Some say cutting tolls would give out-of-state drivers a free ride. Earlier this week, New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner James Weinstein sent a report to acting Gov. Donald T. DiFrancesco. Included in that report is a plan for eliminating tolls on the Garden State Parkway.

According to the (East Rutherford) Home News Tribune, DiFrancesco asked for the proposal as part of an executive order issued in May. He then directed Weinstein to come up with a plan that would show ways the state could eliminate the 11 toll plazas on the parkway within 10 years.

However, some officials say eliminating tolls on the Garden State Parkway would force New Jersey residents who never use the freeway to foot the bill for out-of-state drivers.

Tom Wilson, a spokesman in DiFrancesco's office said the acting governor will now review the proposal. "There are many factors involved," he said. "Toll opponents are studying the problem." Wilson said even the New Jersey Institute of Technology was tapped for assistance in terms of what it would take to remove barriers, traffic flow patterns and the financial implications of removing tolls.

Reportedly, a Mount Laurel economist Donald Scarry, was commissioned to look at the problem. Removing tolls on the 173-mile parkway would require that someone foot the bill for maintaining and operating the toll road, the parkway's share of E-ZPass costs, and paying off millions of dollars in bonded debt. Scarry said building high-speed E-ZPass lanes would reduce rush hour traffic. Other toll opponents such as truckdrivers say Parkway users already pay taxes that support roads.

"Without knowing what the commissioner is suggesting, the only thing we know for certain is, if you eliminate tolls, you must replace it with something else," Wilson explained. "DiFrancesco wants to see if there's a 'financially sound' way to accomplish that."