Garden State Parkway threatened

The contenders for the next governorship of New Jersey are competing with one another to come up with schemes to abolish tolls on the Garden State Parkway (GSP.) A spokesman for the acting governor of New Jersey Donald DiFrancsco says “The goal would be to eliminate the tolls on the Parkway. In order to do that well, he would need a responsible plan. The governor is looking into putting that plan together.” The competition to detoll New Jersey’s second toll road was started by another Republican contender for the governorship Jersey City major Brett Schundler, who started talking about getting rid of tolls last year. The leading Democratic contender, Jim McGreevey has got in on the anti-GSP act too, saying he will go to the elections with a plan for free rides on the Parkway as well.

A Citizens Against Tolls group claims the credit for turning politicians against the Garden State Parkway (GSP). The 279km (178mi) long GSP is the largest single toll road in the US measured by volume of toll transactions (1.6m/day) but the tolls are low and its revenue is $190m/year or only 32c/toll. Toll collection costs are about $40m at eleven barrier plazas and about 36 ramp plazas. ET started late 1999 and now accounts for 44% of transactions but many occur at crowded plazas. There is as yet no electronic toll express (ETX) and it is estimated that this would cost $125m at the barrier plazas.

The detollers have to assume a loss of revenue of about $150m/yr and $620m of parkway debt. In addition they would be eliminate the mechanism to fund an important $450m capital program to improve the tollroad’s bridges and add interchanges.

Main critic of the detolling is the chair of the Assembly’s transportation committee Alex DeCroce, who says: “It’s an election year, anything can happen. Sometimes willy-nilly things come to fruition. I think sooner or later they might end up knocking out the tolls and I’m afraid the highway is going to go to hell.”

Anti-toll talk is not confined to the west of the Hudson River. Bronx Borough president Ferdinand Ferrer told radio listeners that tolls should be removed entirely from the Verrazano Bridge. City Council Speaker Peter Vallone upped the ante, stating, “I don’t think New Yorkers should be charged for traveling anywhere on the roads.”

New York and New Jersey are clearly ready for a candidate who’ll run for office on free wine, women and song. And heck, why should anyone have to pay for food, or housing either? Aren’t they necessities at least on a par with roads? And what about clothing? Prices on clothes are obviously encouraging all this nakedness. And, we give away this valuable political advice for free...