No one in the trucking industry seems very excited about the proposed “roll back” of tolls on bridges over the Delaware River.
The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission increased the tolls last November on seven bridges it maintains between the two states. In some cases, tolls were scheduled to increase 300 percent.
However, at the prompting of Gov. James McGreevey of New Jersey and Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, the commission recently decided the new tolls would decrease and be made identical on all of the bridges operated by the commission.
For cars, that is.
Car drivers crossing the river now pay up to $1.25 on some bridges; the plan would make all bridge tolls for cars 75 cents.
However, trucks would not see a decrease. Instead, the next scheduled increase in tolls, to $3.25 an axle, would be blunted, with tolls only increasing from the current $2.25 per axle to $2.75 an axle. Before the increases began, the toll on a five-axle truck had run roughly $4 on five of the bridges, roughly 80 cents per axle.
Even the blunted increase won’t last. The commission said truck tolls will still eventually rise to the $3.25 an axle level – meaning truckers who were paying $4 just a year ago will face a charge of $16.25 just to cross one bridge – more than 400 percent of the original toll.
More troubling to some in the industry is that a portion of the money will go to purposes other than bridge work.
Industry united in opinion of tolls
Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, found little to be thankful for in the “rollback” plan.
“The only thing more outrageous than the level of tolls and the discriminatory treatment toward trucks compared to the cars are the people that are behind the scene, the beneficiaries that orchestrated this effort to further their own ends,” Spencer said.
Spencer found the bridge commission’s plan to spend money intended for repairs on economic development projects – which was revealed by a local newspaper – particularly outrageous, especially in light of truck tolls that would continue to increase.
“You don’t screw local businesses for economic development. That’s crap,” he said. “They ought to recall every one of those commissioners.”
Spencer’s thoughts have been echoed throughout the trucking community.
Tom Smedley, a facility manager for Roadway Express, told The Express-Times the increase is "a slap in the face."
"We're now going to have to carry the burden for the cars," he said.
Gary Gray, owner of Gary Gray Trucking, a family-owned company based in Delaware, NJ, said the proposed toll amounts would be “devastating for our industry."
"To be saddled with a 400 percent increase and then have them cut a few pennies off of it is ridiculous,” he told The Express-Times. “It's just a token amount."
One incident vividly illustrated the effect the higher tolls are having on the industry. Gail Toth, president of the New Jersey Motor Truck Association, was at a rally near the Interstate 78 bridge. Nearby was the headquarters of a company that’s a member of her organization.
“Every minute, one of his trucks went through,” Toth said. “One day, he was paying $4.25 a crossing, another day it was $11.25. The full rate was $16.25 that was supposed to get into effect this January.”
The tolls have prompted the company to move its operations out of New Jersey and over to New York.
The one bright side, Toth said, is that the trucking industry is seeing widespread support from car drivers in its fight to lower the tolls.
“Even the commuters said in an economy like we have right now, the audacity to charge anybody 400 percent … the state has no right to do that,” she said.
‘You’re going to lose a lot of truckers …’
Carmen Stoney of Cliffwood, NJ, said the higher tolls would economically doom some truckers who are already on the edge financially.
Stoney is an OOIDA member whose husband, Ed, is also an OOIDA member and an owner-operator with his own authority.
“Let these toll bridges … start raising rates again, and you’re going to lose a lot of truckers,” she said. “We’re getting hit with everything raising. Fuel oil is raising, the electric is going crazy, the milk is going crazy.”
Especially damaging in Stoney’s eyes is what the tolls do to families who are facing higher costs in every aspect of their lives.
“We cannot make ends meet now and they want to raise everything. These toll bridges want to raise the cost on trucking. We can only get so much from the people we’re leasing to. The independent owner can’t pass the cost on.”
“A lot of these truckers out on the road are young kids that are just starting out too, and I don’t know how they’re making it,” she said. “We met people out at Iowa 80 who are out on the road 320 days a year to make ends meet.”
Her husband, Ed, said the increase would fall especially heavy on those truckers who make frequent bridge crossings.
Some truckers have already found a way to blunt the increase. A significant number are avoiding the increased fees by using a free bridge in Stockton, NJ, to cross the Delaware River – so many that local officials are asking the Joint Toll Bridge Commission to lower the weight limit to keep trucks off, according to The Lambertville Beacon.
The New Jersey State Police even conducted truck weight checks at the bridge in August, The Beacon reported. And even though one of the town’s councilmen told the newspaper that none of the trucks were found to be in violation of weight restrictions, the town is still pursuing the lower limits.
If tolls continue to rise, Toth said, the use of alternate routes is likely to grow.
“We’re going to ask our guys to divert every which way they can,” she said. “They won’t make their money on the bridges if the trucks don’t come.”
But both Toth and Ed Stoney said while truckers could use alternate routes or non-toll bridges for a while, some of the toll bridges would be difficult to avoid.
“They’ve got you by the throat,” Stoney said. “It’s a monopoly.”
What you’re paying for
The tolls levied by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission support maintenance on 20 bridges over the river operated by the commission.
When the higher tolls were first put into place last year, the bridge commission said the new rates were needed to help fund a 10-year, $526 million capital improvement plan.
Truckers, local political and business leaders and others objected to the higher tolls almost immediately. But the objections became stronger when local media sources revealed earlier this year that the increases would pay for things besides bridge work.
The Trentonian reported in early March that a portion of the toll hikes would pay 45 percent raises to the top three executives of the bridge commission. Frank G. McCartney, executive director of the commission, defended the pay hikes, telling the newspaper the raises were designed to “retain talent” to help with the commission’s plan to rehabilitate its bridges.
In addition, The Allentown Morning Call reported earlier this year the commission intended to use about $250 million from the increases for unauthorized projects, including economic development such as projects on waterfront property and airport work.
The new toll structure would affect the following bridges: Trenton-Morrisville, New Hope-Lambertville, Interstate 78, Easton-Phillipsburg, Portland-Columbia, Delaware Water Gap Interstate 80, and Milford-Montague.
--by Mark H. Reddig, associate editor
Mark Reddig can be reached at mreddig@landlinemag.com.
