UPDATED: NJ Turnpike, Parkway Tolls Increasing by 50 Percent Jan. 1

Due to a phased plan increase approved by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority more than three years ago, tolls on both the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway will go up in price by 50 percent, beginning at 6:30 a.m. Jan. 1.

Under the new increases, toll rates on the Garden State Parkway will increase from $0.35 to $0.50 for ramp tolls, from $0.50 to $0.75 for two-way toll plazas, and from $1 to $1.50 for one-way toll plazas.

It is the third hike in tolls for the Parkway since its opening in 1954, and the seventh for the New Jersey Turnpike since that highway’s inception in 1951. The increases were voted on and approved as the second phase of a two-fold toll hike in October 2008, during the administration of former Gov. Jon Corzine.

Local residents will of course be affected because two of the Garden State Parkway’s 11 toll plazas are found in Ocean County – Barnegat’s toll plaza at mile marker 69, and Toms River’s toll plaza just before mile marker 85.

Specifically, Barnegat’s toll plaza will increase from $1.00 to $1.50, and Toms River’s toll plaza will increase in price from $0.50 to $0.75, along with numerous on and off-ramp tolls in the county increasing from $0.35 to $0.50.

Turnpike Authority Spokesman Thomas Feeney explained that the toll prices were originally raised to support a decade-long construction projects package totaling $7 billion, including a widening of the Turnpike and the Parkway south of Toms River – in addition to the organization’s $1 billion-plus contribution toward a new rail tunnel to cross the Hudson River.

However, Gov. Chris Christie ordered the rail tunnel project ceased in 2010, claiming that the construction was certain to go over budget, and then redirected the over one billion dollars in revenues to other state transportation projects.

According to Feeney, revenue from the new toll prices will go to fund the following projects, which he said would cost $1 billion alone:

(1) The widening of the Garden State Parkway to three lanes in each direction between Toms River and Somers Point. "The first 17 miles - south to Stafford Township - was completed last May. Construction contracts for the next phase, which will add a lane south to Bass River Township and make drainage and other improvements along the road south to Somers Point, were awarded in September," said Feeney.

(2) The construction of new bridges over the Bass and Mullica Rivers and the reconstruction of the existing bridges over those rivers.

(3) Improvements at exit interchanges 88 (Route 70, Lakehurst/Lakewood/Brick Township) and 91 (Route 549, Lakewood/Brick)

(4) The widening of the Parkway between milepost 83 (near the interchange with Route 9/Lakewood Road) and Interchange 100 in Wall. "This widening project is a critical safety improvement. It won't add any new travel lanes, but it will make the road safer by adding full-width shoulders. This is the section of the road where the accident rate was so high that they had to drop the speed limit a few years ago," Feeney added.

Toms River Township Council President Maurice “Mo” Hill commented during this week’s meeting of the governing body that he felt residents of Ocean County pay “more than their fair share” in tolls for the Garden State Parkway.