By Geoffrey Wertime, Staff Writer
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority will hold public hearings next week on its plan to more than double tolls on the Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway by 2023, with rate increases scheduled to begin taking effect next year.
If its plan is approved by Gov. Jon Corzine, tolls on the Turnpike would go up 50 percent next year, another 50 percent in 2012, and 10 percent by 2023 via a 1 percent annual increase after 2014.
For an average traveler in a passenger car, the increases would be 60 cents in 2009, 90 more cents in 2012, and an additional 30 cents by 2023. Average numbers for the Turnpike were based on a ride of 23 miles and a total toll of $1.20. The proposed increase would ultimately produce a $3 toll for such customers, or an increase of 250 percent.
The Turnpike Authority has cited a need to “undertake a number of significant projects to enhance safety and relieve congestion,” including a program to repair and replace bridges, the Turnpike widening project between Interchanges 6 and 9, and a similar project on the Garden State Parkway between mileposts 30 and 80. A $1.25 billion investment in the ARC project, a mass transit tunnel to ease congestion between New Jersey and New York, also has been cited.
Interchange 8 on the Turnpike lies in East Windsor, just beyond the edge of Hightstown, and much of the highway’s traffic is routed through the borough. Several local officials expressed concern about the plan due to the burden it is expected to place on individual drivers and local businesses.
Hightstown Mayor Bob Patten said he is “very concerned about our Hightstown residents who use the Turnpike on a daily basis.”
“Furthermore,” he said, “it may force commercial and regular traffic onto our local roads going through our town and surrounding municipalities. And we certainly do not need that.”
Borough Council President Walter Sikorski declined to comment on the proposal.
Mayor Patten, East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov and local state legislators decried the timing of the toll plan, given gasoline prices and economic conditions.
“In light of the difficult economic conditions and the dramatic increase in gasoline prices, commuters already are extremely burdened financially and we certainly are concerned that this will add to that financial stress,” said Mayor Mironov.
Mayor Mironov added last week that the plan warrants further scrutiny.
“It has the potential of impacting our residents and business employees greater than those who may live in other parts of the state,” she said, “and so it is something that we are concerned about and we are looking further at the details of the proposal.
Mayor Patten, a Republican, wasn’t so obliging when talking about the Democratic governor’s mission.
“Gov. Corzine needs to find money in the state budget to address the need for maintaining and improving the Turnpike and Parkway,” he said.
Sen. Jennifer Beck, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, all Republicans who represent the 12th District, which includes the township and the borough, have released press releases collectively that criticize the proposal.
“New Jersey is facing difficult economic times, high unemployment and almost zero economic growth,” Sen. Beck wrote last week. “The timing of these increases couldn’t be worse and citizens should have ample opportunity to express their concerns.”
She went on to call the number of scheduled public hearings on the proposal three “unacceptable.”
Those hearings will be held Tuesday and Wednesday before representatives of the Turnpike Authority, with the nearest of the three taking place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Camden County Community College’s Blackwood Campus. The others, both on Wednesday, are in Woodbridge and Paramus.
Written comments also will be accepted until Oct. 1. They should be addressed to Executive Director, New Jersey Turnpike Authority, 581 Main St., Woodbridge, New Jersey 07095.

