Public hearings slated for Turnpike/GSP hikes

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 both the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway by 2023, with rate increases to begin taking effect as early as next year.
   The Turnpike Authority made the move Sept. 9 after sending a letter Sept. 4 to Gov. Jon Corzine explaining its plans. If approved, tolls on the Turnpike will go up 50 percent in 2009, 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 letter from the Turnpike Authority 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 $2.5 billion Turnpike widening project between Interchanges 6 and 9, and a similar $200 million 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, was also named.
   Ron Dancer is the Republican mayor of Plumsted and assemblyman for the 30th Legislative District. That area includes Robbinsville, home to Interchange 7A of the Turnpike. He called the proposed increase “nothing short of highway robbery.”
   He continued by saying the toll hike would be “a disproportionate tax and fee increase upon the Ocean and Monmouth county commuters” due to the area’s location near Philadelphia, Atlantic City and New York, and the number of people who work in those cities. “Once again the center of the state, the rural area of the state, is targeted,” he said.
   Assemblyman Dancer noted that none of the locations of the upcoming public hearings on the proposal is nearby. “It’s not a good cross-sectional representation of the state when you avoid holding your hearings in the counties that will be the most heavily impacted,” he said.
   He added that Republican officials are seeking to hold legislative hearings on the proposal, which only requires the approval of the Authority — whose Board of Commissioners is appointed — and Gov. Corzine.
   Mayor David Fried, of Robbinsville, also a Republican, said he was “not a fan” of the Authority’s proposition. “Not only does it drive the car traffic, but more importantly it drives truck traffic onto our local roads,” he said.
   He expressed concern that commuters living in Robbinsville will avoid the Turnpike and instead take Route 130, as might others passing through the township, causing the nontoll road to become heavily congested. He added that the economy in its current condition would make such a large increase in prices difficult for residents.
   ”It gets to a point where people aren’t unwilling to pay more, they just don’t have any more to pay,” he said.
   ”What amazes me more than anything in the world is that the state has the audacity to put a cap of 4 percent on every municipality (tax increase), yet it shows a complete and utter lack of leadership at being able to maintain its own costs at 4 percent, not only for itself but for the entities that it controls.
   ”If the governor can’t do it he should resign and appoint a mayor,” he added.
   Public hearings on the toll increases will be held Tuesday, Sept. 23, and Wednesday, Sept. 24, before representatives of the Turnpike Authority, with the nearest of the three meetings taking place from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 23 at Camden County Community College’s Blackwood Campus, 200 College Drive, Blackwood. Written comments also will be accepted until Wednesday, Oct. 1, and may be addressed to Executive Director, New Jersey Turnpike Authority, 581 Main St., Woodbridge, New Jersey 07095.