Controversial Bridge & Tunnel Toll Increases Take Effect

"Last week, AAA wrote to the U.S. Department of Transportation urging it to step in and block the increase and accusing the Port Authority of misusing funds that AAA says are supposed to be spent only on transportation.

"In this case, it's going into a speculative office development," the vice president of legal affairs for AAA, Marta Genovese, said at a news briefing.

The organization's spokesman, Robert Sinclair, described the toll hike as "an eggregious example of the motorists getting ripped off."

The organization has threatened to sue to force a rollback of the increases."

However, the Port Authority defended the increase as "absolutely necessary."

"Port Authority officials, who proposed the toll hike in August, said the money also will help pay for maintenance of tunnels, bridges and other transportation infrastructure. The agency, which also runs four major airports in the region, said more money also is needed to help cover security costs that have risen as a result of the 2001 attacks.

See more details of the new tolls here."

Fares on the PATH trains from Newark to Manhattan increased 25-cents to $2, and eventually $2.75.

Thanks to Crain's News Alerts