

For the average driver on the Turnpike, the governor said the proposal would mean that the typical one-way trip ? spanning three exits ? would go from $1.20 to $2.05 in five years, and to $5.85 in 10 years.

To make his case, Mr. Corzine pointed out that the state?s toll roads were among the least costly in the nation. Tolls have increased on the New Jersey Turnpike only five times in its half-century history; the last increase, of 17 percent, was in 2003. The Garden State Parkway, the nation?s busiest toll road, has had one increase in its half-century history, in 1989.

To demonstrate that he was serious about fiscal restraint, the governor also pledged to freeze state spending in next year?s budget at the current level, and to push for a constitutional amendment requiring voter approval for most future borrowing.

Mr. Corzine will need approval from the Senate and the Assembly, both controlled by Democrats. On Tuesday, the top two legislators ? Senate President Richard J. Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. ? embraced the governor?s proposals.

?I think it was a tremendous home run for him today,? Mr. Roberts said. ?If we can minimize the politics and maximize the degree to which this is a policy discussion, the governor is going to be successful.?

For their part, Republicans said that while they were pleased by Mr. Corzine?s pledge to freeze spending, they viewed the proposed toll increases as taxes on drivers.

Senator Jennifer Beck, a Republican from Red Bank, said the governor?s plan amounted to ?decrying the credit card mentality but yet then proposing to take out a Visa platinum card to pay for the fiscal woes of the state.?

?No one should be fooled,? she added. ?You?re borrowing to pay for borrowed money. It?d be like taking out a home equity loan to pay for your mortgage. It?s the wrong way.?