50% toll increase. 1.00 tolls on the GSP are going to become 1.50, 50 cent tolls are going to become 75 cents.
NJTP tolls go up 50% as well. Exit 1 to 18W will be going from 9.05 to 13.85
More info at: http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/toll-rates.html#rates
Early 90's the full length toll was $4.60. $4.60 in 1993 dollars is $6.93 in 2011 dollars. Actual toll today is $9.05 and is about to be $13.85 in 2012.
Toll on GWB at about the same time was $4.00. $4.00 in 1993 dollars is $6.03 in 2011 dollars. Actual toll today is $10.00.
Toll on MTA crossings at the time was $3.00. $3.00 in 1993 dollars is $4.52 in 2011 dollars. Actual toll today is $6.50
So, we're quite exceeding inflation here. Even if you consider the EZPass discounts of $10.40, $7.50, and $4.80 (respectively), which not everyone is always privy to, the prices have still gone up.
Both roads are going through a expansion project, so that is partially to blame.
Quote from: SteveG1988 on December 27, 2011, 07:45:45 PM
Both roads are going through a expansion project, so that is partially to blame.
Plus the Parkway is re-doing many interchanges. Some will now have ramp tolls that never did previously when completed.
One of the expenses this toll increase was going to pay for was the now cancelled ARC rail tunnel. Some are arguing this 2nd increase shouldn't be happening because it got cancelled.
Before you accuse price increases of outpacing inflation, go back farther than the early 90s. Especially on the GS Parkway, the argument has been that they held prices steady far longer than they should have. (And also did next to no work on the road in that time.)
Quote from: Steve on December 28, 2011, 08:01:24 PM
Before you accuse price increases of outpacing inflation, go back farther than the early 90s. Especially on the GS Parkway, the argument has been that they held prices steady far longer than they should have. (And also did next to no work on the road in that time.)
He is right! The Parkway had 25 cents for a mainline toll for many years. No major projects took place mostly over those years. I believe it was 87 or 88 when it went up to 35 cents. Then recently it was raised again when one way tolling went into practice.
Everytime you turn around, these turnpikes have another toll increase. :-(
Quote from: Beltway on December 28, 2011, 09:05:02 PM
Everytime you turn around, these turnpikes have another toll increase. :-(
It isn't like NJ is following the PA example of two toll increases a year apart. Also as i said before, they are doing major work, constructing new north and southbound roadways, replacing all the overpasses on the turnpike, building new overpasses for the turnpke to go over local road, future construction on a arch bridge, rebuilding exits to connect into the new roadways, future widening of the 2+2 section of the NJTP as well. GSP is being Widened in sections, a new egg harbor bridge is to be built, the at-grade sections are being converted to controlled access as well.
Quote from: Beltway on December 28, 2011, 09:05:02 PM
Everytime you turn around, these turnpikes have another toll increase. :-(
Maybe in NJ, but we're getting our first real increase since 1983! ISTHA tolls go up about 85-90% on Jan 1st. A $0.50 toll, for example, is going to $0.95. Steve nailed it about prices holding steady for far too long (even though we did a lot of road work since 1983).
SteveG, you are completely confused. gov. Corzine forced this 2 part toll increase on the turnpike authority to fund NJ's liability of the ARC tunnel. this liability was 1.2B dollars. Christie killed the tunnel, but is not returning the money. the NJDOT and the NJTA had an agreement where the NJTA gave 25M a year to the NJDOT for feeder road improvements. since NJDOT is broke and Christie and Simpson cannot find a sustainable plan, Christie forced the Turnpike to provide 250M to NJDOT per year for the next 5 years for the feeder road program.
do the math. This toll increase is not NJTA money and the toll road useris subsidizing the DOT.
if you read the bond agreements, NJTA is on the hook for 600M in debt service for 2012 AND if you read their annual report, they only have appeox 400-500M net income. with volumes way down, something has to give... more borrowing or more toll increases or take on loads of debt until the feeder road program expires.
all the projects you cited are built with borrowed time and money.
