Today is the first weekday it
will
cost more to cross seven bridges connecting New Jersey to Pennsylvania,
and for the first time in a decade,
toll prices are increasing for drivers crossing the Delaware River.
E-ZPass users
may see a 25 cent increase, but if you use cash, you'll pay triple from
$1 to $3.
The Delaware River Joint Toll
Bridge Commission increased the price of tolls at the bridges. It's the first
systemwide toll adjustment in 10 years. The commission signed off on the toll
changes last month, saying it was partly to offset declining toll revenue the
pandemic caused this past year.
New tolls are in effect at the following bridges:
• Trenton-Morrisville toll
bridge
• New Hope-Lambertville
toll bridge
• Interstate 78 toll
bridge
• Easton-Phillipsburg toll
bridge
• Portland-Columbia toll
bridge
• Delaware Water Gap toll
bridge
• Milford-Montague toll
bridge
Local residents have mixed feelings.
"I think the increase of
$2 is more getting rid of the employees and automating everything,” says Dan
Margo, of Farmingdale.
"It doesn't really
affect me that much,” says Jason Kancylerz, of Lambertville. “My mother
does live in New Hope, and I do occasionally go over the 202 bridge with an
E-ZPass, so it's a $.25 increase. I can easily just use this bridge. There's no
tolls."
According to the bridge
commission, a little more than 75% of drivers use an E-ZPass to cross over the
bridges.