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N.J. Turnpike, Parkway Tolls Could Double By 2012

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Sep 24, 2008 9:36 pm US/Eastern

N.J. Turnpike, Parkway Tolls Could Double By 2012

Drivers Sound Off On Thruway Authority's Bold Proposal

Reporting
Christine Sloan
WOODBRIDGE, N.J. (CBS) ― The economic crisis is squeezing drivers in New Jersey. Proposed hikes would double the tolls on the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway by 2012.

And what's worse, Wednesday was the last chance for drivers to speak out.

It was the public's turn to tell the New Jersey Turnpike Authority what it thinks of proposed toll hikes on the Turnpike and Parkway.

"The turnpike, the Parkway, the Atlantic City Expressway should be abolished," said Rich Pavelko of Bayonne.

"Make no mistake about it, collection of a toll is the collection of a tax," said Phyllis Elston of Citizens Against Tolls.

Even the scheduling of two Turnpike Authority hearings Wednesday, including this one Woodbridge, drew criticism.

"The three meeting are inconvenient times and locations for most commuters which these plans have the most impact," State Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, R-Monmouth and Mercer counties, said.

And Casagrande had this to say about how the Authority should raise money to fix roads.

"Two-hundred-eleven employs at the Authority make more than $100,000 annually with overtime," she said.

Turnpike Authority Chairman Kris Kolluri said drastic steps have already been taken.

"We are cutting our budget and our staff as we speak and we're going to continue down that path," Kolluri said.

The Authority's chairman, who is also the state's transportation commissioner, said there hasn't been a toll increase on the Parkway in 20 years and now there is no money left for important projects.

"These are bridge projects that need to be fixed and if we don't fix them, if something happens, people will ask me and my colleagues why didn't you address the problem when you had the chance?" Kolluri said.

While one member of the AFL-CIO supports toll hikes, environmentalist Jeff Tittel said much of the money would go to useless widening projects -- one of them in South Jersey.

"In the middle of nowhere … we just see this as a giveaway to the pavement lobby," Tittel said.

While there are no more hearings scheduled you can still let the N.J. Turnpike Authority know what you think of the proposed toll increases by e-mailing or writing the authority by Oct. 1.

The Turnpike Authority said by law it's required to hold only one meeting but chose to hold three, including one Tuesday night at Camden County College in the southern part of the state.

 

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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