Tollroadsnews points out the tolls are still rather low, coupled with the low gas tax in New Jersey:
http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/5678 (http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/5678)
I'd be more pissed with the recent NJ/NY bridge/tunnel toll hikes.
Quote from: Duke87 on December 27, 2011, 07:25:11 PM
Early 90's the full length toll was $4.60. $4.60 in 1993 dollars is $6.93 in 2011 dollars. Actual toll today is $9.05 and is about to be $13.85 in 2012.
Toll on GWB at about the same time was $4.00. $4.00 in 1993 dollars is $6.03 in 2011 dollars. Actual toll today is $10.00.
Toll on MTA crossings at the time was $3.00. $3.00 in 1993 dollars is $4.52 in 2011 dollars. Actual toll today is $6.50
So, we're quite exceeding inflation here. Even if you consider the EZPass discounts of $10.40, $7.50, and $4.80 (respectively), which not everyone is always privy to, the prices have still gone up.
The PANYNJ tolls went from $8 to $12 in September, not $10.
Quote from: Chris on December 29, 2011, 10:03:08 AM
Tollroadsnews points out the tolls are still rather low, coupled with the low gas tax in New Jersey:
http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/5678 (http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/5678)
I'd be more pissed with the recent NJ/NY bridge/tunnel toll hikes.
Yep.
Quote from: Duke87 on December 27, 2011, 07:25:11 PM
Early 90's the full length toll was $4.60. $4.60 in 1993 dollars is $6.93 in 2011 dollars. Actual toll today is $9.05 and is about to be $13.85 in 2012.
Fondly remembers those days of $4'ish tolls. Took many trips to North Jersey to go roadding and even avoided tolls back then, taking I-95 to the Scudders Falls Bridge and US 1 to New Brunswick. Less traffic back then, so alternate routes were more viable.
Forget about it today, I last took US 206 in 2005 between I-295 and I-287 and it was awful, even late at night (way to many red lights). US 1 was not as useful either...
Even with the increasing tolls, the toll roads are pretty much the way to go now time wise. :whip:
Quote from: Alex on December 29, 2011, 04:30:41 PM
Even with the increasing tolls, the toll roads are pretty much the way to go now time wise. :whip:
indeed. as much as I bitch and moan, I'd probably pay $60 to cross the San Francisco Bay Bridge because of the time savings compared to the alternate.
Quote from: Alex on December 29, 2011, 04:30:41 PM
Quote from: Duke87 on December 27, 2011, 07:25:11 PM
Early 90's the full length toll was $4.60. $4.60 in 1993 dollars is $6.93 in 2011 dollars. Actual toll today is $9.05 and is about to be $13.85 in 2012.
Fondly remembers those days of $4'ish tolls. Took many trips to North Jersey to go roadding and even avoided tolls back then, taking I-95 to the Scudders Falls Bridge and US 1 to New Brunswick. Less traffic back then, so alternate routes were more viable.
Forget about it today, I last took US 206 in 2005 between I-295 and I-287 and it was awful, even late at night (way to many red lights). US 1 was not as useful either...
Even with the increasing tolls, the toll roads are pretty much the way to go now time wise. :whip:
I remember when the southern half of the NJTP had a toll of a penny per mile.
At least they are putting the new bright full color VMS installs the last toll increase paid for..... by announcing this toll increase. From a distance it looks convincingly like a real MUTCD blue information sign (they use FHWA fonts too, no Clearview).
This is in addition to NJDOT putting E-plans online in late 2004 and early 2005, then stopping, and then announcing that henceforth E-plans will be available only through Bid Express ($135/month minimum subscription cost).
NJDOT is useless.
Quote from: Steve on December 28, 2011, 08:01:24 PM
Before you accuse price increases of outpacing inflation, go back farther than the early 90s.
