Next time you pay to cross one of the four toll bridges between Philadelphia and New Jersey, think about this: The folks who run the bridges – and decide what you pay – don’t have to pay anything at all.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Dec. 2 that commissioners who run the bistate Delaware River Port Authority can use the bridges for the rest of their lives for fee. That includes Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell. The freebie tolls also extend to family members of commissioners, and current and former Port Authority employees.

Rendell and other officials told the newspaper that they don’t take advantage of the freebie. But The Inquirer reported that it has stirred controversy locally – especially since the Port Authority is considering eliminating toll discounts for E-ZPass customers who use the electronic toll payment system to pay for their bridge crossings. Hearings on the discount eliminations, which are intended to help solve a budget crisis at the agency, are scheduled for this week.

The four bridges owned and operated by the Authority are:

• The Walt Whitman Bridge, a suspension bridge that carries I-76 from South Philadelphia into Gloucester City, NJ;
• The Ben Franklin Bridge, also a suspension structure, which carries I-676 and U.S. 30 from Penn’s Landing to Camden, NJ; 
• The Betsy Ross Bridge, a traditional steel structure that carried New Jersey Highway 90 into Pennsylvania; and
• The Commodore Barry Bridge, which carries U.S. 322 across the river between the two states. That traditional steel structure crosses the river near Chester, PA, on the far southeastern end of the Philadelphia metro area.