Republican lawmakers in New Jersey are challenging whether the state can divert turnpike funds to a mass transit rail tunnel.

State Sen. Phil Haines, R-Springfield Township, is among those who say no, the state should not be allowed to do it.

“No toll revenue can be used for any transportation project other than a highway project,” Haines said told Land Line on Wednesday, Oct. 15.

Toll increases that were approved Friday, Oct. 10, by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s Board of Directors will more than double the toll rates for trucks and passenger vehicles by 2012 on the Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.

Revenue from the toll increases would fund a $7 billion capital plan that includes $1.25 billion for the Hudson River tunnel to connect northern New Jersey and New York City, turnpike officials stated in the proposal.

“This is going to be devastating on New Jersey residents,” Haines said.

“We’re in an economic downturn as it is. With all that we’re experiencing, the answer is not to increase yet another tax on the people of New Jersey and the businesses of New Jersey, especially the trucking industry that supplies 85 percent of our goods in New Jersey.”

Haines said the Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine has “ignored” a proposal by the Senate Republican Caucus to inject $500 million into transportation by cutting spending in other areas.

But in order to stop the toll increase, Republicans who hold 17 of the 40 seats in the state Senate will need some support from across the aisle.

Officials with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association who represent 161,000 members nationwide and more than 3,300 members in New Jersey, say Haines and other lawmakers are doing the right thing in fighting the toll increases.

“We’re there with him on that proposal,” OOIDA Director of Legislative Affairs Mike Joyce told Land Line. “Policies like this are making the state less competitive in the global marketplace.”

Reports issued by the Turnpike Authority show that the maximum toll on the New Jersey Turnpike is slated to increase from $26.55 for a full-length trip to $57.15 by 2012. Garden State Parkway tolls would increase from $12.25 to $26.25 by 2012 on the portion where heavy trucks are allowed.

Haines said lawmakers on both sides of the aisle at the Capitol in Trenton, NJ, can agree that truckers and other highway users will vacate the Turnpike wherever possible to avoid paying excessive tolls.

“Nobody is disputing that some Turnpike users including truckers will be forced onto secondary roads as a matter of economics,” Haines said. “The disagreement comes in how long the diversion will last.”

Gail Toth, executive director of the New Jersey Motor Truck Association, said the planned toll increases would have had an even worse effect on trucking without truckers testifying at a series of public hearings and without some negotiations with the governor.

Toth said Corzine was willing to listen and negotiate but Turnpike officials were less enthused about the public outcry from the trucking industry.

“I don’t think they were listening to anything we said on Friday,” Toth told Land Line. “We really didn’t approve of the $1.25 billion commuter tunnel. It’s supposed to benefit the whole state, but for some reason the people who use the Turnpike should pay for it.”

Overall, Toth said truckers fought the measure and lost, but important things did happen.

“In a way it’s been a good debate since they proposed that stupid 800-percent increase (Corzine’s initial plan earlier this year),” Toth said.

“People are understanding that trucks move goods and it affects the price. They know that we need to be on the Turnpike, number one, and they have to keep us there. They don’t want us on their side streets … I’ll acknowledge that (Corzine) heard our complaints and gave us a discount for carriers spending more than $10,000 a month, as well as other discounts.”

Meanwhile, state Republican lawmakers continue to pursue a resolution filed in the Senate to stop the diversion of funds to the tunnel project.

“We will need Democratic support to get this passed,” Haines said.

– By David Tanner, staff writer
david_tanner@landlinemag.com