Point. But I only go back as far as I remember. :-/
Quote from: MrDisco99 on December 29, 2011, 02:36:11 PM
The PANYNJ tolls went from $8 to $12 in September, not $10.
Indeed, that was a brain lapse on my part, $10 is peak with EZPass. Off-peak with EZPass is $7.50!
Quote from: Alex on December 29, 2011, 04:30:41 PM
Fondly remembers those days of $4'ish tolls. Took many trips to North Jersey to go roadding and even avoided tolls back then, taking I-95 to the Scudders Falls Bridge and US 1 to New Brunswick. Less traffic back then, so alternate routes were more viable.
Forget about it today, I last took US 206 in 2005 between I-295 and I-287 and it was awful, even late at night (way to many red lights). US 1 was not as useful either...
I've found I-295 and US 1 to still be a very viable alternative to the Turnpike, at least up to Newark. Tonnele Avenue, on the other hand, is murder.
I was noticing that on the Garden State Parkway, that there now is a southbound ramp toll at EXIT 30. The toll is $1.50 for cars and for many years there was no toll whatsoever! Furthermore, the new NB EXIT 65 or 67 (the one making Bay Avenue a full diamond that was only a half diamond to and from the north) has NO TOLLS spite that the new ramp is just before the mainline Barnegate toll plaza.
Now I realize the full rate for having EXIT 30 because it is right before Great Egg Plaza and the toll is one way southbound, but so is the CR 534 ramp going north. Even with Barnegate Plaza being one way SB, the vehicles entering SB should pay the same as those exiting in Somers Point. Plus, the section south of Atlantic City has no ramp tolls anyway, except at NJ 47 NB for those going to Wildwood from Delaware to make some money off of. Actually, south of Toms River there were originally no ramp tolls other than NJ 47 until EXIT 74 was reconfigured back in the early 90's to help pay for the improvements there. Then recently the Waretown EXIT 69 was added a SB ramp and NB entrance that was tolled only to a new ramp that never existed before. Now this is beyond me, but knowing the way people of modern times operate anything is possible.
Then again the Parkway always figured out how to put tolls where they do not make sense as well as the mid point interchanges that should be half way between mainlines is not exactly that. North of the Raritan River, the only SB exit toll ever was at I-78 in Union while the rest were all NB. Yet south of the Raritan River the ramp tolls are ALL southbound! The section in Northern Middlesex and Union Counties cannot ever have a toll do to an agreement with NJDOT who owned that stretch from the NJ Turnpike to US 22 up until 1986 cause that was one of the first sections of Parkway to open before the need to float bonds to pay for the road originally. After the Somers Point ramp, though, I would not be a bit suprised.
Quote from: roadman65 on May 05, 2012, 10:10:34 AM
I was noticing that on the Garden State Parkway, that there now is a southbound ramp toll at EXIT 30. The toll is $1.50 for cars and for many years there was no toll whatsoever!
That's funny, aerial images show a toll booth there dating back to at least 1970 (http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=9.91321154835296E-06&lat=39.3233104217677&lon=-74.6164065179397&year=1970).
I'll also give a little shameless plug to my Parkway Tolls Diagram (http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/5871/parkwaytolls.png) created two years ago for how to legally avoid tolls there.
Quote from: Mr. Matté on May 05, 2012, 10:41:46 AM
I'll also give a little shameless plug to my Parkway Tolls Diagram (http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/5871/parkwaytolls.png) created two years ago for how to legally avoid tolls there.
Or you can use MapQuest's rendering of OSM data: http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=39.3&lon=-74.6&zoom=15&layers=Q
Quote from: Mr. Matté on May 05, 2012, 10:41:46 AM
Quote from: roadman65 on May 05, 2012, 10:10:34 AM
I was noticing that on the Garden State Parkway, that there now is a southbound ramp toll at EXIT 30. The toll is $1.50 for cars and for many years there was no toll whatsoever!
