toll increase

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is hiking cash tolls 10% effective Jan 1, 2012 but leaving E-ZPass transponder toll rates unchanged.  The toll hike is expected to gross an extra $23m in tolls or about 3% apparently taking toll revenues to the range $760m to $775m.

Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission are raising the tolls on their PA-NJ bridges from Trenton north by around 30% July 1. Car tolls are to rise 33%, 2-axle truck tolls 30%, and 5-axle and larger trucks buy 23%. These are the first toll increases since 2007 when truck tolls were last increased. It is the first across-the-board toll increase since 2001.

The City Council in Chesapeake voted eight to one March 23 to increase tolls on the Chesapeake Expressway tollroad that is the main link between I-64 in the Hampton Roads area and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The council accepted a Steer Davies Gleave report recommending a new toll schedule that increases the base 2-axle toll from $2.00 to $3.00.

Tolls on the Chicago Skyway are rising Jan 1 of the new year, by one sixth for cars and one-third for trucks. The toll for a car will rise from $3.00 to $3.50, or 16.7% regardless of time of day in the new year. Trucks get a discount of about 29% when traveling after 8pm to before 4am. This is $4.80 off for a 5 axle tractor-trailer.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) board will decide October 27 between two toll hike proposals designed to increase revenues about 7.5% or from $1411m to $1517m on a full year basis. With traffic likely to decline slightly, toll rates have to be increased nearly 10% to hit these revenue numbers, officials say.

Bay Area Toll Authority's (BATA) oversight committee after public hearings and discussion is recommending to the board that different peak, off-peak and weekend toll rates for autos be introduced at their big Bay Bridge and flat rate toll increases be adopted at the other six bridges. Truck tolls would more than double. And for the first time in the Bay Area tolls would be collected from carpool vehicles (mostly 3 or more occupants.)

Harris County (Houston) Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) are raising their transponder tolls - brand: EZ TAG - by a nickel (5c) at mainline plazas on the Sam Houston, Hardy and Westpark tollroads today. Tolls go from $1.25 to $1.30 for cars.

Cash tolls remain the same at $1.50.

Kansas Turnpike are increasing cash tolls an average of 15% but keeping their K-TAG transponder tolls the same October 1st.  Increases for cash-paying tractor-trailers will increase an average of 5%. Turnpike president Michael L Johnston says the changes are "intended to better align our costs of providing service to various customer classes and, at the same time, achieve greater operating efficiencies."

Good police work on the West Virginia Turnpike allowed a trio of politicians to stage a publicity generating protest against toll increases while preventing threatened obstruction.

Oklahoma Turnpike Authority's board today voted to accept a staff recommendation to raise toll rates on the state's ten turnpikes by around 16%. It is the first toll increase since 2001, when car tolls also went up 16% but truck tolls were raised 30%. Today's board decision on toll rates followed a Wilbur Smith Associates "System Rate Review."

Tolls will be increased August 4.