Can Trucks Drive On The Garden State Parkway

Yesterday, news broke that tolls on the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike were going up on January 1st but there was no mention of an increase on the Atlantic City Expressway.

That was yesterday. This is today. And this is New Jersey. Tolls on the Expressway are going up now, too.

NJ.com reports the South Jersey Transportation Authority will be following in the footsteps of the Turnpike Authority and tolls on the 44.2-mile-long road will be going up 3% in just a few weeks.

Here's how the math works out: the Egg Harbor toll (back in the day, known as "the dollar toll" when it cost only a buck to go through it) will increase from $4.25 to $4.40 and the Pleasantville toll plaza will be $1.30, for a total of $5.70 to get from the 42 Freeway to Atlantic City. Tolls at the various exits will increase a bit, too, and E-ZPass users will still get a small discount.

And keep in mind that it was just last fall that tolls on the Expressway skyrocketed during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. That's when, for example, the Egg Harbor toll plaza went from $3 to $4.25. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, speaking of the SJTA's approval to charge drivers more, said to The Press of Atlantic City, "Under the cover and darkness of a pandemic, the SJTA voted to take more money from people in South Jersey who are already financially beaten down. This is a disgusting abuse of the people of South Jersey, and they have nobody to blame but the SJTA (except for Sonny McCullough who voted no)."

On Monday, it was announced that it'll cost more to drive on the other two toll roads. On the Parkway, barriers that charge $1.90 will go to $1.96 for E-ZPass users and $2 for those with cash. 95-cent tolls will go to 98-cents or $1, depending on how you pay.

From now on, tolls on the Parkway, Turnpike, and Expressway will be adjusted at the start of each year without public hearings (not that they mattered much anyway). Tolls can now automatically increase as much as 3% per year.

Happy new year, New Jersey.

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