That's funny, aerial images show a toll booth there dating back to at least 1970 (http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=9.91321154835296E-06&lat=39.3233104217677&lon=-74.6164065179397&year=1970).
I'll also give a little shameless plug to my Parkway Tolls Diagram (http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/5871/parkwaytolls.png) created two years ago for how to legally avoid tolls there.
Are we talking about the ramp? Yes the mainline plaza was always there. I am talking about the exit for Somers Point and Ocean City leading to US 9 and NJ 52.
Quote from: roadman65 on May 05, 2012, 08:25:34 PM
Are we talking about the ramp? Yes the mainline plaza was always there. I am talking about the exit for Somers Point and Ocean City leading to US 9 and NJ 52.
The ramp toll was always there, I went through it in 2001 when doing NJ route ends photos. The parkway uses partial interchanges to avoid ramp tolls, its pretty annoying north of the Pascack Valley (formerly known as Hillsdale) toll plaza. Everything is northbound off/southbound on which leads to the Montvale service area's parking lot being jammed because its the only way to access the highway northbound/exit southbound. A similar situation exists at the Atlantic City rest area with Jimmie Leads Rd. I remember when they had the LPGA Tournament there a few years ago, cutting through the service plaza was part of the official directions, and was even signed as such! I think they are looking at adding the missing moves there or at Exit 44/Pomona Rd., don't know about Montvale though.
Quote from: NJRoadfan on May 06, 2012, 01:49:28 AM
I think they are looking at adding the missing moves there or at Exit 44/Pomona Rd., don't know about Montvale though.
There are plans for a new interchange at Jimmie Leeds. Nothing at Montvale.
I was always under the assumption that there were no ramp tolls, except for NJ 47 and those added at Exit 74 when that interchange was reconfigured.
As far as the Atlantic City Service Area goes, it is also used for NB access to US 30 as many hotel give directions through there to access Southbound Exit 40 for those looking to lodge at the many facilities along the White Horse Pike. Furthermore, I think a lot from WB US 30 to SB GSP enter the Parkway North to U Turn through the area as well.
I did not know that the Montvale Service Area was used for that too. The Forked River Area had the same problem before the NB Exit and SB Entrance was added to and from Lacey Road. That was instrumental in getting Exit 74 built into a complete interchange.
Quote from: roadman65 on May 06, 2012, 08:59:09 PM
I was always under the assumption that there were no ramp tolls, except for NJ 47 and those added at Exit 74 when that interchange was reconfigured.
Did you really live in New Jersey? Ramp tolls are the norm, not the exception. (Actually, it's roughly 50/50, but a lot more if you consider ramps where you can't exit before hitting a mainline toll.)
Quote from: Steve on May 07, 2012, 08:52:59 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on May 06, 2012, 08:59:09 PM
I was always under the assumption that there were no ramp tolls, except for NJ 47 and those added at Exit 74 when that interchange was reconfigured.
Did you really live in New Jersey? Ramp tolls are the norm, not the exception. (Actually, it's roughly 50/50, but a lot more if you consider ramps where you can't exit before hitting a mainline toll.)
I made a mistake of not saying South of Toms River! I cannot believe I done that. South of Toms River there was only one that I knew of pre Exit 74 and Exit 69. Yes, of course, I am aware of those ramp tolls on the Parkway in general. How many times I went through them in my travel. I lived in Clark and even though the 129 to 140 was toll free, I did many trips on the actual toll road.
I remember that north of the Raritan River that the tolls were only a dime, where south of the Raritan it was 15 cents years ago. I always wondered that, but then remembered that the ramp tolls in Central Jersey were added later than those in North Jersey. As a kid I remember NJ 34 being a left hand exit with no tolls on the way to Point Pleasant Beach. I always remembered the Exit 144 toll going to my Aunt's house in Irvington and the Bloomfield Plaza getting off in Bloomfield to see my uncle as always being there.